Key Stage 4: How Science Works
Object-rich galleries
Compare your home computer with Babbage's Difference Engine No. 2 in this gallery on the history of the computer. Watch the video on Babbage's ingenious machine, or learn about the mathematical instruments used before the invention of computers.
The ingenious use of steam to generate power helped Britain become the world’s first industrial nation. The steam engines in this gallery range from the earliest type used to the turbines that still generate power today.
This unique, breathtaking gallery chronologically presents 150 of the most significant items from the Science Museum's collections from 1750 to 2000. Nowhere else in the world will you be able to see a display that shows so vividly the development of the modern industrial world.
Special exhibitions
Discover the forgotten story of 1000 years of science from the Muslim world.
Our latest in-depth exhibition asks which technologies might be best at tackling climate change. Discover how to make sense of all the solutions being offered, cut through the debates and explore one controversial suggestion – biofuels – in more detail.
Explore how astronomy has changed the way we see our universe - and ourselves - through this object-rich exhibition.
Imagine, invent, adapt; use, reuse, recycle. An exhibition exploring the first century of plastics.