scientific tourism in London
Luciana Christante
Monday, 14 April 2008 12:33 UTC
Hello everyone
I’m planning to spend 2 weeks in London soon, so I ask you if there is any publication or website where I can find tips for scientific tourism in the city, that is, not only museums, but other places of historical interest as well. Searching for “scientific tourism guide” at Google, I’ve found only one book published in Portugal (on Portuguese science, of course).
Any information is welcome. Thank you.
Luciana
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Replies
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Luciana, you’ll have a wonderful time in London!
Suggestions about what to see, or visit:
Definitely recommend going to Greenwich for a day, or part of a day. It’s easy to get there on public transport.
There is the Royal Observatory, the Maritime Museum, the Cutty Sark (now been damaged in a fire). We didn’t allow enough time—could have spent a whole day.
Don’t miss the original clocks (‘marine chronometers’) which were the subject of the book, Longitude by Dava Sobel. You can look it up on Wikipedia, of course, but also this is
“an interesting website”: http://www.nmm.ac.uk/server/show/conWebDoc.355Another don’t-miss (which we did miss) is the Thames barrier. They raise it only once a month, I believe. If you could be there when it is operating, that might be quite interesting. FYI, it’s a bit of a slog from the bus stop. You would want to plan accordingly.
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p.s. Almost forgot.
This is another on my “didn’t get there yet, but still want to” list—the Chelsea Physic Garden.
They say, of themselves:
‘The Chelsea Physic Garden has developed a major role in public education focusing on the renewed interest in natural medicine.
‘The Garden of World Medicine which is Britain’s first garden of ethnobotany is laid out together with a new Pharmaceutical Garden.’
Don’t know if this would interest you, but it’s definitely on my list.
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Hiya Luciana,
P. Jennings gives some good tips. Greenwich is certainly a great way to spend the day. As well as the naval and chronological history, there’s a lovely park with views of London.
London has over 30 scientific museums. I’d recommend Googling the Old Operating Theatre, the Royal College of Surgeon’s Hunterian Museum, and the big museums – the Natural History and Science Museum in South Kensington.
Also, check out the London Events Calendar for scientific events on while you’re in town. London has an amazing programme of general interest science events.
I could talk all day about this stuff, so feel free to ask further questions, or email me on m.brown at nature dot com
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The Wellcome Trust Museum is also very informative and entertaining, even if the science is aimed at the general public and not at scientists.
It is close to Euston train station. -
Oh yes, I would highly recommend that. It’s actually called the Wellcome Collection.
Oh, and here’s an article I put together with other ideas for science tourism in this part of London.
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