Lot 52
AN ENGLISH BRASS SOLAR MICROSCOPE
GEORGE STERROP, LONDON. BEFORE 1756
Closed24 March 2010
Price Realised
EUR 1,875
More Information
Specialist note
Solar microscopes were invented around 1740, using the sun as their light-source, these microscopes projected their images on the wall, enabling scientists to view their observations in groups.
George Sterrop was trained in the instrument workshop owned by his mother, Mary Sterrop. He apprenticed to his mother in the Spectaclemakers' Company in 1730, and joined the firm as a partner in 1737 until 1747, when it was known as "Mary Sterrop & Son." He continued the instrument making business from 1747 until his dead in 1756.
A related microscope by Sterrop is in the collection of Museum of the History of Science, Oxford, inventory number 52737. https://emu.mhs.ox.ac.uk/Display.php?irn=7005&QueryPage=FAdvQuery.php A comparable solar microscope is in the collection of Boerhaave Museum, Leiden, inventory number V07445.
https://www.museumboerhaave.nl/AAcollection/nederlands/M06V05.html
George Sterrop was trained in the instrument workshop owned by his mother, Mary Sterrop. He apprenticed to his mother in the Spectaclemakers' Company in 1730, and joined the firm as a partner in 1737 until 1747, when it was known as "Mary Sterrop & Son." He continued the instrument making business from 1747 until his dead in 1756.
A related microscope by Sterrop is in the collection of Museum of the History of Science, Oxford, inventory number 52737. https://emu.mhs.ox.ac.uk/Display.php?irn=7005&QueryPage=FAdvQuery.php A comparable solar microscope is in the collection of Boerhaave Museum, Leiden, inventory number V07445.
https://www.museumboerhaave.nl/AAcollection/nederlands/M06V05.html