The Cavendish Laboratory and the Birth of the Atomic Age

2024 marks 150 years since the founding of the Cavendish Laboratory of Experimental Physics. No one could have predicted in 1874 that Cambridge physics would give birth to the atomic age: that the electron and neutron would be discovered, and the atom itself split, on Free School Lane.

From Monday 25 November, the Whipple Museum of the History of Science is commemorating the anniversary with a new exhibition, 'The Cavendish Laboratory and the Birth of the Atomic Age', featuring some of the most important instruments from the Cavendish Laboratory’s collection. From delicate glass vessels and workbench instruments to one of the first industrial-scale particle accelerators, this is a rare chance to get up close to apparatus used by J.J. Thomson, Ernest Rutherford, and James Clerk Maxwell – and find out more about the remarkable community that revolutionised our understanding of the Universe.

“We’re just a few doors down from the Cavendish Laboratory’s original site, so it’s incredible to have so many important instruments from it on display at the Whipple to mark the anniversary,” said the Whipple Museum’s Curator, Dr Hannah Price. “Many of the instruments are returning to Free School Lane for the first time in fifty years and some have never been on public display before.”

“This is an important year for the Cavendish,” said Dr Harry Cliff, curator of the Cavendish Laboratory collection. “Not only are we celebrating our 150th anniversary, but we’re in the process of moving to a new home, the Ray Dolby Centre on J.J. Thomson Avenue. We’re delighted to be able to mark the anniversary at the Whipple Museum before the collection moves to its new home in the Ray Dolby Centre next year.” 

The exhibition will be open until May 2025.

Glassblowing during the practical class at the Cavendish Laboratory.

Image courtesy of the Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge.