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arXiv · 2607.19800

The Collection of Didactic Physics Instruments of the Istituto Maria SS.ma del Rosario in Palermo

Aurelio Agliolo Gallitto
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Abstract

In the autumn of 2025, the Istituto Maria SS.ma del Rosario (IMSSR) in Palermo donated a collection of didactic physics instruments to the Department of Physics and Chemistry - Emilio Segre' of the University of Palermo, Italy. The instruments have been identified, catalogued, classified by disciplinary area, and are now displayed within the Historical Collection of Physics Instruments, housed in the historic building at 36 Via Archirafi, Palermo. The collection, consisting of approximately sixty instruments primarily intended for teaching classical physics at the upper-secondary school programmes, represents a significant example of the experimental culture of physics education in the first half of the twentieth century. This paper reconstructs the historical origins of the collection, illustrates its disciplinary areas and the main typologies of instruments, and analyses its scientific and educational value from a descriptive and historical museological perspective, with particular attention to the role of commercial catalogues as tools of didactic and technical mediation.

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Aurelio Agliolo Gallitto. 2026-07-22. The Collection of Didactic Physics Instruments of the Istituto Maria SS.ma del Rosario in Palermo. https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.19800

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