The Sedgwick museum in Cambridge has recently opened a new permanent exhibition entitled ‘Darwin the Geologist’ telling the story of the rock specimens that Darwin collected on the Beagle voyage and how he analysed and used them in his early scientific work. Alongside the original microscope used by Darwin the museum are using an adapted version of the OU’s Virtual Microscope to allow visitors to examine slides made from the rocks that he brought back on the Beagle. KMi Research Fellow Dr Peter Whalley has been working with Dr Andy Tindle and Prof. Simon Kelley of the Department of Earth Sciences to digitise slides made from Darwin’s samples and create a version of the microscope for the museum. Prototype modules for the Virtual Microscope were first developed in KMi by Jon Linney last year and after further work by LTS it is due to be used on the S276 Geology course in 2010.
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