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Physics Collection

The Physics Collection sheds light on 130 years of groundbreaking technologies developed at the University of Birmingham, showcasing the evolution of physics education during this time.

Objects

You’ll find internationally significant items like:

  • The cavity magnetron, the basis of radar technology and later microwave ovens.
  • One of the world's first proton synchrotron accelerators, developed in the 1950s and 1960s, an early precursor to CERN's Large Hadron Collider.
  • Alongside objects relating to John Henry Poynting's 1893 measurement of the gravitational constant.
  • Sir Oliver Lodge, the University's first Principal and a pioneer in wireless telegraphy (early radio).

 

On Display

A significant portion of the collection is on display in the School of Physics and Astronomy. 

  • A green painted metal object with copper wire coiled around it.

    Electromagnet for original cavity magnetron, Pye Scientific Instrument Co. Ltd., before 1940, iron and steel with copper windings

  • A wooden base with metal object on top.

    Wheel coherer, Oliver Lodge/Muirhead & Co. Ltd, about 1913, brass and steel on wooden base

  • Four round metal objects.

    Cavity magnetron anode blocks, University of Birmingham Physics Workshop, 1940-45, copper

For information about the history of the collection and collecting practices, see our  Collections Development Policy.