Scientific heritage: focus on some of UNamur's treasures

UNamur is heir to rich collections that bear witness to almost two centuries of teaching and research activities in the various faculties that make it up today. This academic heritage is a concrete and precious testimony to the methodology and organization of scientific thought within the university.

On the occasion of the European Academic Heritage Day action, held across Europe from November 18 to 22, 2024, UNamur showcased various objects from the Departments of Biology, Physics, Veterinary Medicine and Geology.

The valorization week began with the selection of one of the 185 Brendel models preserved at the Moretus Plantin University Library (BUMP). These didactic models, used for decades as teaching aids for botany, have enjoyed remarkable success since their creation at the end of the 19th century. The sheer number and high quality of the UNamur pieces make this a unique collection, probably one of the most important in Europe! In addition to these papier-mâché models, the botanical collections also include a herbarium (around 130,000 parts, including three historic herbariums) comprising algae, mosses, ferns, flowering plants, lichens and mushrooms, as well as 230 exsiccata, edited and illustrated works of dried plants, halfway between the book and the herbarium proper.

A more recent object was showcased on this occasion: a 200 mm diameter telescope and its equatorial mount dating from 1969. This contemporary technical heritage is a personal creation of Hubert de Thier (1902-1983), an amateur astronomer and collaborator in his time at the Royal Observatory of Brussels. The telescope allows us to discover the sky even today with breathtaking images, but also to make the link with the Antoine Thomas s.j. Astronomical Observatory, in memory of the Jesuit missionary born in Namur in 1644 who was imperial astronomer in Peking.

To represent the Department of Veterinary Medicine, a 1:1 scale polyester anatomical model illustrating the muscles and joints of the horse's neck and thorax was chosen. The current collection comprises around one hundred anatomical models for didactic use by students. The special feature of this model collection is that it is the only one of its kind in the world. The fruit of meticulous craftsmanship by a team of technicians from the Department, these models date back to the 1970s and sometimes took several years to build, depending on their size and complexity. Today, students are free to handle them in the hands-on room as they learn their trade.

About 180 birds from all over the world (including an extinct species - the Migratory Pigeon - and several endangered species), 150 jars (embryonic developments, anatomical models, dissections, fish, amphibians, reptiles...), naturalized reptiles (including a critically endangered African False Gharial), some sixty insect boxes, some thirty skulls and osteological preparations.), naturalized reptiles (including an African false gharial, a critically endangered species), some 60 insect boxes, some 30 skulls and osteological preparations including a platypus skeleton, 6 osteological models, 1,500 shells from 420 species, a small panda, a large pangolin, anatomical models, and more.Among all these specimens, a siphonophore (a jellyfish-like zooplankton organism) preserved in a block of resin was chosen. Resin inclusions are always fascinating, and all the more so because the specimen is fragile: inconsistency solidified forever, lightness frozen forever, delicacy petrified for eternity.

It readily crystallizes in active volcanic environments such as Indonesia, Iceland or Italy. Native sulfur crystals, though relatively rare, can be beautiful, and their yellow luster makes them particularly sought-after by collectors.