About this Database

Talking on the perfection of what is created by a human, on beauty and harmony, eternal striving of people to beauty, we use to keep in mind immortal verses and paintings, sculptures and architectural forms, music and plastics of dance.

By far more seldom the notion of «culture» is extended over technical or, for example, scientific instruments. By tacit consent, it is customary to assume that science and technology are a domain contiguous to culture. It is worth of asking: is it so? The world is a single whole, but the forms of reflection of its cognition are diverse.

The technics is a considerable part of the environment of modern human. A human created and continues to create technology to cope with nature and as a result «inscribed» in material environment a handmade supplement which is fraught with the threat of danger for the mankind it its morals would be behind its powerfulness.

For this very reason the problem on bringing up modern attitude to technics as a constitutive part of a general human culture is very acute. Material foundation of this great work is preservation of the monuments and relics of science and technology; their scientific description; skillful, bright, rich in content popularization of science and technology, i.e. that very activity which should be carried by a museum of science and technology.

But the matter turns out to be extraordinarily complicated from the very first step the preservation. The usual notion «relic» all of a sudden loses its certainty, concreteness and daily occurence. Steam locomotive? Typewriter? Cash-register? Specimen of alloy? Microcircuit? Sophisticated fine casting? Radio valve? Diagram of heat condition of cosmonaut? What is relic? How to reveal it what only yesterday was necessary but today clutters up, blocks up, should be written off and done away? How to detect a monument in what is now an everyday life?

There is no doubt that the answers to questions set up above should be given on some scientific and methodical foundation. Such foundation was proposed by the workers of Polytechnic museum (Moscow) and is under development now by the joint efforts of the specialists from Polytechnic museum, their colleagues from Saint-Petersburg museums Central Museum of Railway Transport, Central museum of Communication, M.V. Lomonosov Museum as well as from some other museums members of Section of scientific museums of Russian Committee of International Council of Museums. The results of this activity - albums «Relics of science and technology» —are bringing to notice of readers. The album includes 170 articles from museums of Russian Federation.

Gurgen G. Grigoryan

From the introduction to album «Relics of science and technology», part 3.