Science and Industry Museum in Manchester

The Science and Industry Museum in Manchester offers visitors the chance to explore the whole history of science and technology, including the effects on industry throughout human history. The museum is at the site of the first passenger railway station in the world, and parts of this station still stand as Grade I listed buildings. It's part of both the Science Museum Group and the National Science Museum and is dedicated to inspiring visitors through world-changing ideas from the Industrial Revolution through today and the future.

The Science and Industry museum offers extensive exhibits focused on transportation, power, textiles, sewage, sanitation, computing and communications. Exhibits rotate, and past galleries focused on electricity, gas, the human body and outer space, with displays ranging from real operations to science fiction. The museum also showcases a broad selection of industrial machines like hydraulic, electric and steam engines.

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Features and highlights of the Science and Industry Museum

The Science and Industry Museum showcases a wide range of exhibits that date back to the Industrial Revolution and even some that look to where technology might take us in the future. The museum is noted for its travel exhibitions, including Avro aircraft like an RAF Avro Shackleton and an Avro 707 used to test concepts for the Avro Vulcan. You can see a real Supermarine Spitfire, a Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka and others.

At the Science and Industry Museum, you can also check out historic locomotives, including a replica of an 1829 locomotive, an electric locomotive from 1953, a 1929 locomotive from South Africa and a locomotive built for India in the early 1900s. Besides travel, you can visit galleries focused on computers and communications, including a replica of the Manchester Baby and a gallery of the Connected Earth, which traces the history of Manchester and Northwest England communications.

History of the Science and Industry Museum

When it first opened at its temporary location in 1969, the Science and Industry Museum was called the North Western Museum of Science and Industry and was associated with the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology. By 1978, the Greater Manchester Council had purchased the original Liverpool Road Station. The museum moved to this site in 1983, changing its name at this time and becoming an independent organisation. Later, it expanded to cover the entire site.

Since then, the Science and Industry Museum has become a driving force in science and technology education and research. It hosts the annual Manchester Science Festival, which offers guest speakers, exhibitions and scholarly debates, and it also showcases activities that explore ideas for a better world and technological issues that face us today, such as climate change. The fair has become an important exhibition in the scientific community.

What to know about the Science and Industry Museum

The Science and Industry Museum seeks to offer a safe and fun experience for all and is disability accessible. Blue Badge parking spaces are available in front of the museum, and smooth paths make the buildings wheelchair accessible. Each floor has step-free access, and wheelchairs are available for loan. Those with visual impairment can collect a large-print version of the museum's What's On guide at the desk. Quiet rooms are available, and service animals are welcome. Contact the museum for more information.

The Museum of Science and Industry can be reached by car, by free bus from the city centre, by the city's tram network, by bicycle or by train. You can book tickets online or purchase at the door, though booking in advance is recommended. It takes a full 90 minutes or longer to go through all the exhibits.

Osoite: Liverpool Rd, Manchester M3 4FP, UK

Puhelin: +44 (0)8000 478124

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