Nasmus

ANC Centenary

ANC Centenary temporary exhibition

On 8 January 2012 the African National Congress (ANC) celebrates its 100^th birthday. To commemorate this historical moment in South Africa’s political history, the National Museum has put up a display on the history of this political organisation. The display consists of banners that tell the history of the ANC by means of a timeline with certain key events highlighted. A fascinating aspect of the display is the information on the real founding venue of the ANC in Bloemfontein that was discovered by one of the National Museum’s historians, Dr Hannes Haasbroek, in 2002. Photographs of the founding venue, namely the Wesleyan School in Fort Street, Waaihoek, as well as a description of the events of 8 January 1912, provide interesting reading for the visitor. The display is further enhanced by books and documents on the ANC and its leaders.

John Nyaphuli receives Morris F. Skinner Award

John Nyaphuli with the 2011 Morris F. Skinner Award

John Nyaphuli, the National Museum’s most experienced fossil preparator, was awarded the 2011 Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Morris F. Skinner Award.  This award is presented for outstanding and sustained contributions to scientific knowledge through the making of important collections of fossil vertebrates and encouraging, training or teaching others towards the same pursuits.  Based in the United States, the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology is palaeontology’s largest international society.  John is only the second South African to have won this award, after the late James Kitching, who won it in 2000.

John has 38 years of experience in the field and has recovered hundreds of fossils, including six specimens that are completely new to science. His efforts in the field have been recognized by numerous researchers and in honour of his contribution to palaeontology, two new species, the basal anomodont therapsids (ancient ancestors of mammals) Australosyodon nyaphuli and Patranomodon nyaphulii, have been named after him. He was also awarded Honorary Life Membership of the National Museum in 1999 and Honorary Life Membership of the Palaeontological Society of Southern Africa in 2004 for his outstanding contributions to palaeontology.

John, at the age of 78, travelled to Las Vegas with Dr Jennifer Botha-Brink in November 2011 to attend the 71^st annual meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology in order to receive the award in person.

Mentorship programme in fossil preparation

South Africa is world-renowned for its extensive fossil record.  The rocks of the Karoo Basin contain the most complete record of the origins and evolution of mammals and the earliest dinosaurs, making South Africa one of the top palaeontological destinations in the world.  New fossil species are continually being discovered, species which contain new information about the early ancestors of mammals and dinosaurs.  As part of our natural heritage, these specimens must be carefully prepared and conserved.  Important information contained in fossils can be developed and enhanced by proper and careful preparation techniques and this information can be preserved for future generations through publication of research results, and the proper conservation and storage of these specimens.

Fossil preparators, who are responsible for preparing fossils for research and exhibition purposes by removing the surrounding rock or matrix and repairing damaged parts, play a critical role in Palaeontology.  Correct preparation techniques have the ability to unlock crucial information from a specimen, whereas poor preparation can result in the loss of that information.

Fossil preparation requires a combination of skills which must be developed over time; it demands knowledge of the specimen, the ability to focus for long periods of time, fine motor skills, patience and motivation.

John Nyaphuli

The National Museum is pleased to announce a mentorship programme in fossil preparation, co-ordinated by Mr John Nyaphuli and sponsored by the Technical Training and Capacity Support Programme of the Palaeontological Scientific Trust’s (PAST) Scatterlings of Africa Project.  Mr John Nyaphuli has worked as a fossil preparator in the Karoo Palaeontology Department of the National Museum since 1973.  He has 37 years experience in field excavation, mechanical and acid fossil preparation and is one of the finest fossil preparators in the world.  He has discovered numerous fossils and in recognition of his outstanding contributions to Palaeontology, both in the field and laboratory, was awarded Honorary Life Membership of the National Museum in 1999 and Honorary Life Membership of the Palaeontological Society of Southern Africa in 2004.

Mr Nyaphuli has trained numerous preparators at various institutions over the years and the Museum has been eager to begin a new mentorship programme with two trainees, Ms Sabie Chaka and Mr William Molehe, who joined the Museum recently this year. Our new preparators will be preparing fossils as part of an educational programme to promote Palaeontology in Bloemfontein.  The fossils will provide learners with the unique opportunity to touch the remains of animals that lived millions of years ago.  The educational aspect of the programme will be launched in 2012 in association with PAST’s Walking Tall Educational Theatre Project, a programme that uses theatre to inform learners about the story of life on Earth.

John teaching William Molehe (left) and Sabie Chaka correct preparation techniques

National Science Week

National Science Week

National Science Week, an initiative of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), is a countrywide celebration of science involving various stakeholders and role players conducting science-based activities.  National Science Week will take place simultaneously at multiple sites in all nine provinces.

The South African Agency for Science and Technology Advancement (SAASTA), a business unit of the National Research Foundation (NRF), acts as project manager for National Science Week 2011.

The focus week will run from Monday 1 to Saturday 6 August 2011.  National Science Week is intended to expose the public, educators and learners to science, engineering and technology awareness and science-based careers.

The National Museum, Bloemfontein will celebrate National Science Week as follows:

1. Selected schools have been invited to attend presentations at the Museum from Monday 1 to Friday 5 August 2011.
2. Families are invited to the Family Science Open Day on 6 August 2011.  Entry to this event is free, but booking is essential.  

Please book by calling Mr Tebogo Mohlakane-Mafereka at 051-447 9609 or 081 326 2210 or tebogo [dot] mohlakane [at] nasmus [dot] co [dot] za. 

The Family Science Open Day will start with a Science Café (discussion session) at 09h00 with the topic “The role of Science in economic development”.  The 11h30 session will feature a DVD on global warming awareness, entitled: “An Inconvenient Truth – a global warning” by Al Gore.  Snacks and cool drinks will be on sale at the Museum Shop.

Museum scientist publishes second book

'n Seun soos Bram - Bram Fischer, book cover

‘n Seun soos Bram is a treatment of the life of advocate and anti-apartheid activist Bram Fischer.  This is not a book about Fischer’s via dolorosa or an analytical work about his communism.  It is the story of a promising Afrikaner boy in the context of his prominent Free State family.  It is also the story of his mother Ella who never abandoned her own nationalist views or her devotion to her son.  This story of intrigue and espionage, but also of Bram’s happy childhood and close ties with his mother, is partly based on new documents such as family letters and Ella’s diaries.

The author, Hannes Haasbroek, is Head of the History Department at the National Museum.  His book on the life of the well known soprano, Cecilia Wessels, Stem en Legende, was published in 2005.

Night at the Museum

Night at the Museum: NASMUS

Museum staff hosted another highly successful Night at the Museum on 20 May 2011. Visitors were enthralled by talking portraits, aliens and meeting Fiona (of Shrek fame) in person. More than 1 100 people visited the Museum for this special event.

Night at the Museum

Night at the Museum: NASMUS

Join us on 20 May 2011 for a Night at the Museum.

Contact us on 051 447 9609 to reserve your place.

Adults: R20
Children: R10

World’s rarest fly rediscovered

Mormotomyia hirsuta Female

On a recent trip to Kenya, Ashley Kirk-Spriggs, Entomologist at the National Museum, and Bob Copeland (International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE), Nairobi, were fortunate to re-discover the bizarre wingless fly, Terrible Hairy Fly (Mormotomyia hirsuta), which has only been collected twice before, in 1933 and 1948, although several expeditions have subsequently been unsuccessful in re-discovering the species.

The fly belongs to a family of its own, the Mormotomyiidae, which is endemic to the Afrotropical Region.  The systematic position of this family within the higher flies has long been an anomaly and we now have suitably preserved specimens (collected during our trip) for molecular analysis. The situation regarding its systematic position can now at last be resolved.

Mormotomyia hirsuta Male

The species is known from only a single locality in the world and is the world's 'rarest fly'.  The flies are associated with bats and the larvae develop in the bat guano following heavy rains when this is washed from a cleft in the rock inhabited by the bats.

The flies have the forewings reduced to tiny straps, and have enormously long legs, clothed in immensely long hairs which they use as a parachute to drift down from the roof of the rock crevice in which they live.

This discovery represents a major leap forward in our understanding of the systematics of the higher flies and is causing a great deal of excitement within the dipterological community worldwide.

Top photo:Mormotomyia hirsuta Female