Walking into The Science Museum is a bit like your field school trip of old. Packs of children swarm about, adults try to keep control of them and the ubiquitous tourists (what are they doing here?) take pictures of everything that predates their own culture. In these large cavernous halls, the accomplishments of the last two hundred years stood ready to be inspected.
Perhaps these places are meant for the young only, but I don’t think so. Entering the ’Travel’ section, many parents are enthralled at the life size model of the Lunar Module, far more so than their children, who are more interested in trying to operate a spanner with astronaut gloves on.
But it is the vastness of the aeronautical engines, suspended above the exhibition space below that really set the Science Museum apart from the others. It is these that really demonstrate how man has harnessed science and created the opportunity for travel to other galaxies, powered by those first rockets. Looking like Dalek prototypes, you had to give credit to the engineers who dreamt this stuff up. One simply looked like the opening scene from You Only Live Twice. The bit where the rocket opens up like a flower to consume another.But it wasn’t all high tech, oh no. We had Stephenson’s Rocket from 1829. Reaching a staggering 29 mph, this landmark invention made Stephenson the premier engineer of his day.
Most astonishing in the modern section was the first brain scanner (below). Looking comically like a modern dentist chair with matching washing machine, it worked by a “detector rotating around the patient”. Thankfully this invention did away with the previous procedure of injecting hazardous liquids and air into the brain. Perhaps more surprising was the fact that it was manufactured by music giant EMI and was funded by proceeds of Beatles records. I never knew they were so useful.
Moving upstairs you were faced with the choice of Agriculture or Plastics departments. The juxtaposition of these two somewhat baffled me. I opted for Agriculture first. In a series of glass cases, backdrops of hay-making scenes with painted paper mache fields, trees and skies with freeze framed mini models , complete with moustaches, tweed flat caps and stern expressions (Toy Story sprang to mind), demonstrated how the sickle and plough were used. The real items, attached to the walls and were notable for their well worn appearance.The Plastics section was altogether more fun. Yes, Barbie did make an appearance (below left; one sold every 3 seconds - God help womankind) but more intriguing was the plastic car of the future by Toyota (below right). Looking like a cross between a Ming The Merciless throne and a Big Brother chair, the Japanese car manufacturer has produced the vehicle from plant materials held together by wood extracts.
Next on this visionary list was the ski suit of the future (below). I say the future, but actually it was used by US skiers at the last Olympics. Looking like a modern day wet-suit, this extraordinary fabric would, on impact with snow or ice, morph into hard, shin-pad like material that would protect the fragile flesh and bones beneath but would revert to its normal stretch foam appearance once the skier had got to their feet. It was no surprise to learn that NASA and the scientists of this amazing invention were pooling their resources to create an alternative to the present day astronaut suit.
But my personal favourite in this section were the shape shifting aeroplanes (above). Engineers are currently devising planes that can change shape while flying in order to keep the optimum flying speed or range. Shape-memory plastics will form part of the planes’ wings and would be triggered by heat, light or electricity to change shape during flight. An incredible feat when this technology finally becomes possible. Thunderbirds are most definitely go.
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