Magdeburg hemispheres, Samuel van Musschenbroek, Leiden, c. 1700
Inv V09647

At the end of the seventeenth century research into air was in full swing. The question whether a vacuum did or did not exist was a particularly hot potato. The German Otto von Guericke designed two hemispheres that fitted together exactly. By placing the two hemispheres together and pumping the air out of them, the hemispheres were stuck firmly together. So firmly that in Magdeburg (hence the name!) Guericke was able to have a team of horses pull on each half, without the hemispheres separating. At that time the Leiden professor of philosophy Burchard de Volder was beginning to set up a physical theatre for giving demonstrations: the Leiden Cabinet of Physics. De Volder was very interested in research into the vacuum. Consequently the Magdeburg hemispheres were an indispensable item in his theatre.