London Art & Culture London Museums Science MuseumThe Science Museum
The Science Museum evolved into its current form after numerous incarnations. A museum was initially founded in 1857 from the collection of the Royal Society of Arts and surplus items from the Great Exhibition. The Great Exhibition had been an enormous commercial success, 
so under Prince Albert's direction, the surplus money was diverted into a scheme to fund two museums. Albert, Queen Victoria's consort took a great interest in the business of science and general education. In fact this area which houses three significant museums, all next to one another was christened "Albertopolis" by the popular press at the time, and it still retains the name (The Natural History Museum, The Science Museum and The Victoria and Albert Museum: are all essential visits in London). The South Kensington Museum - was actually The Victoria and Albert Museum and The Science Museum incorporated. It was situated in the buildings of the V&A, but the Science Museum's collection was separated and became the Museum of Patents, then later the Patent Office Museum in 1863.
In 1885, the Science Collections were renamed The Science Museum, the Art Collections were renamed the Art Museum (and later still became the Victoria and Albert Museum). At this point the Science Collections had to be divorced from the Art Collection due to Queen Victoria’s stipulation that any title bestowed, would be for art only.
The Science Museum curates a vast collection of treasures, including items such as Stephenson's Rocket, Puffing Billy (the oldest surviving steam locomotive), the first jet engine, a reconstruction of Francis Crick and James Watson's model of DNA, some of the earliest remaining steam engines, the Apollo 10 Command Module, a working example of Charles Babbage's Difference engine, the first prototype of the 10,000-year Clock of the Long Now, and documentation of the first typewriter. 
The Science Museum also contains hundreds of interactive exhibits. A recent addition is the IMAX 3D Cinema showing science and nature documentaries, some in 3-D, and the Wellcome Wing which focuses on digital technology. (The Medical paraphernalia has since moved to The Wellcome Collection, on the Euston Road.)
As with the Natural History Museum next door, the focus is on accessibility. The Science Museum exhibits are detailed and documented, but avoid being dry and academic. Interactive displays and scientific experiments are more common than verbose details. In short it's fun for children, but informative. It's possible to read novels worth of explanation about the horrors of wartime London, but standing beneath the towering V2 rocket on display in the 'Making the Modern World' gallery and imagining the reported numbers which rained down onto the capital in 1945, brings the prospect into sharp relief.
There will be a bag search when entering, but this always provides an informal indication of how a place is run from the top down. The Science Museum is
enthusiastic, professional, friendly and efficient - which is all you could ask for. During holidays and half-terms the building will be seething with children and parents - but the atmosphere is fun, rather than oppressive and you get carried along by the enthusiasm of the younger crowd. I remember coming here as a child and being fixated when I saw a full-size steam locomotive on one of the upper floors. I thought about it privately for months afterwards - how did they get it up there? Why didn't it fall through the floor? That image of a huge train sitting inside a building on a 20 metre piece of track has never really left me. There's something about seeing objects and places in the flesh that affords a more vivid insight - and it's for this reason that museums exist, I suppose. The beauty of them however, is that the interest and absorption never really wanes, no matter what age you are - just the impetus to get you there.
So. Go to the Science Museum when in London. Your head and heart will thank you for it.
Open 10am – 6pm every day except 24 to 26 December.
Entry is free, but charges apply for the IMAX 3D Cinema, simulators and some special exhibitions.
Quick trip around the Science Museum in South Kensington.
The Science Museum, Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London SW7 2DD.
Nearest Tube: South Kensington.
Call: 0870 870 4868
