Investigating with scientific materials

The study begins with finding the primary materials. The primary materials are that the rocks, minerals, and fossils in geology, the dead bodies, skeletons, and organs in zoology, or the stoneware, earthenware and ancient documents in archaeology. From these collections new ideas were created. However, it is difficult to find truth from one object. Many primary materials provide a chance for the birth of academic and cultural spheres. Researchers have a habit of collecting things. They collect old stones, dead bodies or ancient documents, and from these collections, an academic field is established. Certainly studies with strict purposes should be carried out, but we cannot reach a conclusion without materials. For this reason, scholars continuously collect materials.

Once the material is collected, we classify them based on knowledge. Usually, rocks are classified by geological systems and animals are classified by their evolutionary history. Every collection is strictly arranged according to knowledge and theory, and we can begin to think theoretically about specimens. The UMUT Hall of Inspiration shows that collection and classification are carried out in the storehouse of the museum.

However, society no longer appears to cherish this source of knowledge. This has become noticeable with the sharpening of rationalism and economic dependence. It is often noticed that when one speaks of academism, it is to suggest that it has simply contributed to the ornate commercialization and economic activity of the technology. However, at the forefront of academic thought regarding nature, history, and human beings, we must inherit and expand the source of knowledge from the specimen. We should develop the academic and cultural spheres as proof of our fundamental human existence.

A large amount of the materials in the UMUT Hall of Inspiration will contribute to scholarly research. These specimens may not have extended new discoveries, theories or thinking yet. Therefore, we should continuously make collections that will be treasures for humankind.

Hideki Endo & Mayu Kusumi