Displays and Exhibitions

Take a look at the special exhibitions and displays — and explore our online Galleries

About Time: One Passion. A World of Histories

Why did a businessman like Lewis Evans build one of the finest collections of timekeepers from Europe and the Islamic World?

From Persian astrolabes and German sundials to first edition books by Europe’s most influential mathematicians, he collected and researched them all. 

Step into Lewis’ study and discover how to hold time in your hand. 

From 2 March 2024
Entrance Gallery | Free entry

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Lyra's Worlds

In the Museum that inspired Lyra's alethiometer ...

Just like Lyra with her alethiometer, we search for answers to life's questions in our moving universe. Journey to our Basement and step into the world of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials. Discover iconic costumes and devices from the BBC series, explore intriguing dials that inspired Philip Pullman to create Lyra's alethiometer, and send your questions out to the cosmos.

From 15 November 2022
Basement | Free entry

Step into Lyra's Worlds

COVID: Stories from a Segregated Society

Is the pandemic over? For most people, perhaps. But many of us are still living with its after-effects.

From oximeters and MRI to Community Memories and doffing sheds, join us to discover how communities came together through COVID, and why researchers at Oxford University and around the world are working to understand the long-term impacts of the virus.

From July 2023
Entrance Gallery | Free entry

Take a look before you visit

The Disease of Greed

What’s the difference between genuine, falsified or fake medicines — and how can we tell what’s real?

Come and investigate hoaxes, forgeries and fakes in the world of public health in Southeast Asia.

From 2 April 2024
Basement Gallery | Free entry

Take a look before you visit

Alice in Typhoidland: the past and present of typhoid

Explore the long history and cutting edge research behind typhoid vaccination and rollout.

From 21 January 2020
Basement Gallery | Free entry

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21300 Righi Oscillator Between Earth & Air

Making Waves: Marconi's Radio Revolution

Guglielmo Marconi had a simple vision — to connect the world through wireless technology.

Much of the technology we use today — mobile phones, wifi, GPS, and Bluetooth — can trace its origins back to Marconi’s ideas and devices.

Explore how Marconi’s hands-on science experiments revolutionised the way the whole world stays connected.

From April 2022
Basement Gallery | Free entry

Explore the display

Online: Between Earth & Air: The Marconi Collection

Between Earth & Air by artist Hermeet Gill tells hidden stories about ten iconic objects from the Marconi Collection, framed by wave images visualising the development of radio from Marconi to the present day.

From June 2022
Online story

Dive in

45747 Astrolabe by Muhammad Muqim al Yazdi, Persian, 1647/8, made for Shah Abbas II

Online: Mirror of the Stars

Pick up an astrolabe and you hold the universe in your hand.

Join our curators Dr Federica Gigante and Mathilde Daussy-Renaudin to explore how astrolabes mirrored the traditional view of the Earth at the centre of our moving universe.

From 21 October 2021
Online

Tour the online gallery

Young Producers: 'Prayer'

During 2019, the Young Producers voluntary group at the History of Science Museum worked with the collection of scientific instruments from the Islamic World to create a new display themed around prayer.

From September 2019
Top Gallery | Free entry

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