EXHIBITION OF SCIENCE 1951

Part of the 1951 FESTIVAL OF BRITAIN, the EXHIBITION OF SCIENCE attempted to be both a clear and a comprehensive exposition of the state, aims, and hopes of post-war science.

It was built as a new wing to the Science Museum in South Kensington, but differed considerably in its approach from the museum itself, which was then mostly just a collection of historical steam-engines and other artefacts.

Browse the
Exhibition Guide Extracts from the printed booklet

Another part of this site is dedicated to the NIMROD Digital Computer that featured in the exhibition.
Martin Packer has an excellent site giving many more details of the Festival of Britain itself. (He also provided me with the poster image above and the statistics below.)
Visit the present-day Science Museum online.
Or, on this side of the planet (i.e. California...) drop in to the Exploratorium which is perhaps a descendant of that exhibition fifty years ago (but with a much evolved approach!).

Sone statistics...:
• The Science Exhibition attracted nearly 1,500 visitors a day. Over the five months it was open, the total reached 213,744.
• The number of operational staff (excluding demonstrators, many of whom were recruited from the student population of the time) was 111.

	Another part of this site is dedicated to the NIMROD Digital Computer that featured in the exhibition. Martin Packer has an excellent site giving many more details of the Festival of Britain itself. (He also provided me with the poster image above and the statistics below.) Visit the present-day Science Museum online. Or, on this side of the planet (i.e. California...) drop in to the Exploratorium which is perhaps a descendant of that exhibition fifty years ago (but with a much evolved approach!).
	Sone statistics...: • The Science Exhibition attracted nearly 1,500 visitors a day. Over the five months it was open, the total reached 213,744. • The number of operational staff (excluding demonstrators, many of whom were recruited from the student population of the time) was 111.