Our Research

UK-Germany National Astronomy Meeting NAM2012

Science Museum seeks recent material

This appeal is from the Science Museum, and has been posted on their behalf by the NAM organisers. Please contact the Science Museum directly if you have any questions.

At the Science Museum, we have an ongoing collecting programme to ensure that the UK’s national science and industry collections reflect achievements in British astronomy and space science in recent decades and up to the present day.

Over the last few years, additions to the collections have included parts of the Cambridge Interplanetary Scintillation Array used by Jocelyn Bell Burnell and Anthony Hewish in the discovery of the first pulsar, the JET-X X-ray telescope built by the University of Leicester, the UK Dark Matter Collaboration’s DRIFT-1 detector and the Open University’s engineering model for the Huygens Surface Science Package accelerometer. We also collect examples of popular astronomy and space science. In addition to the 3d collections, the Science Museum Library houses archives of individuals and institutions and a wide range of books and trade literature.

If you have equipment or archive material no longer required for research or teaching that you think may merit a place in the national collections, please get in touch. We can’t accept all offers, but we may be able to help you find other suitable homes for material.

If you have time, it would be very helpful if you could provide us with

  • A brief description of the item (including who made it, where it was made, and what it was used for)
  • An idea of dimensions and materials, to help us assess storage needs
  • A digital photograph, to help us assess conservation needs

Most material does not go on display immediately, but forms part of our reserve collections where it is accessible for study. Items may be used in future exhibitions, or provide a long-term resource for future historians.

Thank you for your interest!

Alison Boyle
Curator, Astronomy & Modern Physics
alison.boyle@sciencemuseum.org.uk
Alison will be at the NAM from Tuesday afternoon to Thursday afternoon, and can be found at the OUT1 sessions.

Doug Millard
Deputy Keeper, Technology and Engineering (including Space Technology)
doug.millard@sciencemuseum.org.uk

The Science Museum is part of the National Museum of Science and Industry, which also includes the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester, the National Media Museum in Bradford and the National Railway Museum in York. You can browse the Science Museum’s collections at http://collectionsonline.nmsi.ac.uk/.