The Science Museum Group cares for an unparalleled collection of over seven million items related to science, technology, engineering and medicine.
Our collection traces its origin back to the 1851 Great Exhibition. Among the 7.3 million items we now care for there are:
The Science Museum Group has undertaken an ambitious project to transform how we care for and share our collection.
This incredible collection is astonishing, beautiful and world-renowned. Standout items from our collection include: Alan Turing’s Pilot ACE computer; one of the first models used to represent atoms; Charles Babbage’s drawings and models; Dorothy Hodgkin’s model of penicillin; Helen Sharman’s spacesuit and Tim Peake’s spacecraft; Amy Johnson’s Gipsy Moth aircraft; famous locomotives from Stephenson’s Rocket and Sans Pareil to Mallard and Flying Scotsman and the world’s earliest surviving photographic negative.
You can discover over 380,000 of our remarkable objects, photographs and archive materials on our collection website.
Use the website to:
Our digitisation programme continues to enhance existing collection information and add new items from the collection to the website, enabling you to explore more of the collection than ever before.
You can also discover more through our online catalogues:
Alternatively, try some of our online tools to explore the collection:
Even the most ordinary objects have extraordinary stories to tell: if you would prefer to delve further:
You can see many thousands of objects from the collection on display in exhibitions and galleries at each of our museums:
Only a small proportion of our objects are on display at any given moment. To view objects, and archive and library materials which are not on display, you can enquire about an appointment using the links below.
The majority of objects from the Science Museum Group Collection are now housed in a new collection management facility at the Science and Innovation Park in Wiltshire:
Certain items not on display may also be viewed at:
This analytical engine, the first fully-automatic calculating machine, was constructed by Charles Babbage. Only part of the machine was completed before his death.
Science Museum Group
Stephenson's Rocket in the Making the Modern World gallery at the Science Museum.
Sans Pareil was designed and built by Timothy Hackworth and took part in the Rainhill Trials in 1829.
Zvezda space suit made by SOKOL and used by British astronaut Helen Sharman during the space flight on board the SOYUZ-TM-12 and MIR spacecraft in May 1991.
Science Museum Group Collection
Tracy the sheep, a transgenic ewe, genetically modified to produce a human protein (alpha antitrypsin) in her milk.
A graphical record of electricity generated or demanded on the grid and at power stations—an early example of 3D visualisation.
The AXBT microphone was the fourth generation of Marconi’s ‘Type A’ microphones and was used by the BBC from the 1930s onwards.
Science Museum Group Collection
A photograph of a kitten splashing in a saucer of milk, taken in 1958 by Terry Fincher for the Daily Herald.
The model Apple I was the first computer made by Apple Computers Inc.
Science Museum Group Collection
London & North Eastern Railway steam locomotive 'Mallard' 4-6-2 A4 Pacific class, No 4468.
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum”
