As Wellesley Prepares for Its New Science Center, We Revisit Keepsakes Found in One of the Quirkiest Buildings on Campus

From taxidermy to telescopes, the Science Center is home to scientific collections that generations of Wellesley students remember fondly. This week, Wellesley held a digital scavenger hunt to both test the community’s knowledge and salute a few of our favorite things:

The Science Center’s taxidermy bison head has been watching students study from its perch since 1934—except for a brief period in the late 1980s when, as Professor John Cameron reminds us, it visited an MIT frat house.

How do alumnae remember which minerals belong to the geosciences department’s Johnson Mineral Collection? They recognize the distinctive font of its nameplates.

A question about telescopes prompted Deb Crocker ’80 to recall the words carved in the dome of the observatory, “Night unto night showeth knowledge,” and provided an opportunity to share the happy news that a new 0.7-meter telescope will soon join the collection.

Without giving any more away, the final questions of the hunt (which ends today) further highlight artifacts that link a forward-looking Wellesley to its rich past. Test your recall.

The reimagined Science Center will be an inviting, sustainable hub of integrated instruction and research. Learn more about the plans for the new Science Center.