Reflections on the Mouseion After a Visit to Tyson

In the third century BCE, the Ptolemaic kings of Egypt started a new kind of intellectual pursuit. As they collected texts to create a library in Alexandria, the largest of its time, they also established a building complex for scholars to come from all of the Mediterranean world to live in Alexandria and conduct their research.

This was the Mouseion (in Latin, it would be called the Museum), and the research that was conducted there covered every discipline governed by the Muses, from history (Clio) to astronomy (Ourania). The type of research was truly diverse: major medical breakthroughs, editions of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, and a map of the world all came out of the Mouseion.

These scholars lived and dined together, and the stories that survive suggest a lively atmosphere full of stimulating conversations, surprising cross-disciplinary connections, and of course, the occasional academic rivalry. The scholars, living and working in such close proximity, could not help but influence each other across disciplinary boundaries, and in fact many worked on a wide range of subjects.

Such are field seasons at Tyson, where respect for facts, ambiguity, science and humanities converge. Landscape designers swap insights with biologists, science journalists offer new perspectives on biodiversity and artists-in-residence offer researchers walks through a new view of the forest.

The humanity of our community is the constant variable as we strive to better understand the earth and our human roles as members of it.

Our team set out to explore what that work looks like on the ground, through interviews, stories and photos, culminating in this community profile.

Welcome and Enjoy!

Tyson Science Communication Team

PI: Suzanne Loui, PhD
Lecturer in Environmental Studies

Undergraduate Humanities Fellows:
Selaam Dollisso and Christian Fogerty
(photography and storytelling)

Special thanks to Kate Wilson, PhD, Lecturer in Classics, for her “Reflections on the Mouseion After a Visit to Tyson” and to Shahla Farzhan, PhD, reporter, St. Louis Public Radio, for her guidance in best practices for journalism and interviewing.

Acknowledgements

Support for the Humans of Tyson project was provided by the Washington University College of Arts & Sciences, Office of Undergraduate Research, and Tyson Research Center.