Whipple Museum of the History of Science

The Whipple Museum occupies the old Perse School building on Free School Lane, identifiable by the tall, narrow arched windows and the worn stone carvings above the entrance. Robert Whipple, an instrument maker who spent his life collecting brass microscopes and slide rules, donated his entire personal collection to Cambridge University in nineteen forty-four. He wanted these items to stay together as a working record of scientific practice. A pocket sundial from the sixteenth century sits near a Victorian surgical kit inside.