Where:
Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments
1 Oxford Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Admission:
FREE
Categories:
History, Rainy Day Ideas, Social Good, University
Event website:
https://chsi.harvard.edu/measuring-difference
Today, measurement is everywhere. We understand everything around us in inches, degrees, gallons, decibels, and more. But measurements are human inventions. It is through measures that we learn to see difference, to compare the world.
In the Americas, colonial powers introduced new measurements to describe and exploit the “New World.” Existing ways of understanding and explaining the world and our relationship to others were displaced, cementing European measures as norms and tools of authority. Using examples from across the Americas, this exhibit illustrates what—and who—was measured, and how.
See museum website for gallery closures.