On 20 October 1868, Norman Lockyer discovered helium. Associate Curator of Chemistry Rupert Cole tells the story.
We asked our very own Explainers about their favourite exhibits in Wonderlab: The Equinor Gallery. Here’s what they said.
Curator of our recent exhibition The Sun: Living With Our Star, Dr Oliver Carpenter, takes a look back to the most important eclipse of the nineteenth century.
In exciting news, a source of cosmic rays has been detected almost 4 billion light years away. Keeper Alison Boyle unravels this cosmic mystery.
Roger Highfield, Director of External Affairs, describes efforts to predict solar storms as the museum prepared to launch a major new exhibition about the Sun.
To celebrate 51 years since Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was first released, we look at five ways The Beatles influenced the world of science.
A new spacecraft has landed at the Science Museum: the Structural Thermal Model of BepiColombo, developed to test the strength of the spacecraft when on its mission to Mercury. Here are some interesting facts you might not know about this challenging mission…
Events Programmer Federica Marzari tells us how she became fascinated with a collection of coins, and was inspired to create a workshop for kids, Constellation Coasters.
On Monday 21 August 2017, a solar eclipse was visible across most of the United States for the first time in a century. To celebrate, curator Ali Boyle shared a short history of eclipses and a few favourite objects from our collection.
Recent visitors to the Science Museum may have spied the updated ‘Planet Science’ display in our Exploring Space gallery. Space Curator Doug Millard explores the story behind ‘Planet Science’ below. It’s hard to believe that we didn’t know what the surface of Mars looked like until 1964. That was the year NASA’s Mariner 4 spacecraft flew past the planet and returned the first images. And for many it was a big disappointment; no rivers or oceans; no vegetation; no indications […]
Assistant Curator Rupert Cole looks into the remarkable life of astronomer, engineer and photographer Mary Rosse.
Churchill and the possibility of extra-terrestrial life.