The Whipple Museum on Free School Lane, tucked between the history faculty and the old Cavendish Laboratory, holds one of the finest collections of historic scientific instruments in the world. Astrolabes, theodolites, microscopes, telescopes, calculating machines, and navigational instruments fill room after room — most of them genuinely beautiful objects as well as working tools.
The collection spans from the medieval Islamic world through the Scientific Revolution to the early 20th century. Given that Cambridge was central to much of the science of that period — Newton, Darwin, Maxwell, Rutherford, Crick and Watson all worked here — the museum sits in an appropriate place. Free entry; open Monday to Friday 12:30pm–4:30pm.