South Kensington

The Science Museum is open daily 10am to 6pm. Entry is FREE

0870 870 4868

With over 300,000 items, the Science Museum is an outstanding tribute to the ingenuity of human beings over the centuries, covering science, medicine and technology. Highlights include famous items such as Stephenson's Rocket, Puffing Billy the oldest surviving steam locomotive, the first jet engine, James Watson's model of DNA, a working example of Charles Babbage's Difference engine, and the first prototype of a 10,000-year clock. It also contains hundreds of interactive exhibits.

The museum's life essentially began as a display for other museums' excesses. It was part of the South Kensington Museum, and featured surplus items from the Royal Society of Arts, and the Great Exhibition of 1851. But as its collection increased, a little more organisation was required, and the museum was split in two. The art-related pieces were moved into what is now known as the Victoria and Albert Museum, and all the science-related artefacts stayed put, becoming the Science Museum we know today.

Popular galleries cover topics such as flight and space travel; with many interesting exhibits including hot-air balloons, sea-planes, a spitfire and an Apollo space module. But the main draw of the Science Museum is its interactive elements. The Launchpad area, for example, is filled with games, experiments, shows, and demonstrations, to entertain and inform younger visitors.

After the wealthy pharmaceutical businessman, Henry Wellcome, died in 1936, his fortune was used to set up the Wellcome Trust – which is now the largest biomedical charity in the world. The Trust's support of the Science Museum led to the construction of the Wellcome Wing; an entire section of the museum devoted to medicine. With impressive collections on subjects such as clinical medicine and public health, the museum has become a world leader in presenting information on contemporary medical science to the public.

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