Current and Forthcoming Exhibitions
Current and forthcoming exhibitions in the Main Library and online.
Now open
Time Traveller: Charles Lyell at Work
27 October 2023 – 30 March 2024
Please note the exhibition will be closed 21 December until 3 January 2023 inclusive. It reopens 4 January 2024.
Today we understand the earth as an interconnected system involving life and its environment, including the atmosphere, oceans, ice, volcanoes, and the rocks of the crust. How do we comprehend forces that operate on global scales and deep in the past, beyond the capacities of human observation? How do we think about the relation between humans and animals? Can we establish a science that transcends deep divides of religion, race, culture, and politics?
This exhibition explores these questions through the work of a key figure in establishing this planetary vision, the geologist and science writer Charles Lyell (1797-1875), revealing how he travelled to gather evidence, and collaborated with others. For the first time, Lyell's comprehensive archive is reunited with his collected fossils, specimens, and published books held at the University of Edinburgh.
Online Exhibitions
Discover online exhibitions from the Centre for Research Collections and the University community on our new exhibition platform.