The Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences, opened in 1912, is the geology museum of the University of Cambridge in England. It is part of the Department of Earth Sciences and is located on the University's Downing Site in Downing Street, central Cambridge, England.
The Sedgwick has a collection of more than 1 million rocks, minerals and fossils. The museum was built in memory of Adam Sedgwick and started with Dr John Woodward's bequest of his fossil collection in 1728 (still on display in its original cabinets).
The museum logo is based on the Iguanodon skeleton displayed by the entrance. A display board explains that the skeleton is incorrectly mounted in an upright posture rather than a horizontal one but as the upright posture is widely recognised on the logo it was decided to leave the specimen and logo as they are.
Displays include a gallery of minerals and gemstones, rocks collected by Charles Darwin on the 'Voyage of the Beagle', dinosaurs from the Jurassic and Triassic, and fossils from the local area including a hippopotamus from the nearby Barrington gravel pits.
The museum also has a small shop which sells souvenirs as well as geological equipment.
The Sedgwick is regularly used as a venue for events aimed at outreach and widening interest in Earth Sciences such as the annual Cambridge Science Festival.
Famous quotes containing the words museum, earth and/or sciences:
“Soaked by the sparkling waters of America.”
—Hawaiian saying no. 2740, ‘lelo No’Eau, collected, translated, and annotated by Mary Kawena Pukui, Bishop Museum Press, Hawaii (1983)
“Our roots are in the dark; the earth is our country. Why did we look up for blessing—instead of around, and down? What hope we have lies there. Not in the sky full of orbiting spy-eyes and weaponry, but in the earth we have looked down upon. Not from above, but from below. Not in the light that blinds, but in the dark that nourishes, where human beings grow human souls.”
—Ursula K. Le Guin (b. 1929)
“The best thing about the sciences is their philosophical ingredient, like life for an organic body. If one dephilosophizes the sciences, what remains left? Earth, air, and water.”
—Novalis [Friedrich Von Hardenberg] (1772–1801)