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TheScience Museum Group (SMG)[1] consists of five British museums:
Items in the SMG collection that are not on display are usually stored at theNational Collections Centre inSwindon,Wiltshire.
The origins of SMG lie in the internationalisation and optimism of theGreat Exhibition of 1851, which enabled the foundation of the South Kensington Museum in 1857.[2]
The term "National Museum of Science and Industry" had been in use as the Science Museum's subtitle since the early 1920s.[3] Prior to 1 April 2012 the group was known as theNational Museum of Science and Industry (NMSI).[4][5]
TheNational Science and Media Museum, formerly the National Media Museum, was established by the Science Museum in 1983. The Science Museum was run directly byHM Government until 1984, when the Board of Trustees was established and NMSI was then adopted as a corporate title for the entire organisation.[6] At this point NMSI became anon-departmental public body under the auspices of the sponsoring government department, theDepartment for Culture, Media and Sport.[citation needed]
From January 2012 theScience and Industry Museum in Manchester became part of the Science Museum Group.[7][8]
From 2017 Locomotion, The National Railway Museum at Shildon, became part of the Science Museum Group.[9]
In 2010 theScience Museum, London opened its climate science gallery Atmosphere which, as at April 2021, has been visited by over 5 million people. In 2021 theScience Museum, London also opened a temporary exhibition 'Our Future Planet' which explores the science ofcarbon capture. Environmental campaigners criticized the decision of SMG to appointShell as a major sponsor of this exhibition.[10]
Throughout 2021 SMG is hosting Climate Talks which are a series of online talks, Q&As and events exploring problems arising fromclimate change.[citation needed] In October 2021, the SMG announced that a new climate change gallery to be opened in 2023 at the Science Museum would be sponsored by an arm of coal producerAdani Group.[11]
SMG continues to work to reduce carbon emissions from operations, recruitment and supply chain, and by using resources efficiently.[12] On 15 April 2021 SMG announced that it expects to achieve overallNet Zero/Carbon Neutrality by 2033.[13]
The collection includes:[14]
Over 380,000 of the items in the Science Museum Group's collections are available to view online at its Search Our Collection web page.
The chairman of the group is SirTimothy Laurence who was appointed by Prime MinisterRishi Sunak[15] on 1 January 2024, succeeding DameMary Archer who had served from 2015.[16][17]
The following have been directors of the National Museum of Science and Industry, the Science Museum and the Science Museum Group:
The following have separately been directors of the NMSI:
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