The Science Museum

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.

Stephensons Rocket

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.

Model T Ford

Apollo 10 Command Module

Interactive displays in the Launchpad

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.

Henry Wellcome

The Science Museum organises "Science Night", "all night extravaganza with a scientific twist". Up to 380 children aged between 8 and 11, are invited to spend an evening performing fun "science based" activities and then spend the night sleeping in the galleries museum amongst the exhibits.