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With around 20 hands-on stations and several push-button experiments, you can discover and experience the principles and applications of the science of light.

This exhibition presents the fundamentals and applications of this branch of physics – from antiquity to the early 20th century. Near the entrance, three wonderful dioramas depict selected scenes from the history of optics. In the Microscopy Theatre, it’s “curtain up for the world of tiny creatures”: tardigrades, predatory mites and marine plankton are the stars here! And with its hands-on exhibits and push-button experiments, the large experimental area invites visitors of all ages to discover geometrical and wave optics in a fun way.

Programme in this exhibition

When will this event take place?

Discover which activities are taking place by checking our daily programme, which is published at around 9.20 each day. Our programme changes daily and includes guided tours, demonstrations, science shows and hands-on activities for individual visitors and small groups of up to five people. All programme events are held in German. They begin either directly where the activity is set to take place or at a guided-tour meeting point in the relevant exhibition.

Special objects in the collection

Mikroskop von Antoni van Leeuwenhoek

From: Leeuwenhoek, Antoni van

Date: um 1700

Mikroskop von Antoni van Leeuwenhoek

From: Leeuwenhoek, Antoni van

Date: ca. 1670

Elektronenmikroskop von Ernst Ruska, Nachbildung

From: Ruska, Ernst; Technische Universität <Berlin>

Date: 1981

Binokulares Fernrohr von Petrus Patronus

From: Patronus, Petrus; d'Orléans, Chérubin; Patronus, Petrus; Kurpfälzische Akademie der Wissenschaften; Patronus, Petrus

Date: 1714

Prismen-Spektralapparat von Reichenbach, Liebherr & Utzschneider

From: Reichenbach, Utzschneider und Liebherr

Date: 1813

You have specialist questions for our curator?