Science Museum, London

At the entrance on the Science Museum

The Science Museum is another major attraction in London all together with few other museums that located nearby where it is located. Even though I thought I could not visited on my short visit to London, I actually stopped in this museum for 2 hours to get the ideas how is it looks like.

Same as any other museums, the Science Museum has a long history and how in ended on where it is located now. Start as part of the Royal Society of Arts and the surplus items from the Great Exhibition in 1851 in the same building that today known as Victoria and Albert Museum. It also was known as the Museum of Patents in 1858, and the Patent Office Museum in 1863. As the collection of the Art Museum became larger, the Science Collections were separated on 26 June 1909 and start to be known as the Science Museum.

One of the giant steam engines at the Energy Hall.

The Science Museum, where it is located today was designed by Sir Richard Allison, and open in a few stages over the period of 1919-28. The construction that has begun in 1913 was temporarily halted by the World War 1. However, it was resumed and keep on expanding with additional blocks to accommodate more galleries until 1980. The last additional Wellcome Wing was added in 2000 to extend it to the Queen’s Gate.

Same as many other major museums in London, this museum is very big. It is important to study a little bit about the museum before the visit. If there are any specific things that you want to see, it is more important to know where it is located (which gallery and which floor). It is also important to check on their website for gallery closures to make sure the item that you want to see is open to the public – or else you can contact the museum to get a permission.

Material used in producing products.

Interesting Invention - what is it?

On my short visit to this museum, what I can see is the different approaches of presentation in the exhibition. There are so many items in every gallery (and most of them are so important in order for us to understand about the development of certain technologies). There are few places where I wish more information to be provided (however, I can do extra research about it from the internet or some of it already available through this museum own online resources).

There are many interesting features available that also adds different experiences here in the Science Museum as there are many hands-on items to the IMAX 3D theatre. Different styles of presentation in order to enhance understanding of the viewers for the related topics. All of these features make it suitable for visitor of all ages - and make it guaranteed suitable for a family visit.

Historical item.

Time gallery exhibition.

There are many galleries available with different topics and different kind of approaches and for more details you can see it from this link. As I only visited a small part of the museum, I can’t tell the details of the whole museum (but base from the part that I visited) and at the same time I did go through their website to know more about this museum - and that’s how I know they have good online resources.

I do love science as I do love nature (as I spend more time at the Natural History Museum) and I wish to spend a whole day here if I can - maybe in my next visit. Here I also have some photos I posted at my fanpage. There is also few other post that you might find interesting of my visit to KewGardens, NaturalHistory Museum and Royal Institution.

If you are in London, don’t miss your chance to visit this museum as this is one of important attractions – located in the main attraction area. You also can make your donation to the museum, donate an object, join volunteering and many more to contribute to this museum. All the details can be found in their website www.sciencemuseum.org.uk. If there is any information you want to add to this article please feel free to write in the comment or send it to me through the request form (only available on the web view).

Royal Institution, London

The building of Royal Institution in the Albemarle Street.

There are lots of things that I want to do when I visited London (but I only have a short period of time). After taking a look at several places around the city, it was decided that other important places to visit in London will be Royal Institution of Great Britain (often abbreviated as the Royal Institution or Ri). There is another different organization that known as Royal Society - that actually different, as Royal Society more dedicated as learned society.

There are few important things that we need to visit this special place; for its histories of science development and also for notorious remarkable yearly events that introduce by Royal Institution that known as Royal Institution Christmas Lectures. Since my visit was in May, I can only visit for the regular lectures that also interesting. The lectures held in its historical lecture hall; where Michael Faraday first introduced in 1825. Today, you need to become a member and then book in advance for the ticket ballot – it’s more like a lottery now!

The invention of Davy lamp safe coal miner’s life.

Different type of lamps.

The Royal Institution was founded in 1799 by the leading British scientist of that time. The main purposes of the establishment are for diffusing the knowledge, and facilitating the general introduction, of useful mechanical inventions and improvements; and for teaching, by courses of philosophical lectures and experiments, the application of science to the common purposes of life.

The other thing that really inspiring me here is the Michael Faraday’s Lab in the Faraday Museum in the basement of the Royal Institution Building in the Albemarle Street. This is where Michael Faraday conducted his research about electromagnetism and electrochemistry that leads to many other discoveries. The truth is, his lab was not as good as the lab that we have today, but the impact of his research can be seen in every electrical and electronics devices today.

The Michael Faraday's lab in the basement of the building.

Status of important RI figures.

Thermos flask invented by James Dewer.

Michael Faraday was one of many other scientists and researchers from Royal Institution that contributed countless science knowledge that transform the way how our lives today. The invention of Davy lamp safe many lives of coal miners. While many other inventions and knowledge shared improved science and technology drastically.

Other than the museum, we still can walk around the historical buildings – where there are rooms that use as libraries, the alley that also located books and showcases the presentation by previous researchers explaining about electromagnetics, chemicals, anatomy and so on. There are many other things that happen here (at the time of my visit). For more details of the events, you can visit their website to get the tickets (for lectures); the admission to the Faraday Museum is free.

Historic lecture hall.

Same as my previous visit to Kew Gardens and Natural History Museum, my visit to Royal Institution has also come together with its own photo collection at my fanpage; make sure you visit it. It’s supposed to be another main attraction here in London since its contribution to advancements in human science and technology. All I can do is sharing part of my visit and hopefully it will inspire others to know more about it.

Natural History Museum, London

The Natural History Museum as you get to its front entrance.

Another worth visit in London is to Natural History Museum, located in South Kensington. Not only housed a huge collection of specimens, this museum also collaborated in many scientific research, especially related to nature and conservation. Located on Exhibition Road, next to two other popular museums (Science Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum) in London, Natural History Museum lure its own unique visitors from all around the world.

Natural History Museum previously was known as British Museum (Natural History) until 1992. Even though the legal separation from the British Museum was happening earlier in 1963. That’s part of the story of the Natural History Museum, even though, as we know the beautiful Alfred Waterhouse building was opened in 1881 - and the museum keeps on expanding its collections together with its roles in educating the public and research.

The gigantic blue whale skeleton at the Hintze Hall.

This moa (Dinornis novaezealandiae) was identified by Richard Owen only by its single fragment of bone (before it was completed).

There are many reasons why people are attracted to this museum, especially if they watched the documentaries by the BBC or National Geographic. More than that, educator and students also need to see by themselves all the specimens on display in order to understand more about the nature (especially when it comes to dinosaurs and specimens outside of their geographical areas).

Here at this museum, everyone is dedicated to give their best in their field start from its first Superintendent in 1856 the palaeontologist Richard Owen. Richard Owen was known to be very detailed in identifying all the specimens to make sure it is original. From there the Natural History Museum keeps on expanding its function and change the way we look at the museum.

Giant gold nugget.

The mineral collections from the Earth Hall.

The best experience starts soon after you see this magnificent museum’s building. Rather than just huge, it is carefully designed with beautiful façade and animal sculptures will make you astonished. If you can, make sure you visit this museum during the weekdays, as during the weekend or public holidays it will be long queues of people from all around the world. But that’s not all, there are many other surprises of the building’s architectures that will amaze you before you even see any of its exhibits.

Since its establishment in 1881 until today, this museum specimen now comprising of some 80 million items with five main collections: botany, entomology, mineralogy, palaeontology and zoology. Only some of these specimens will be shown in its exhibitions, while most of the specimen being kept for conservation and research purposes. If you are lucky, you might be able to see some of them if there’s any special exhibitions during your visit.

Life size blue whale replica at the Mammal Hall. 

Other mammal replicas in the same hall.

Same as the previous visit to Kew Gardens, it is important for you to make sure what is the main things you want to see in this museum? One day visit won’t be enough for you to explore the whole collections displayed on their exhibition halls; unless you just wandering around without any attention to the collections.

You can check their floor plan in advance and at the same time, check the interior of the museum through Google Maps to get an idea which is where - so it will help you to decide which areas is more important. You also need to check their website for more details about the current exhibitions (as sometimes there will be additional information regarding closure of exhibitions too).

The dinosaur is one of the important specimens here.

Skeleton of Triceratops horridus at the dinosaur area.

I need to visit this museum twice when I visited London recently (first visit was two hours and the second visit was around four hours: still I missed few areas). As I need to speed up my observations, I took as many photos as I can for future reference (and I put it in the fanpage album so we all can see it). The light condition in the museum also is too dim, so taking photos is a little bit tricky!

There are many things happening around here at the Natural History Museum. Not all of it you can see during your visit, the details of these activities are posted on their website. You might want to see about the usage of new technologies in order to unravel many things that we still don’t know about the nature. Then, with the latest technologies too, the information will be shared with the public - you need to check the 3D skeleton ofthe blue whale.

There are many other interesting information available on their website, where you also can become a member to get membership benefits. If you are interested in nature and sciences, Natural History Museum is one of the place you should visit. I hope I have shared some important information here and the rest is up to you. If you have any question or information to share, don’t hesitate to share it at the comments section below or email it to me at wikipelajar(add)gmail(dot)com.

Wonderful World of Botanical at Kew Gardens, UK

The entrance at the Victoria Gate.

Recently we (Myrokan blog) had this opportunity to visit the world most renowned botanical garden that also known as Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Kew Gardens is one of the oldest botanical gardens in the world that also played many important roles in introducing specimens of plant and trees to many other countries such as rubber and tea. Kew Gardens not only keep living specimens of plants, but also dried specimens, seeds and DNA, libraries, illustrations and many other records related to plants. That’s what makes Kew Gardens one of the most important places that we visited in London.

Kew Garden founded in 1840 in the area that originally was the exotic garden at Kew Park. That park itself had been enlarged several times with the merging of the royal estates of Richmond and Kew in 1772. Within this area many garden structures had been built and some of them still remain until today.

The pond right in front of the Museum no 1.

The temperate house just been reopened two days earlier.

Well, there are so many things happened back there, but here we want to see other important things that we still can see at Kew Gardens and other activities related to it - that will give benefits to us and the future generations. Even though they have only taken care of plants, but the further study of these plants is actually for human benefits such as for agriculture, medicine, farming, cloning, seed bank, references, cataloguing and you can check more on their website – included at the end of this article.

Knowing more about Kew Gardens is important before you plan to visit it (well, no one can ever visit the whole of the areas within one day – so you must know which areas that important to you, or you can visit it several times). Maybe the best way to do it by asking these few questions;

• Are you just want to see the plants in Kew Gardens?
• Are you interested to know how Kew Gardens keep the specimens of the plants and trees?
• Are you interested to know the history of Kew Gardens and their buildings (such as their glass houses, their garden structures, bridges, canopy walk, cottage, palaces and many other buildings in Kew Gardens)?
• Are you interested to know more about the activities conducted here in Kew Gardens?
• Are you interested to participate in activities conducted by Kew Gardens (exhibitions or scientific activities) in their vicinity or online?
• Where you can find the map of the whole area?
• How you are going to explore the area?
• Time of opening, as the time will change according to the seasons.
• How you can contact Kew Gardens in order to get more information in case you need some help?

The Palm House another important glass house with huge size.

The tropical plants and trees can live vigorously inside this glass house.

It might hard for us to see this plant in their own natural habitat.

There are many other questions you can ask during the preparation to visit Kew Gardens. By identifying your priorities you will save lots of time and you will know exactly where to look at during your visit. Even though I managed to see what I want during my visit, I still missed a few things - I think I could improve it if I plan it properly. The other reason is, there are too many things to see.

The best thing was, during my visit the Temperate House has just reopened two days earlier. I also joined the tour guide that explaining more details about the history, the process of restoration that cost around £41 million and take a look at the Temperate House itself. It was closed for the past 5 years for the restoration process. There are many interesting things about this building that we should talk about it separately – hopefully I will get a chance to do it.

The Temperate House not only important for its functions but also for its architecture.

The plants and trees had been relocated back into the Temperate House.

Kew Palace, another important building in Kew Gardens.

Flowers of plant at the Queen’s Garden.

Flowers of plant at the Queen’s Garden.

There are few more glass houses in Kew Gardens includes Palm House, Waterlilly House, Princess of Wales Conservatory and Davies Alpine House. All of the glass houses, housing different types of plants - so please try not to miss it. You can use optional transports in the gardens either bicycle or electric train to help you travelling around. I used the electric train and still I missed few!

Here in this article I shared a few photos during my visit. If you want to see more photos you can visit our fanpage where I posted more photos. I hope it will help others who unable to visit to Kew yet to see how it look like and to get the general ideas of what Kew Gardens is.

The Princess of Wales Conservatory glass house.

Orchids of tropical planted in this glass house.

Another beautiful tropical plant’s flower.

Another beautiful view of the pillar’s covered with tropical plants.

You can see different types of plants in the same glass house.

Carnivorous plant specimens, is one of important plants that I want to see here in Kew Gardens.

Besides visiting Kew Gardens physically, you still can learn more about it or get involved with their activities online. Check their websites to learn more about their activities. You can easily get in touch with them to know more about any activities that you can get involved with. So this is the link to Kew Gardens’ website.

There are many other things I would like to share about the details in each area of Kew Gardens, perhaps I can do it soon. Before that, you can ask me if there is any question - don’t forget to see the photos that I posted on my fanpage to get more ideas about Kew Gardens.