Making the Modern World

Personal computer by Apple Computers, model Apple I, 1976-79. This was the first computer made by Apple Computers Inc, which became one of the fastest growing companies in history, launching a number of innovative and influential computer hardware an

• Apple I computer, 1976.

Dated to the start of the nineteenth century, this reflecting telescope was made by the famous astronomer, William Herschel for his sister Caroline. She was William's lifelong observing assistant and an astronomer in her own right having discovered

• Caroline Herschel's telescope, 1795-1816

Excell M2 Pocketphone, cellular mobile phone made by Excell Communications, 1987

• Excell M2 Pocketphone, 1987.

Model (scale 1:4). This model represents a double-blast threshing machine made in 1860 by Wallis, Haslam and Steevens. The machine was designed to be powered by a portable steam engine or, as the 19th century progressed, more often by an agricultur

• Threshing machine, 1860

Model (scale 1:6) of the original reaping machine built and demonstrated in 1831 by Cyrus H. McCormick. The model is one of a number displayed at the Paris Exposition Universelle in 1900 by the McCormick Harvesting Machine Co . It represents Cyrus Mc

• McCormick's reaper, 1831, USA, model (scale 1:6).

Coloured etching, `Scientific Researches! - New Discoveries in Pneumaticks! - or, an Experimental Lecture on the Powers of Air' a print by James Gillray (1757-1815). A demonstration involving the breaking of wind! Scene shows a discourse at the R

• Caricature of a Chemical lecture, 1802

Dated to the late eighteenth century, this brass sextant was made by the London instrument makers, John and Edward Trougton. With its tripod stand and telescopic sights, it was designed for use in navigation, surveying and hydrography. The sextant c

• English sextant with pillar stand, 1788-1804

The astronomer, Sir William Herschel made this 48-inch concave metal mirror for his '40-Foot Telescope' at Slough, England. Cast in 1785, the mirror is made of speculum, a bronze alloy with arsenic for a more lustrous finish. Weighing only half a t

• Original mirror for William Herschel�s forty-foot telescope, 1785.

The Sinclair ZX80 was the first computer made to appeal to the mass market. Sinclair Research Ltd of Cambridge developed it as a build-it-yourself programmable computer that was designed to connect to a television set or cassette recorder. It was sma

• Sinclair ZX80 microcomputer, 1980.

Radiometer on stand; etched on glass "No 1327 Dec. 1877 Ag. Vanes"

• Crookes' radiometer, 1877.