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Functionless
Displays of instruments in science museums are closer to those of decorative arts artefacts than to the presentation of real functional and practical objects. This article offers a critique and suggests a path forward to go beyond functionless objects.
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Getting to grips with energy: fuel, materiality and daily life
Editorial
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Information age? The challenges of displaying information and communication technologies
This article explores the challenges of displaying the history of information and communications in a museum environment, based on Information Age, the Science Museum’s new permanent gallery.
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Lyon Playfair: chemist and commissioner, 1818–1858
This article explores Lyon Playfair's life between 1818 and 1858, from his birth to his appointment as Professor of Chemistry at the University of Edinburgh.
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Obituary: Dame Margaret Weston, DBE, FMA (7 March 1926–12 January 2021)
Dame Margaret Weston, DBE, FMA (7 March 1926–12 January 2021), obituary
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Museums theme – Adventures in Museology: category building over a century, and the context for experiments in reinvigorating the Science Museum at the turn of the twenty-first century
Acting as an introduction to articles in this issue on a museums theme, this paper discusses the long-term history of science museums and the conjuncture of the late twentieth century which precipitated innovations in various science museums described in the collection.
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Museums theme – Beyond the Black Box: reflections on building a history of chemistry museum
An examination of the development of a history of chemistry museum from the perspective of the curatorial team, including the stumbling points, challenges and successes. The article looks at critical elements in exhibition development including audience and artefact selection.
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Museums theme – making Split + Splice: Fragments from the Age of Biomedicine
The author outlines the development and intellectual underpinnings of the Dibner Award-winning exhibition Split + Splice: Fragments from the Age of Biomedicine (Medical Museion, 2009). Deep connections between biotechnologies, technologies of the self, and the technology that is an exhibition are examined.
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Museums theme – Science vs technology in a museum’s display: changes in the Vienna Museum of Technology with a focus on permanent and temporary exhibitions and new forms of science education
This article focuses on the development of the displays and the content of the Vienna Museum of Technology as a whole, and on new educational approaches in cooperation with schools in particular.
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Museums theme – Quest for Absolute Zero: A Human Story about Rivalry and Cold
This article is about the 2008 temporary Rijksmuseum Boerhaave exhibition Quest for Absolute Zero. It was the first major project aimed at broader target groups and proved to be a very useful experience in the process of renewing the permanent exhibition.