Qualla: Science Museum, London https://qualla.com/science-museum-london en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:14 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/u/science-museum-london-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Science Museum, London https://qualla.com/science-museum-london Science Museum, London: Introduction https://qualla.com/science-museum-london/ Photo credit Robert-brook, CC0. Puffing Billy turns 213 this year. The oldest surviving steam locomotive in the world sits on the ground floor of the Science Museum on Exhibition Road, three iron wheels and a vertical boiler that once hauled coal out of a Northumberland mine in 1813. A few steps away is Crick and Watson's original wire-and-metal model of DNA, the one they assembled in 1953 and the one that changed biology forever. Across the gallery hangs a V-2 rocket. The same technology took humans to the Moon - and the same technology, the museum's curators do not let visitors forget, was built by enslaved workers at Mittelbau-Dora. The Science Museum has been collecting the contradictions of modern progress since 1857, when it opened with the surplus from the Great Exhibition and a collection of patent models. It now draws 3.3 million visitors a year, free at the door.

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Image: Robert-brook | CC0

]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/u/science-museum-london-wp/gcpu-science-museum-london-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Science Museum, London: Born from the Crystal Palace https://qualla.com/science-museum-london/ Photo credit Anthony O'Neil, CC BY-SA 2.0. When the Great Exhibition closed in 1851, the country was left with a problem and an opportunity: what to do with the wealth of objects Prince Albert's spectacle had drawn from across the empire. The answer was Albertopolis - a quarter of museums in South Kensington funded by exh...

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Image: Anthony O'Neil | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/u/science-museum-london-wp/gcpu-science-museum-london-born-from-the-crystal-palace.mp3 0:06 2 full Science Museum, London: Apollo 10, Floor Two https://qualla.com/science-museum-london/ Photo credit Geni, CC BY-SA 4.0. On the second floor of Making the Modern World sits a stubby cone of charred metal called Charlie Brown. It is the command module from Apollo 10, the dress rehearsal mission for the Moon landing, which orbited the lunar surface thirty-one times in May 1969 before bringing Thomas ...

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Image: Geni | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/u/science-museum-london-wp/gcpu-science-museum-london-apollo-10-floor-two.mp3 0:06 3 full Science Museum, London: Wonderlab, Astronights, and the Queen's First Tweet https://qualla.com/science-museum-london/ Photo credit Tryrobbo, CC BY-SA 4.0. The third floor is where the museum's interactive nerve sits. Wonderlab - formerly Launchpad - has staff called Explainers who set things on fire, drop things from heights, and demonstrate why bicycles balance. Up to 380 children spend nights inside, sleeping on the floors of gal...

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Image: Tryrobbo | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/u/science-museum-london-wp/gcpu-science-museum-london-wonderlab-astronights-and-the-queens-first-tweet.mp3 0:06 4 full Science Museum, London: The Sponsorship Question https://qualla.com/science-museum-london/ Photo credit Anthony O'Neil, CC BY-SA 2.0. Not everything in the museum is uncomplicated. Wonderlab's title sponsor is Equinor, the Norwegian state oil company. Shell, BP, and Adani have all funded galleries. Each sponsorship contract reportedly contains a gagging clause - the museum cannot publish anything that would dam...

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Image: Anthony O'Neil | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/u/science-museum-london-wp/gcpu-science-museum-london-the-sponsorship-question.mp3 0:06 5 full