Collection of historical scientific instruments

Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis, President of the Berlin Academy of Sciences from 1746 to 1759, laid the foundation for the Academy's collection of scientific instruments. One of the treasures of the collection is the Academy Clock, commissioned by the Academy and made by the court clockmaker Christian Möllinger. It was installed above the main portal of the Academy building on Unter den Linden in 1787. The 1.70 m high clock with a 55 cm dial was the only standard clock in the city for the citizens of Berlin until 1872. In his "Berliner Briefen" [Berlin Letters], Heinrich Heine vividly described how Berlin residents set their pocket watches according to the Academy clock: "You are wondering why all the men here suddenly stop, reach their hands into their trouser pockets and look up? My dear friend, we are standing in front of the Academy clock, which is the most accurate of all the clocks in Berlin, and every passer-by will not fail setting his own by it. It's a comical sight if you don't know there's a clock there."

A replica of Leibniz's calculating machine - the forerunner of today's computers - was made in 1990 under the scientific direction of Academy member Nikolaus Joachim Lehmann by master precision mechanics Manfred Goebel and Klaus Rühle and handed over to the Academy on 12 March 1992.

The instrument collection consists of a total of 24 objects.