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34-735: The Science Museum Group ( SMG ) consists of five British museums: Items in the SMG collection that are not on display are usually stored at the National Collections Centre in Swindon , Wiltshire . The origins of SMG lie in the internationalisation and optimism of the Great Exhibition of 1851, which enabled the foundation of the South Kensington Museum in 1857. The term "National Museum of Science and Industry" had been in use as

68-617: A corporate title for the entire organisation. At this point NMSI became a non-departmental public body under the auspices of the sponsoring government department, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport . From January 2012 the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester became part of the Science Museum Group. From 2017 Locomotion, The National Railway Museum at Shildon, became part of

102-646: A hundred bird and bat boxes together with log piles, hibernacula, beehives, and species-rich grassland provide habitats and homes for reptiles, insects and other wildlife. In a further commitment to biodiversity, 1,000 native trees will be planted annually throughout the 2020s, joining 49,000 trees already planted by the Science Museum Group at the site. Staff offices at the site benefit from solar hot water, while green-roofed bike racks provide space for insects and plants as well as bicycle storage. Dedicated electric car charging points encourage more sustainable transport methods, complementing electric vehicles already in use at

136-701: A major sponsor of this exhibition. Throughout 2021 SMG is hosting Climate Talks which are a series of online talks, Q&As and events exploring problems arising from climate change . In October 2021, the SMG announced that a new climate change gallery to be opened in 2023 at the Science Museum would be sponsored by an arm of coal producer Adani Group . SMG continues to work to reduce carbon emissions from operations, recruitment and supply chain, and by using resources efficiently. On 15 April 2021 SMG announced that it expects to achieve overall Net Zero/Carbon Neutrality by 2033. The collection includes: Over 380,000 of

170-577: A new purpose-built facility to care for the collection began. It was completed in 2021 and is now the Science Museum Group’s primary collections management facility. The primary role of the National Collections Centre is to conserve and manage the collections of the Science Museum Group. Over 300,000 objects are housed at the site in former aircraft hangars and a modern purpose-built collection management facility. The facility

204-422: Is 90m wide and 300m long, and has conservation laboratories, research areas and photography studios alongside a storage hall with 30,000 metres of shelving to house the collection. Access by researchers to objects can be requested by appointment. The facility will open to public tours and school visits in late 2024. Objects stored at the centre include: The Science Museum Library & Archives are also held at

238-407: Is the Science Museum Group’s most energy efficient building yet, with sector-leading innovations in low energy intensity collections care. A 'fabric first' design approach maximised the performance of the facility’s building materials to improve energy efficiency while reducing energy needs, operational costs and carbon emissions. The sustainable choice of a highly insulated and airtight facility allows

272-492: Is the home of the Science Museum Group's National Collections Centre , which holds around 80% of the group's collection. The Science Museum took ownership of the 545-acre former RAF Wroughton airfield in 1979, to be used as a storage facility for the museum's largest objects. In 2007 the collection of the Science Museum Library and Archives was also relocated to new facilities at the site. The Science Museum Group,

306-669: The British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum had previously used Blythe House in London as storage, but had to move out after the government announced its intention to sell the building. The Science Museum Group received £40m from the government to develop and create a high-quality accessible facility for the management of the collection at the site in Wroughton. In 2018, the project to create

340-609: The Ordnance Survey , the museum administration moved to the Department of Woods and Forests in 1845. Larger premises soon became necessary, and a design for a new building, the Museum of Practical Geology, was commissioned from James Pennethorne . Built on a long narrow site with frontages in Piccadilly and Jermyn Street , that building housed the galleries, as well as a library, a 500-seat lecture theatre, offices and laboratories. It

374-563: The Victoria and Albert Museum . The museum was reopened by the then Duke of York in July 1935, after the completion of the new building on Exhibition Road in South Kensington two years prior - it had housed the ill-starred World Economic Conference in June 1933, which had brought together the representatives of 66 nations in a failed effort to end the then-prevalent global depression . The cost of

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408-537: The Imperial College & Science Museum Libraries. Due to the increasing demand for space in South Kensington, about 85% of the collections and all of the archives moved to a specially adapted library building at Wroughton in 2007. By 2014, almost all of the library had been moved to Wroughton. Researchers can apply to have items brought to the Dana Research Centre and Library in South Kensington. Amongst

442-589: The NHM] is like switching over from a television programme made for schools to a big-screen epic, choreographed by Busby Berkeley ." However, it was not until 1998 that the previously difficult to find corridor between what had been the NHM and Geological Museum buildings was replaced by a new link gallery. The former Geological Museum galleries are now known as the Red Zone in the NHM's plans and internal directional signage. In 2014

476-573: The National Collections Centre. They contain original scientific, technical and medical works from the last 500 years. The printed collections include rare books and first editions, journals from the 16th to the 20th centuries, Trade Literature, exhibition catalogues, British patents from 1617 to 1992 as well as over 85,000 books focussing on the history and social aspects of science, technology and medicine. The named archive collections include personal papers, photographs, glass plate negatives, company records and technical drawings. The Science Museum Library

510-557: The Planets , British Fossils , Pebbles , Treasures of the Earth and finally British Offshore Oil and Gas , which opened in 1988. Treasures of the Earth was the first major museum gallery in the world to integrate computers presenting images and text adjacent to artefacts as part of the information process within the exhibition. The central feature film, Liquid Assets , in the Oil and Gas exhibition

544-456: The Science Museum Group. In 2010 the Science Museum, London opened its climate science gallery Atmosphere which, as at April 2021, has been visited by over 5 million people. In 2021 the Science Museum, London also opened a temporary exhibition 'Our Future Planet' which explores the science of carbon capture . Environmental campaigners criticized the decision of SMG to appoint Shell as

578-659: The Science Museum Group: The following have separately been directors of the NMSI: National Collections Centre The Science and Innovation Park is a research and cultural site near Swindon , England. Part of the Science Museum Group , the 545 acres (221 ha) Park hosts a range of research and development activity, filming and photography projects, storage for culture sector partners and other commercial activity. It

612-587: The Science Museum's subtitle since the early 1920s. Prior to 1 April 2012 the group was known as the National Museum of Science and Industry ( NMSI ). The National Science and Media Museum , formerly the National Media Museum, was established by the Science Museum in 1983. The Science Museum was run directly by HM Government until 1984, when the Board of Trustees was established and NMSI was then adopted as

646-458: The Science and Innovation Park. Recycled plastic road materials provide sustainable surfaces for access roads and the service yard, aiding drainage and reducing carbon emissions. Hemp and lime have been combined to create a low-energy, humidity-controlled Hemcrete store providing a carefully managed space for some of the most vulnerable objects in the collection. The new collections management facility

680-571: The custody of the Natural Environment Research Council to the newly independent Natural History Museum (NHM) by 1985. Renamed as Visions of the Earth, the Central Hall of the former Museum was transformed in 1996 to a design by Neal Potter. This included the installation of a large escalator (rising eleven metres at a 30° slope) that ascends continuously over two storeys and passes through a model globe. That globe rotated around

714-422: The environmental conditions needed for the collection to be maintained with minimal energy use. Solar photovoltaic panels on the roof meet part of the site’s electricity needs, with biomass boilers providing heating for dehumidification. Limiting access points to the building, the inclusion of a loading bay airlock and the use of intelligent LED lighting all further reduce the facility’s energy demands. Rainwater at

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748-525: The escalator, with dramatic sound effects based on Jimi Hendrix 's " Third Stone from the Sun ", attempting to give an impression of the flux in the core of the Earth. The escalator was a response to survey feedback that few visitors navigated the Geological Museum's monumental staircase to the top floors. Potter's major re-ordering of the galleries means that visitors are now encouraged to start their visit at

782-405: The facility is captured to create a large wetland area encircled by Clout's Wood , a Site of Special Scientific Interest. The Science and Innovation Park is regularly used for research and development, films and television, storage for other culture sector partners and testing of equipment for new technology and energy projects. Inserts for the television series The Grand Tour were filmed on

816-462: The items in the Science Museum Group's collections are available to view online at its Search Our Collection web page. The chairman of the group is Sir Tim Laurence who was appointed by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on 1st January 2024, succeeding Dame Mary Archer who had served from 2015. The following have been directors of the National Museum of Science and Industry, the Science Museum and

850-543: The library and archives holdings are: In April 2021 the Science Museum Group announced that it is targeting to achieve overall Net Zero / Carbon Neutrality by 2033. The Science and Innovation Park hosts one of the UK's largest solar farms, completed in 2016, which is capable of generating close to 50GWh of energy per year, three times more than that consumed by the Science Museum Group as a whole. The Park contains large open grasslands and 30 hectares of native woodlands. More than

884-503: The museum formed its own design team which, working closely with the scientists and technicians, produced a series of temporary and permanent exhibitions starting with the re-presentation of the gem collection and then, with a design team led by Giles Velarde (Head of Exhibition Design from 1974 to 1988), produced Early Days of Geology in Britain , Black Gold , Britain Before Man , Journey to

918-559: The name "Institute of Geological Sciences". In 1971 the museum employed the late designer James Gardner to design and produce The Story of the Earth , which was acknowledged as a significant breakthrough in science museum design and critically acclaimed and imitated worldwide. It was opened by Queen Elizabeth II and became well known for the huge reproduction of a rock face, cast from site in Scotland , and for its planetarium , active volcano model and earthquake machine. Between 1971 and 1974

952-649: The new building was stated at around £220,000 by the First Commissioner of Works . Following the move, the museum became well known for the many dioramas (three-dimensional paintings) used to interpret geology and one or two mining techniques. These have largely been dismantled since the Natural History Museum took over the museum in 1986. In 1965, the museum was merged with the British Geological Survey and Overseas Geological Surveys, under

986-463: The site's former airfield roads from 2016 to 2019. Museum of Practical Geology The Museum of Economic Geology was established in 1837 in a building at 6 Craig's Court , Whitehall, at the suggestion of Henry de la Beche , the first director general of the Geological Survey . The museum's library was founded by de la Beche in 1843, mainly by donation from his own library. Initially under

1020-508: The top of the building by ascending an escalator as part of the visit itinerary. The previously open-sided balconies of the atrium space are now solid walls lined with slabs of recycled slate. These are sand-blasted to show the major stars in the night sky and the planets in the Solar System . The Museums Association 's journal Museum Practice reported in 2007 that "the contrast between galleries just before and just after Potter’s arrival [at

1054-711: The uses of purposes of use and ornament The collections were accordingly arranged in two main sections covering natural materials found in the United Kingdom, and industrial products made from them. There were three secondary sections, covering mechanical appliances used to process raw materials, specimens of historical products, and foreign materials imported in their raw state. The museum also included maps, mosaics, glass, pottery, and busts of prominent geologists and scientists, including William Smith and James Hall , though in 1901 over 2,700 decorative arts and archaeological items such as glassware and ceramics were transferred to

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1088-628: Was constructed between 1845 and 1849, and was opened by Prince Albert on May 14, 1851. The purpose of the museum, as summarised in the Descriptive Guide , published in 1867, was: to exhibit the rocks minerals, and organic remains, illustrating the maps and sections of the Geological Survey of the United Kingdom: also to exemplify the applications of the Mineral productions of these Islands to

1122-727: Was founded in 1883 as the Science Library of the South Kensington Museum. It was formed of collections from the South Kensington Educational Library and the library of the Museum of Practical Geology . In 1907 it moved to the Royal College of Science building. When the Science Museum gained its independence in 1909, the Science Library became its responsibility. In 1992 the Library joined with Imperial College London to form

1156-528: Was shot and viewed vertically from a circular gallery and won a major award from the IVCA in 1989. "The Power Within" exhibition on seismology includes a reconstruction of the 1995 Kobe earthquake . Following the relocation of the British Geological Survey's academic activities to Keyworth , the museum galleries (renamed The Earth Galleries ) and the majority of its collections were transferred from

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