please empty your brain below
Sadly more dumbing down at the Science Museum. It started when they removed the live amateur radio station some years ago and replaced it with the communication gallery with a very minimal amateur radio cabinet. Then the kids gallery with lots of interactive things but no content to browse. And now this. Can it get any worse? Long time since I have been there and am not inspired to go again after this.

davews | 24.09.25 - 8:28 a.m. | #

I too remember when the Science Museum was full of fascinating things rather than open spaces with fancy lighting and video presentations. It seems a waste to squirrel more and more stuff away in their storerooms. It’s interesting that the V&A is reversing this trend with its new ‘Storeroom’ site in Stratford that’s open to the public.

ActonMan | 24.09.25 - 9:35 a.m. | #

I'm not entirely sure what the point of it is, back in the day there were books, magazines and films, the museum might be regarded as the cherry on top - now there is substantially more information in ever more granular detail and importantly it's being updated on a regular basis.

Still Anon | 24.09.25 - 11:03 a.m. | #

Quite sad. I know that the argument is that people today aren't interested but I'm not entirely sure it's true.

In a few years time the Science Museum group of museums will have been reduced to a quarter the artifacts they once had.

Same at Bletchley Park, which is no longer home of the codebreakers, but more just a WWII theme park. For the proper codebreaking you need to go to the smaller, more ramshackle but much better National Museum of Computing next door.

Kirk | 24.09.25 - 11:18 a.m. | #

95 bags of human poo ... turning space into a shithouse

dg writes: 96

Caroline | 24.09.25 - 1:21 p.m. | #

The Space gallery certainly has plenty of empty space in it.
Stopped going to the Science Museum years ago, once they added a commercial IMAX cinema.
As for the amateur radio station mentioned in the opening comment I knew the person who ran it, Geoff Voller G3JUL, he is no longer with us.

John | 24.09.25 - 1:53 p.m. | #

I took my 5 year old to the science museum in the Christmas holidays and he loved it.

Kids don't need hundreds of items, they need a handful of well explained items. We looked a lot at the lunar module and the moon rock, and that was enough for the entire space section.

The Kids wonderlab is exceptional, especially the talks where energetic scientists demonstrate experiments.

TomH | 24.09.25 - 1:55 p.m. | #

That final, sparse cabinet is for temporary displays, which will change every few months. They built it specifically large enough to house space suits etc. But it does look a bit rubbish with that tiny bit of tech at the moment.

Matt Brown | 24.09.25 - 6:45 p.m. | #

Glad to read a solitary comment praising the Space Gallery for engaging a current young person - just as it did for most of us in our youth. That's the main purpose of such a place, not to become a relic of the Science Museum of the past.

Frank F | 24.09.25 - 6:53 p.m. | #

The Space Gallery has been open for four days. No young people have left us a parental review just yet.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 24.09.25 - 6:58 p.m. | #

TomH's endorsement is enough for me to want to take my grandchildren. Thanks

Anyoldname | 24.09.25 - 8:30 p.m. | #

I went to watch Apollo 13 with my children at the museum's imax cinema on Monday evening. Watching the film and then coming face to face with a genuine Apollo capsule on the way out was something quite special. If it hadn't been way past their bedtime, we would have stayed longer.

Alistair C | 24.09.25 - 9:11 p.m. | #

I know space would be too costly for this idea, but it would be great if in each "room" one side was the modern/child friendly exhibit, with the other side being a more detailed explanation, keeping everyone (?) happy.

Al | 25.09.25 - 7:59 a.m. | #

I don't expect many visitors remember the boring bits but only the parts that interested them like the Children's Gallery, the Radio Station or the Flight Gallery.

But 40 years ago when I worked their as very junior curator, there were vast galleries filled with stuff that no-one ever visited - the furthest recesses of Shipping; Metrology; Printing; Lighting; Chemistry; et al - were deserted by visitors except for the occasional snoozing person or a lone enthusiast.
If the Science Museum can become a more exciting place by having an Imax (now old enough to be a museum exhibit) then that's all for the better and I suspect they don't have so many unvisited spaces, nowadays.

Museums aren't just repositories of 'stuff' with Whiggish historical interpretation but constantly changing power-houses for people's imagination.

martin'O'Holcombe | 26.09.25 - 10:14 a.m. | #

Just another comment from an oldie who remembers the good old days when the kids' gallery was downstairs, and the highlight was trying to sneak up on an automatic door without triggering the sensor...

Now a dad to 6 year old twin girls, and can confirm that they love the "new" kids' gallery, WonderLab, which is chock full of hands-on, interactive exhibits, and can easily keep them engaged for a couple of hours.

Yes, the Science Museum is different nowadays. But as long as it holds my kids' imaginations and encourages their sense of wonder, I'm OK with it.

Ironically, they weren't particularly engaged by the old space gallery, so I'll have to test the new one out on them.

Mike W | 29.09.25 - 12:32 p.m. | #











TridentScan v3.0.0 | Privacy Policy