First ReDiscover grants awarded to science centres and museums

Published: 22 May 2003

ReDiscover - the science centre and museum renewal fund has awarded ?225, 000 to the Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, University of Glasgow in the first of four funding rounds.

ReDiscover - the science centre and museum renewal fund has awarded £225,000 to the Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, University of Glasgow, in the first of four funding rounds.

ReDiscover - the science centre and museum renewal fund has awarded £225, 000 to the Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery as part of a £3.8 million funding round to nine centres around the UK.

The University will use the funding to develop interactive displays on Lord Kelvin. William Thomson, who became Lord Kelvin, was Professor of Natural Philosophy at the University of Glasgow from 1846 to 1899. He was one of the world's leading physicists at a time of great invention and discovery in physics and his house on the University campus was the first in the world, in 1882, to be fully lit by electricity.

Dr Evelyn Silber, Director of Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, said: 'We are delighted at receiving such a substantial amount in this first round of funding. The award will allow us to develop an exciting top quality display with some hands-on activities for visitors to try. Re-Discover Kelvin will link Kelvin's extraordinary achievements as an innovator and teacher with our current experiences and the impact of science in the world around us, in communications for instance. We will be able to display our renowned collection of Kelvin's scientific instruments in a new and much more approachable way.'

The collection of research and demonstration apparatus gathered together by Lord Kelvin is probably the most important single collection at the Hunterian as it includes apparatus used in his pioneering research into electricity, telegraphy and thermodynamics. The development of ReDiscover Kelvin will include new lecture demonstration apparatus, associated education programmes and easier access to the exhibits.

The £33 million ReDiscover fund is a joint venture between the Millennium Commission, the Wellcome Trust and the Wolfson Foundation and represents the first major new partnership between the Lottery and large grant making charities. It was set up to help science museums and science centres to renew, replace, refresh or redevelop high quality science, education and technology exhibitions to keep up with advances in science and technology and remain at the cutting edge. There will be three further funding rounds over the next two years.

Tessa Jowell MP, Chair of the Millennium Commission and Secretary of State for Culture, said, 'One of the United Kingdom's greatest achievements has been its success in science and technology. If that is true of the past, it should also be our aspiration for the future. The UK's science centres and museums are important educational assets and these new grants from the Lottery and other sources will help them remain relevant and exciting in an ever changing world.'

Media Relations Office (media@gla.ac.uk)


Lord Kelvin
William Thomson, who became Lord Kelvin, was Professor of Natural Philosophy at the University of Glasgow from 1846 to 1899. He introduced major innovations into the teaching of physics placing great emphasis on student practical work and demonstration lectures. He was one of the world?s leading physicists at a time of great invention and discovery in physics. His house on the University campus was the first in the world, in 1882, to be fully lit by electricity. Kelvin?s inventions and discoveries spanned a great range of interest from calculations of the age of the Sun and Earth to hot and cold mixer taps for domestic water supply. He achieved great fame for his work on the submarine Trans-Atlantic telegraph. Kelvin enjoyed many links and creative partnerships with scientists and inventors around the world.

The Kelvin collection in the Hunterian Museum comprises over 500 scientific instruments, models and items of demonstration apparatus. Many of the items are his working prototypes that were later manufactured by the firm of Kelvin and White. The instrument collection housed in the Museum is backed up by the major resources in the University Archives and Library including copies of letters from Kelvin to associates such as Alexander Graham Bell, James Prescott Joule and James Clerk Maxwell. Details of Kelvin?s business dealings complete a very rich resource to tell the story of his life within the context of Victorian Britain. Kelvin?s story is both amazing and inspirational and deserves to be re-told in the run up to the centenary of his death.

The Millennium Commission distributes funds from the National Lottery and has invested over ?300 million, some 20% of its total budget, in a new generation of interactive science and discovery centres which are bringing science alive and making it fun and accessible. The Commission is investing a further ?25 million of Lottery money in the ReDiscover renewal fund. Millennium Commission Communications Office tel: 020 7880 2007 www.millennium.gov.uk

The Wellcome Trust is an independent research-charity whose mission is to foster and promote research with the aim of improving human and animal health. Allied to this is a commitment to engage the public with science through a diverse range of activities. The Wellcome Trust Media Office tel: 020 7611 8866, email: media.office@wellcome.ac.uk website: www.wellcome.ac.uk

The Wolfson Foundation is a charitable foundation set up in 1955 whose aims are the advancement of science, health, education the arts and humanities. It has for a number of years supported the renovation of museums and galleries and the promotion of scientific research and education. The Wolfson Foundation, tel: 020 7323 5730 x 210

For further information please contact Nina Baxter on 020 7880 7362 or 07775 812 820 or visit www.wellcome.ac.uk/rediscover

For further information on the University of Glasgow and the Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, please call the Press office on 0141 330 3535 or see the website at: www.hunterian.gla.ac.uk

First published: 22 May 2003

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