LABORATORY SERIES. No.12. James Watt’s attic workshop. Locked and untouched after his death in 1819, the workshop was described by biographer JP Muirhead as an industrial shrine to the Steam Engineer, “where no profane hand had been allowed to violate the sanctities of the magical retreat.” Moved piece by piece from his home in Heathfield, the 20 ft x 15 ft workshop, which contains over 8,430 objects, now sits in its preserved state in the Science Museum in London. Photo: Wikipedia.
LABORATORY SERIES. No.14. Stanford Prison Experiment application for approval of non-medical research involving human subjects, 1971. In an attempt to study the psychological effects of institutionalized power in the prison system, the experiment randomly assigned twenty-four male students (all of which were deemed the “most” healthy and stable) roles as prisoners and guards. Beginning with the arrest of participants in their homes without warning, prisoners were fingerprinted, booked and stripped of all personal possessions. Guards dressed in khaki uniforms and dark sunglasses monitored the prisoners behind bars in the basement of a Stanford University building. The simulation only lasted six days as prisoners were continually taunted, deprived of sleep and stripped naked. Photo Courtesy of the Stanford Prison Experiment
