The ‘tale’ of a termometro cinquantigrado kept at the Whipple Museum, Cambridge

The 50-degree thermometer currently exhibited at the Whipple Museum of the History of Science in Cambridge (Wh.1116), was originally crafted by skilled Italian glassmakers for the Florentine Accademia del Cimento’s activities in the 1650s. Used for early meteorological observations, it remained forgotten for over a century and a half, until Vincenzo Antinori’s 1829 rediscovery. Donated by Henry Babbage to the University of Cambridge in 1872, the instrument reflects the wide-ranging approach of James Clerk Maxwell, the first director of the Cavendish Laboratory, who sought to build a collection integrating historical artifacts with experimental apparatus. This paper contextualizes the journey of the artifact, exploring its cultural value across centuries and portraying it as a tangible link between past and present scientific practices.