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Title: Namazu-e (catfish print)
Format: photograph: negative
Date: 1855
Description: According to Japanese legend, earthquakes were caused by the movements of a monster catfish that lived under the island of Japan. Immediately following the great Ansei earthquake of October 2, 1855, woodblock prints called Namazu-e (“catfish pictures”) appeared in Edo (now Tokyo), the most affected area. These imaginative and sometimes brutal depictions served as a unique source of information and reassurance to the local population. In this picture, the god of the Kashima Shrine holds the catfish in check with his sword. Shown above is the shrine with the great rock which was also supposed to hold the catfish down. It was while the god was travelling that the Namazu escaped and wreaked havoc.

Title: Portrait of Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727)
Format: photograph: negative
Date: 1829
Description: Engraving of Newton portrait done by William Derby (1786-1847), with permission by engraver Willam Thomas Fry (1789-1843), after a Newton portrait done in 1702 by the reknowned German/English baroque portrait painter Sir Godfrey Kneller (1646-1723). The original oil painting is on display in the British National Portrait Gallery. Fry’s original engraving of Newton was one of eight portraits done between 1829 and 1843 for the 2nd edition of Edmond Lodge’s Portraits of Illustrious Personages of Great Britain. Published by Harding and Lepard, London.

Title: Duplessis/Portrait of Benajmin Franklin
Format: photograph: print
Description: Large color portrait of Franklin, in three-quarter left profile, dressed in a coat with fur collar. Engraved by F. Janinet, Paris, 1789, after the original 1778 oil painting by Joseph Siffred Duplessis (the original portrait shows Franklin in three-quarter right profile).

Title: Professor Faraday Lecturing at Royal Institution
Format: photograph: negative
Date: 1856
Description: Cartoon titled, “Professor Faraday, lecturing at the Royal Institution Before H.R.H. Prince Albert, the Prince of Wales, and Prince Alfred.” This is a full plate reproduction of a preparatory sketch by Alexander Blaikeley (1816-1903) for his eventual painting of the same scene. Original newsprint page from the Illustrated London News, 1856, 28:177. The scene is of Faraday at the lecture table, delivering his “Christmas lecture,” Dec. 27, 1855, the subject being gold and platinum. This was the first of six lectures “On the distinctive properties of the common metals.” Seated in the front row, center, are Prince Albert and his sons, the Prince of Wales, age 13, seated to the right of his father, and Prince Alfred, the Duke of Edinburgh, age 10, seated to Albert’s left. Faraday presented lectures for children every year around Christmas (a tradition that continues to this day at the Royal Institution).

Title: Portrait medal of Sir Isaac Newton
Format: photograph: print
Date: 1731
Description: Struck at the Royal Mint, Tower of London in 1731, this pewter medal (51 mm) is by John Crocker, the Mint’s engraver during Newton’s tenure as Master. The obverse portrait is based on the Earl of Portsmouth’s bust (the so called Conduitt bust by Michael Rysbrack); the inscription reads, “Isaacus Newtonus I.C. The figure on the medal’s reverse, copied from the pedestal of the same bust, is that of Urania, who holds a plan of the Newtonian solar system. The reverse reads, “Felix Cognoscere Causas 1726.” The Conduitt bust can only be dated from its appearance in a picture by Hogarth painted in about 1730, and is assumed to have been commissioned about the same time that Conduitt was commissioning William Kent to design the Newton Monument in Westminster Abbey, which was carved by Rysbrack. Strikes of the medal were also completed in silver and bronze, as in the Babson collection. The date 1726 on the reverse is the year of Newton s death, in the old-style calendar.

Title: Gainsborough/Portrait of Benjamin Franklin
Format: photograph: print
Description: Reproduction of a portrait painting by Thomas Gainsborough. For many years identified as Franklin (probably due to its similarity to an 18th c. French print by P. Maren). In actuality, is a portrait of David Middleton. Engraving by G. Sanders. Proof. Published by Henry Graves & Co., London, 1868.

Title: Portrait of Albert A. Michelson (1852-1931)
Format: photograph: print
Date: 1912
Description: First American citizen to win the Nobel Prize (physics, 1907) and teacher of Robert A. Millikan. By Norwegian artist Henrik Lund; charcoal on canvas.

Title: Namazu-e (catfish print)
Format: photograph: negative
Date: 1855
Description: According to Japanese legend, earthquakes were caused by the movements of a monster catfish that lived under the island of Japan. Immediately following the great Ansei earthquake of October 2, 1855, woodblock prints called Namazu-e (“catfish pictures”) appeared in Edo (now Tokyo), the most affected area. These imaginative and sometimes brutal depictions served as a unique source of information and reassurance to the local population. Here the people who suffered from the effects of the earthquake are trying to punish two Namazu.

Title: Portrait of Marin Mersenne (1588-1648)
Format: photograph: negative
Description: Small portrait in rondel of French mathematician and theologian Marin Mersenne. Engraving.

Title: Group portrait
Format: photograph: print
Date: 1804
Description: Goup portrait includes Isaac Barrow, Robert Boyle, Kenelm Digby, Edmund Halley, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Isaac Newton. Engraved by Thomas Milton (ca 1743-1827), from the design done by Robert Smirke (1752-1845), an English painter and renowned book illustrator [note: not to be confused with his son Sir Robert Smirke (1780-1867), who is best known for his work on London’s British Museum]. Published by Robert Bowyer (1758-1834), Historic Gallery, December 1, 1804.

Title: Portrait of J. Dominique Cassini (1625-1712)
Format: photograph: print
Description: Portrait of French astronomer Jean-Dominique Cassini. Original done by French engraver Louis Cossin (1633-1686).

Title: Portrait of Johannes Wallis (1616-1703)
Format: photograph: negative
Description: Original engraved portrait of English mathematician John Wallis by British engraver David Loggan (1634-1692), done in 1678. Wallis is famous for his contributions to algebra and analytical geometry.

Title: Portrait of Wolfgang Waldung (1554-1621)
Format: photograph: print
Description: Engraving of Wolfgangus Waldungus [note different spelling on engraving], a practicing physician, who became professor of physics in Altdorf in 1592. Engraving done by renowned German engraver Wolfgang Philipp Kilian (1654-1732).

Title: Joseph Priestley
Format: photograph: negative
Date: 1782
Description: Small engraved portrait of English/American theologian and chemist Joseph Priestley, with an array of instruments and books below his portrait. Was published by J. Walker, February 1, 1782.

Title: Portrait of Rene Descartes (1596-1650)
Format: photograph: print
Description: Engraved portrait of French philosopher, mathematician and scientist Descartes. Original stipple engraving done by William Holl the Younger (1807-1871), possibly after original portrait of Descartes done by Dutch painter Frans Hals (ca 1582-1666).

Title: Caffieri/Profile of Benjamin Franklin
Format: photograph: print
Description: Left profile of Franklin, with a slightly forward inclination of the head. Engraving by J. & W. W. Warr, possibly after a 1777 bust of Franklin done by Jean Jacques Caffieri (1725-1792). Engraved by J. & W. W. Warr.

Title: Duplessis/Portrait of Benajmin Franklin
Format: photograph: print
Description: Portrait of Franklin in three-quarter right profile, wearing a coat with covered buttons. Engraving by Michael Bisi, possibly after a 1778 pastel done by Joseph Siffred Duplessis (1751-1831).

Title: Portrait of Joseph Black (1728-1799)
Format: photograph: print
Date: 1790
Description: Engraved portrait, in left profile, of Scottish chemist and physician Joseph Black, who was the first to isolate carbon dioxide and defined latent heat. He became chemistry professor at Glasgow University, and later at the University of Edinburgh. Fine engraving done by Scottish engraver John Beugo (1759-1841) after J. Bronn drawing (ca 1790). [Note: Not Bengo, as described on back of print; and I. Brown is most likely engraver J. Bronn.]

Title: Chappel/Portrait of Benjamin Franklin
Format: photograph: print
Description: Franklin seated legs crossed, wearing glasses, with walking stick balanced on knee, and papers in hand. Franklin’s signature reproduced below portrait. Engraving after an original painting by Chappel.

Title: Elmer/Portrait of Benjamin Franklin
Format: photograph: print
Description: Franklin seated, holding the January 1776 issue of the London Evening Post in his right hand, and reading it with pince-nez (not his usual spectacles); under his left hand is a copy of Richard Price’s 1776 pamphlet, Observations on the Nature of Civil Liberty... [Note: Romanticized portrait; possibly done in the 19th century.] Seal in lower right-hand corner. Inspired by a 1780 oil painting by Stephen Elmer (d. 1796). [Note: Speculation as to whether the picture represents Franklin at all; identification as Franklin is only documented by 2 engravings made from this painting after Elmer’s death.]