SCIENCE MUSEUM
Address: Exhibition Road, SW7
Nearest Tube: South Kensington
Buses: 9, 10, 14, 49, 52, 70, 74, 345, 360, 414, C1
Phone: +44 (0)870 870 4771
Hours: 7 days a week, from 10 am to 6 pm.
Closed 24, 25, 26 December.
Admission to the Museum is now free. Charges still apply for the IMAX, Virtual Voyager and simulators, and for some special exhibitions.
It is the headquarters of Britain's National Museum of Science and Industry, and is one of the greatest museums of science and technology in the world. It is one of the South Kensington Museums, and is near the Natural History Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum.
ITS HISTORY
The Science Museum had its origins in the Great Exhibition of 1851, some exhibits of which led to the creation of a Museum of Manufactures and, in due course, to the South Kensington Museum. This museum, which opened in 1857, covered both science and art, and it was not until 1909 that the science section became formally separated. (The arts section went on to form the core of the Victoria and Albert Museum.)
The Science Museum's present quarters, designed by Sir Richard Allison, were opened to the public in stages over the period 1919-28; from then until 1961 there were a number of extensions. In 1997 preparatory work began on the museum's new Wellcome Wing.
The National Railway Museum, York (opened 1975), the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television, Bradford (opened 1983), and exhibits of British naval aviation at the Fleet Air Arm Museum, Yeovilton, Somerset, are also branches of the National Museum of Science and Industry.
ITS CONTENTS & HIGHLIGHTS
The Science Museum's displays are concerned with the presentation of science and its application to industry and everyday life, both historically and from a contemporary viewpoint. Thus, it is possible to see key engines in the development of motive power or exhibits on the great medical advances made over time (the latter drawn from the museum's extensive Wellcome collection).
In the entrance hall a Foucault pendulum demonstrates the rotation of the Earth on its axis, and another gallery explains the many applications of nuclear physics. Petroleum refining, time measurement, the development of computing, space exploration, the extraction and distribution of natural gas, the manufacture of iron and steel, and the development of aircraft are some of the subjects interpreted through the museum's exhibits.
There is also an area known as the Launch Pad, where visitors can introduce themselves to basic scientific concepts through experiments and demonstrations.
Soundbytes are audio stories bringing the Science Museum's galleries to life: you can step through time accompanied by inventors, engineers, scientists and experts.
IMAX CINEMA
The Science Museum has a number of drama shows, talks and IMAX films on every day.
The term "IMAX" comes from the words "Image Maximum" and the IMAX Experience can be described as "the most powerful and involving film experience possible".
The difference between the IMAX Experience and watching a film at a conventional cinema is the feeling that you don't merely watch a film: you feel as if you are actually there.
SCIENCE MUSEUM SHOP
Address: Exhibition Road, SW7
Phone: +44 (0)870 870 4771
The shop of the Science Museum, which is in South Kensington near the Natural History Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum, is ideal for children's gifts. It's a heaven for hyperactive brainy youngsters, and a hell for their parents. Looking down from the top of the stairs is like staring into a kaleidoscope of shifting seven- to nine-year-olds. They move from shelf to shelf, picking up and putting down boxes, all of which seem to have the words "blaster", "ultimate", "jumbo" or "mega" emblazoned on them. If you can grit your teeth and bear it, you could do all your kids' Christmas presents shopping there, and avoid the horror of big toy stores.
Among the shop's highlights are items like Edward De Bono Brain Benders, stomp rockets, and optical-illusion jigsaws.
Website of the museum: Science Museum
London, Thursday 28th August 2008