the university of padua possesses a remarkable collection of scientific instruments from the xvith to the xxth century. the collection, which counts around 1500 pieces, constitutes an important evidence of the glorious scientific past of the city.

the most antique part of the collection is composed of precious instruments of the xvith and xviith centuries. the museum owns, for instance, various drawing, calculating and astronomic instruments, among which a xvith century armillary sphere, some sundials, and a prestigious xvith century astrolabe made by arsenius, the well-known flemish instrument-maker, who worked for the king of spain philip ii. another pride of the collection is a group of xviith century microscopes, one of which is signed by eustacchio divini, the most famous optician in europe in the 1650’s.

as for the heart of the collection, it consists of the instruments collected by giovanni poleni for his "teatro di filosofia sperimentale", the first university physics lecture room in italy, inaugurated in 1740. poleni, scientist and philologist, became in 1739 the first professor of experimental philosophy in the university of padua. until his death, in 1761, he went on acquiring more and more instruments for his collection, which grew to almost 400 objects. at present, the museum possesses about a hundred instruments from poleni’s collection, some of which were bought from the most important european instrument-makers and scientists, like jan van musschenbroek in the netherlands and jean-antoine nollet in paris.

many other instruments, on the other hand, were made in padua or in venice, in conformity with the experimental philosophy textbooks of the time or invented by poleni himself, and they were adorned with beautiful carvings by craftsmen and artists. poleni's instruments therefore constitute an extraordinary collection. to give an example, we may mention the splendid "macchina divulsoria", used by poleni to study the strength of bodies, when he was asked by pope benedetto xiv to examine, with the architect vanvitelli, the condition of s. peter's dome, which seemed to be on the point of collapsing.

after poleni, the professors who succeeded him continued to enrich the university collection with instruments made in padua or bought from important european workshops. in particular, the museum possesses instruments connected with famous xixth and xxth century scientists like angelo bellani, leopoldo nobili, giovanni battista amici, augusto righi and bruno rossi. by studying these instruments, one may re-examine interesting aspects of the italian science of the last centuries.