Science Museum

The Science Museum is one of the major museums and tourist attractions in UK. It’s located on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, London and its attracting over 3.3 million visitors annually. The museum records the scientific, technological and medical discoveries since the 18^th century until today.

History

The Science Museum originates from the Museum of Patents, later the Patent Office Museum. However, it has become independent on 26 June 1909 thanks, in part, to the work of Sir Robert Morant. Its present quarters, which were designed by Sir Richard Allison, were opened to the public in stages over the period from 1919-1928. Presently, the museum possesses a collection of more than 300 000 items, including the oldest surviving steam locomotive – Puffing Billy; reconstruction of Francis Crick and James Watson’s model of DNA, the world’s first jet engine and remains of some of the first steam engines.

Exhibitions

The museum is divided into interesting theme galleries. Some of them are permanent and other temporary. “Glimpses of Medical History” or “Science and the Art of Medicine” describes medical practices and instruments from ancient times in many different cultures. “Making the Modern World” is a relatively new gallery but it contains numerous significant objects, such as Stephenson’s Rocket, Apollo spacecraft and Watson and Crick’s double helix. “Flight” has a collection of several full sized aeroplanes and helicopters such as Alsock and Brown’s transatlantic Vickers Vimy from 1919, Spitfire and Hurricane fighters, but also a cross section of Boeing 747 planes.

“Information Age” explores six types of network that influenced and transformed global communications: The Cable, The Telephone Exchange, Broadcast, The Constellation, The Cell and The Web. “Space Decent VR”, with former European Space Agency astronaut Tim Peake, takes you on an absolutely fascinating virtual reality tour. Thanks to advanced 360 VR technology, visitors can put themselves into a position of the pilot of Soyuz capsule and retrace Tim Peake’s journey from the ISS back to the Earth. Please remember, that galleries which are mentioned above are just a portion of what the Science Museum has to offer.

Here are some interesting facts in Connect Click opinion:

• The Science Museum organises an event called “Science Night”, where approximately 380 children aged between 8 and 11 spend time with their guardians performing fun “science based” activities and afterwards spend the night sleeping in one of the galleries.
• Some scenes from the thriller “The Ipcress File” with Michael Caine, were filmed in the old Science Museum Library in 1964.

Address: Exhibition Rd, Kensington, London SW7 2DD