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In 1647, a self-taught astronomer and brewer from Gdańsk changed the way humanity saw the Moon by creating the first detailed map of the lunar surface. Now, nearly four centuries later, the Bodleian Libraries have brought Johannes Hevelius’s Selenographia, sive Lunae descriptio ('Selenography, or a Description of the Moon') into the digital age – allowing anyone, anywhere, to explore the world’s very first lunar atlas.

‘Selenographia is a treasure on several levels,’ says Malgorzata Czepiel, archivist at the Bodleian Libraries. ‘It has tremendous scientific value, comprising painstaking observations and drawings of the Moon’s surface. Created by one of the great minds of the 17th century, it is also strikingly beautiful, illustrated with intricate engravings that Hevelius made himself.’

Selenographia was pioneering in its accuracy, showing that Moon’s surface was far from a blank canvas, but a mosaic of craters, valleys, and mountains. The complete atlas is made up of 111 plates and engravings, showing the Moon in every phase, besides a composite map depicting all of the Moon’s features as if lit from the same direction, which became the model for later lunar maps.

This remarkable artefact is of high interest to astronomers, lunar enthusiasts, and historians of science worldwide. Up to now, those wishing to view it would have to come to the Bodleian in person and arrange for the item to be brought out specially. But now a fully-digitised, open-access version is available through Digital Bodleian, the Library’s showcase platform for digitised collections, for anyone to admire, anytime – even from the comfort of their own home.

Judith Siefring, Head of Digital Collections Discovery at the Bodleian, says: ‘The Bodleian is committed to democratising access to its really amazing collections, and digitising as many manuscripts, archives, and rare books as possible forms a large part of that. Around 75% of those who use Digital Bodleian are based outside the UK, demonstrating that we are serving an international audience.’

A remarkable object from a remarkable man

What makes Selenographia even more extraordinary is the fact that Johannes Hevelius (1611–1687) was not even a professional astronomer by trade. A merchant then councillor (then eventually mayor) in the Polish town of Danzig (modern-day Gdańsk), his true passion lay in the night sky. In 1641, he constructed an observatory on the roofs of his three adjoining houses, christening it the ‘Star Castle.’ He equipped it with sextants, octants, and telescopes he built by hand, including a 46m-long Keplerian model made from wood and wire tube. The observatory became a focal point and innovation hub for astronomy, attracting esteemed guests from hundreds of miles away, including Edmond Halley, famous for discovering the comet now named after him.

Producing a lunar atlas was one of Hevelius’s first major endeavours, the other being a catalogue of 1564 stars. Over five years, he meticulously drew the Moon each night from observations by eye and through his telescopes, then engraved his observations in copper the following morning.

‘Considering the equipment he was using, the level of detail of the map is mind-boggling,’ adds Malgorzata. ‘Rudimentary maps of the Moon already existed, but none as detailed as this, and none in the form of an atlas. Hevelius took it upon himself to name various aspects of the terrain, indicating that he discovered many details that were not known about previously.’

Many of the names Hevelius gave to lunar characteristics are still used now (such as ‘Alps’ for lunar mountains), and a large crater on the edge of the Ocean of Storms also bears his name today. When the volume was published in 1647, it brought Hevelius fame and prestige as an astronomer, but perhaps the greatest testament to Selenographia is that it stood as the ultimate lunar reference manual for over a hundred years.

Digitising a treasure

The Bodleian is the home of two copies of Selenographia, one of which (Arch. H. c. 12) was presented by Hevelius himself to the Library in 1649. In his inscription, he notes a visit to ‘the illustrious Bodleian’ and hopes that the Library will ‘accept such a humble gift.’ The exquisite binding and the author’s dedication make this copy unique in the world. So much so in fact, that it featured in several Bodleian exhibitions, including Marks of Genius in 2015. The other copy (Saville B 15) came to the Bodleian in 1884 as part of the Savillian Library set up by Sir Henry Savile to serve the Savillian Chairs of Astronomy and Geometry at the University of Oxford.

The project to digitise Selenographia took shape after the presentation copy was displayed for a group of visiting directors of Polish museums and art galleries. Through collaborations between the Bodleian, the Polish Ball, and the Centre for Democracy and Peace Building, a private donor came forward to fund the digitisation. Malgorzata recalls: ‘Mr Karol Sieniuc was so impressed by the Bodleian’s collections and how it strives to make them available to everyone, that he did not need much persuasion to sponsor the digitisation of a Polish treasure that is Selenographia.’

Selenographia was digitised in the Bodleian Libraries’ dedicated studio, one of the country’s leading imaging facilities. This is equipped with high-resolution cameras and bays tailored to digitise different types of material, from papyrus and maps, to manuscripts and rare books. Over the course of a week, the atlas was captured in just under 800 images at 600-dpi resolution, each checked and aligned using specialist software, then linked to bibliographic data before publication online. The resulting digital version allows users to leaf through Selenographia virtually and zoom in to explore even the finest engraved details, revealing the Moon as Hevelius first saw it nearly four centuries ago.

Connecting communities

To mark the digitisation, the Bodleian hosted Mapping the Moon, a two-day celebration of Johann Hevelius in October 2025 featuring a display, a lecture, a concert, and a family workshop, the latter as part of the IF Oxford Science and Ideas Festival. Family activities organised with the Oxford Polish Association included space-themed crafts and a chance for children to handle a piece of the Moon and a 4.5-billion-year-old meteorite– brought by colleagues from the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. ‘It was incredible to watch the children that came, their faces lit up, eyes brightened, and even mouths wide opened when they held real objects from outer space,’ says Malgorzata. ‘It shows how our fascination with the cosmos is just as strong now as it was in Hevelius’s day.’

‘Digitising collections fulfils many key purposes,’ says Judith. A major one is preservation, of course. Interestingly, much of Hevelius’s observatory, instruments, and books were destroyed by a fire in 1679, and the original copper plate used to print Selenographia was sold after his death and turned into a teapot. ‘Another key purpose is engaging diverse audiences with our collections in new ways, and opening up the knowledge they contain to the world,’ adds Judith.

Digital Bodleian has already made over 1.3 million images of rare manuscripts, maps, and printed works freely available online. Previous major initiatives have included partnerships with the Vatican Library (Greek and Hebrew manuscripts and early printing) and with the Herzog August Bibliothek (medieval Manuscripts from German-speaking Lands), both generously funded by the Polonsky Foundation. Other projects have included Literary Manuscripts (funded by the Tolkien Trust) and Education & Activism: Women at Oxford 1878-1920, a collaboration with several Oxford colleges.

You can find the digital version of Selenographia here.

From inspiring science days for local schools to educational festivals for young people, targeted outreach programmes, the launch of a new online academic enrichment platform, and support for UK-wide access initiatives; across the collegiate University, Oxford is finding new and innovative ways to engage with talented students across the UK from all backgrounds.

Oxford colleges have worked with The Brilliant Club – a UK-wide charity that aims to improve opportunities for students from less advantaged backgrounds to access higher education – for a number of years, hosting ‘graduation’ ceremonies for hundreds of young students completing the Scholars Programme.

In 2024/25, twelve of Oxford’s colleges formally joined The Brilliant Club’s Scholars Programme, which connects state school pupils, aged 8 to 18, with PhD students who share their subject knowledge and passion for learning.

The scheme enables participants to experience university-style learning through seven in-school tutorials delivered to a small group of pupils by trained PhD tutors, usually based on their own research. The charity has built a community of over 1,200 tutors made up of current PhD students, early career researchers and PhD graduates.

The Scholars Programme introduces pupils to the world of academic research and is designed to help them build confidence, curiosity and a sense of belonging in higher education. It includes a challenging final assignment and for many the experience culminates in their own graduation celebration at one of the University’s colleges.

In 2024/25 more than 1,700 school pupils from Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Bristol and London either worked with an Oxford researcher or attended a graduation event at an Oxford college.

Dr Matthew Williams, Access Fellow at Jesus College, has worked with The Brilliant Club for several years: ‘When I attend the ceremonies, I often hand out certificates and shake hands with the pupils, and we get some lovely feedback; things like, ‘I’d never have dreamt of setting foot in Oxford, let alone studying here.’ It all reinforces the message that these pupils are talented and should consider universities like Oxford among their options – it’s about shifting mindsets.’

The scheme, Dr Williams says, is also a valuable experience for Oxford’s PhD students who receive expert training to develop and hone their pedagogical skills, gain sustained teaching experience, develop research communication skills, and have an opportunity to communicate their research to a non-specialist audience.

Five Oxford PhD students took part in the programme in 2024-25, with specialisms ranging from genetics to archaeology and courses covering subjects as diverse as the healthy heart, the evolution of biodiversity, and neuroscience and AI. ‘Increasingly, PhD students are encouraged to think about public engagement and impact, and this helps them develop key communication skills — being able to explain complex ideas to a 15-year-old is a great test of understanding.’

Abby Williams, a PhD student in the Department of Biology, said, ‘During one of my first lessons we were looking at the animal evolutionary tree, and one of my students had a ‘lightbulb moment’ – we were discussing how humans are more closely related to starfish than insects, and the student said, ‘Miss, that’s really cool!’. That moment felt like a massive teaching win for me, and I hope that the student felt inspired to learn more about the natural world.’

David Horner, Head of University Partnerships at The Brilliant Club, said, ‘We are delighted to be working with researchers from the University of Oxford on The Scholars Programme. Our PhD tutors offer pupils from less advantaged backgrounds real insight into the world of academia and higher education. They teach subjects beyond the school curriculum and build important skills like oracy, self-efficacy and critical thinking. Most importantly, they are inspiring young minds through their love of learning, breaking down barriers to university access.’

Dr Williams says the partnership demonstrates how collaboration can deliver genuine impact; ‘Partnering with The Brilliant Club allows Oxford to make a tangible difference in the lives of young people while giving our own researchers meaningful opportunities to share their work. Through initiatives like this, Oxford continues to work with schools, colleges and charities across the UK to inspire the next generation of students to consider Oxford as a place for them.’

Find out more about Oxford University's access programmes - Oxford Access | University of Oxford.

At a time when translators are facing unprecedented challenges in the face of artificial intelligence, a new graduate course will explore and celebrate translation as a creative endeavour in which the role of the human will always remain essential.

From ancient texts and contemporary novels to performance theatre, film and television, translation shapes the way we experience stories from past and present and from around the world.

Oxford’s undergraduates have long studied academic translation within Modern Language degrees, but to-date there has been no provision for graduate students. A new Masters in Creative Translation has been launched to fill this gap, coinciding with an important moment when the translation landscape is shifting and adapting to technological change.

Led by Professor Karen Leeder in the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages, the course also reflects a growing appreciation for translation as both a field of research and a creative discipline that requires not only linguistic skill, but also imagination, interpretation, and cultural sensitivity. 'It’s increasingly recognised as a literary art form,’ says Professor Leeder, herself a prize-winning translator. ‘We’re seeing a real coming of age for the field.’

The course will be based in the University’s new Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities, which brings many of Oxford’s internationally recognised Humanities faculties together under one roof, with new spaces for teaching, performance, and film. ‘There is a considerable creative reservoir and appetite for this course at Oxford. This is an exciting opportunity for students who will be joining a hub of creative activity,’ says Professor Leeder.

Distinct from academic translation, creative translation explores the history, theory and methodologies of translation and interprets not just meaning but voice, considering tone, rhythm, and emotion. In recent years, campaigns such as #NameTheTranslator have sought to credit translators alongside authors on book covers and prize lists, helping to foreground their role as artists and creative interpreters.

We hope this course will...serve as a reminder that the ability to imagine, interpret, and connect across languages and cultures remains a distinctly human endeavour.

Professor Karen Leeder

As well as developing their own practice as a translator, students on the Creative Translation course will be introduced to a range of materials, from the earliest translations of ancient texts to the dilemmas of AI, examine how translations differ, and explore areas such as translation for performance, adaptation, early modern translation, translating the untranslatable, multilingualism, as well as focussing on specific languages, genres, and periods. The course will include a programme of regular industry sessions with visiting creatives and experts.

The timing of the course is not coincidental. In the UK there is a growing demand for skilled translators to support thriving creative industries. It also comes at a time when the human role in translation is more important than ever, says Professor Leeder.

Artificial intelligence now plays a major role in translation – from machine-assisted software to Large Language Models. This technology processes and translates language in almost a blink of an eye enabling us all to ostensibly assume the role of translator. While these tools are powerful, they also raise questions about authorship, meaning, and creativity.

Professor Leeder is pragmatic. ‘All art forms are under threat from AI,’ she says, ‘but AI is used in translation, and we must find ways to work productively with it.’ The course will encourage students to critically engage with these technologies while also recognising their limits and learning to identify what makes for ‘good’ translation.

She points to some foreign language television series which have gained global followings in recent years, but in which mistranslating (or machine translating) in subtitling is a common issue. This has led to ‘lost in translation’ moments caused by words being incorrectly translated, paraphrasing, a lack of understanding of cultural context, nuance around characters being lost, and a failure to successfully deal with humour.

Human translators, Professor Leeder explains, will always bring something that machines cannot replicate. ‘AI can’t deal with metaphor, idiom, or the stresses of word order and how this can change meaning. This is where the value of human translation lies.’ 

‘There needs to be a re-evaluation of the role of the human translator,’ she goes on. ‘It’s so important to champion their role in the future of publishing when authorship itself is under threat.

‘We hope this course will not only prepare graduates to make a real impact in our creative industries, supporting a new generation of translators as creative thinkers, collaborators, and innovators, but will serve as a reminder that the ability to imagine, interpret, and connect across languages and cultures remains a distinctly human endeavour.’

Oxford University physicists are simulating the strange, probabilistic world of quantum mechanics, opening the door to new innovations for superconductors, materials science, and quantum technologies.

It turns out that when you chill atoms to near absolute zero and suspend them in magnetic fields, the usual rules of matter no longer apply. Instead, the bizarre logic of quantum mechanics - where particles behave like waves and probabilities replace certainties- rule the day. But here at Oxford, researchers are not merely observing these strange phenomena, but engineering and controlling it with pioneering precision.

The ability to trap atoms and separate them into two distinct layers using radio frequencies is something Oxford specialises in. It has taken years of development in our group to reach this point, but it is now yielding extraordinary new insights.

Erik Rydow, DPhil student (Department of Physics)

‘It’s a bit like building a wind tunnel for quantum physics,’ explains Erik Rydow, DPhil student in Oxford’s Ultracold Quantum Matter Lab. ‘You can simulate how an aircraft wing behaves on a computer, but to really understand it, you need a controlled experiment. We’ve built the quantum equivalent of that wind tunnel.’

Quantum systems can be notoriously hard to simulate because they don’t behave like the physical systems we experience day to day. In the classical world, if the starting conditions of a system are precisely the same each time, then the final result will be the same. But in quantum mechanics, particles can exist in more than one state at once. This means that simulating a quantum system in general does not give you a definite outcome: instead, it gives you a spread of probabilities for the different things that may happen.

‘You can think of it like rolling a dice,’ adds Erik. ‘In the classical world, if the starting conditions are exactly the same each time, then the dice will land in the same place. But in the quantum world, even if the starting state is exactly the same between rolls, the dice can land on different sides. This means you can’t say for certain what outcome will happen; you can only give a probability.’

Trying to capture all these possibilities quickly overwhelms even the world’s fastest supercomputers. With every extra particle added to the calculation, the number of states multiplies, dramatically increasing the possible outcomes and making the problem intractable. The Ultracold Quantum Matter research group in Oxford has a different approach. Rather than trying to calculate every outcome, researchers build quantum simulators: real, highly controlled experiments where the atoms themselves play out the quantum behaviour.

This capability rests on decades of innovations to trap and cool atoms. Using finely-tuned lasers and magnetic fields, a gas of rubidium atoms is chilled to near absolute zero; cold enough that tens of thousands of atoms all occupy the same quantum state. At such a low temperature, the behaviour of the atoms is determined by their quantum wavelike nature, and the different outcomes for identical particles can reveal the probabilities predicted by quantum mechanics. This creates an extraordinary laboratory for probing quantum effects that, until recently, were purely theoretical.

A hallmark of Oxford’s expertise is precision control. By manipulating atoms with radio frequencies, the team can separate them into ultrathin layers only a few microns apart with an exactness that is challenging to achieve with more standard protocols that use lasers. Uniquely to Oxford’s apparatus, these atoms can be precisely engineered into not just a single layer, but two. This enables researchers to capture extraordinary quantum ‘tunnelling’ effects, where atoms can be present in both layers at once, or flickering between them in ways that defy classical physics.

‘The ability to trap atoms and separate them into two distinct layers using radio frequencies is something Oxford specialises in,’ adds Erik. ‘It has taken years of development in our group to reach this point, but it is now yielding extraordinary new insights.’

Creating new phases of matter

As well as exploring exotic physics, understanding these quantum effects could help unlock a pivotal goal: next-generation superconducting materials that enable frictionless flow of electrons at higher temperatures.

Layered quantum systems are at the heart of many next-generation materials, from superconductors to quantum devices. By recreating and tuning such systems from the ground up, physicists are testing longstanding theories and exploring new phases of matter with unprecedented control.

Dr Shinichi Sunami (Department of Physics)

In a recent study published in Nature Communications, the Oxford team were able to map out, for the first time, how their double-layer system changes under different conditions - a kind of ‘phase diagram’ for this new quantum material. What they saw was striking: when the two layers were brought close enough, quantum tunnelling between them helped the particles flow without friction, even at higher temperatures than expected for a single layer.

Normally, tiny whirlpools (known as vortices) would appear and disrupt this frictionless flow. However, the tunnelling between the layers effectively suppressed those disturbances, preserving the smooth, resistance-free movement.

‘While actual tunnelling of particles is not very frequent, the consequences are dramatic: it binds the layers into a single state with shared coherence, enabling frictionless flow across both layers. It effectively becomes a new phase of matter,’ says Dr Shinichi Sunami, a postdoctoral researcher of the group who supervised the project. Oxford’s state-of-the-art quantum simulator apparatus enables researchers to precisely control the separation and therefore quantum tunnelling rate between the layers, allowing them to investigate precisely how these phenomena invoke new properties.

Similar principles apply in advanced materials like bilayer graphene, where tiny shifts in alignment can dramatically change its properties. By directly observing how these transitions happen, quantum simulations are providing insights that no classical computer could calculate alone.

A platform for discovery

Here at Oxford, this is just the beginning. The same apparatus that allows researchers to validate theories can also explore uncharted territory: How do quantum systems evolve when cooled suddenly? How do entirely new phases of matter emerge in real time?

‘These are questions theory alone struggles to answer,’ says Erik. ‘But with our simulators, we can perform the experiment and watch events at the quantum level unfold. I feel extraordinarily lucky to be working on this for my DPhil research. There are so many other interesting phenomena we can explore with this unique apparatus.’