FIGUEIEREDO FREIRE ROOM, 19TH CENTURY PHYSICS

This room is also known as the Figueiredo Freire Room in honour of the third director of the Physics Office. In charge of the organisation of this room´s collection, Freire reproduced the furniture from the 18th century room to accommodate the 19th century items. He created a catalogue of these functional instruments in 1824, with fewer decorations than in the previous century.

Electricity and magnetism were the most important fields of physics at the time and the Office features a vast collection of instruments from this area. Laid out on the original furniture, the highlights of the collection are electrostatic machines, a pneumatic machine and cameras.