About the Exhibit

This project started many years ago in a kitchen sink. The sink has changed, but the activity endures. Stamps have been a source of fascination and enjoyment for many children and adults alike, including the elite and powerful, presidents and kings. These tokens of payment for the service of communication between people have evolved over the last 150 years from drab bits of paper into sometimes large and gaudy message boards for anniversaries, propaganda or celebrations. While 50 years ago heads of state were the norm and only a handful of scientific events or personages appeared on postage stamps, more recently the topic science has become a collectible commodity along with dogs, birds, space exploration, dinosaurs and Disney characters. The image of Einstein has become commonplace, and in an effort to corner valuable revenue some developing countries have launched series of stamps celebrating recent Nobel laureates (none of them their own), taking a lead from the excellent Swedish Nobel stamp program. As more countries are commemorating their famous sons and daughters, it becomes possible to fit together pieces of the great mosaic of the history of science, still with many gaps, to be sure. Some of the most satisfying stamps are not the ones displaying portraits, but those presenting ideas and experiments. such as the photoelectric effect, cloud chamber photographs, or the solar absorption spectrum.