by Sam Lewis
Starting with easily the biggest
museum of the three, London’s Natural History Museum has a large reputation
to live up to, forming the world’s largest and most important natural history
reserve, comprised of over 80 million specimens. It is no surprise, then, that a great
deal of care has been put into digitising this enormous collection. Despite the
fact that only a tenth of the specimens are accessible on the website, the number
of items is still staggering, and the best and most interesting artefacts have
been cherry-picked to form the 169 datasets. These range from fossil types to
butterfly species, covering zoology, botany, palaeontology and mineralogy from
each of the museum’s memorable exhibits. On top of these, there are also 10.6
million records, covering important findings and evaluations from those of
Charles Darwin and other naturalists; however, there is an overwhelming amount
of these, and they are often very technical.
The Pitt Rivers and Oxford University
Natural History Museums are side-by-side in Oxford, and both hold
internationally significant archives of archaeology. The Pitt Rivers museum is
more focused on anthropology (the study of human societies and cultures and
their development) such as masks, clothes, armour, weaponry, pottery, art and
much more. The website displays a virtual tour, where you can explore the
museum’s unique lower gallery, as well as many photos of the museum’s
collection. Due to the size of the collection, not every artefact is included; however, every item that is has been captured and documented in great detail, meaning
that the highlights of the museum are still very accessible.
Over the pond in Washington DC, the
Smithsonian Air and Space Museum displays perhaps the most interactive and
informative digital exhibitions yet. The website may not have the volume of
content of the others on this list, but it makes up for this in the quality
of the programmes, stories, activities, virtual tours and videos, using
ground-breaking technology to bring historical landmarks of aviation and space
exploration to life.
In my previous blog post, I explored various art museums and
galleries available online, opening their doors digitally during this Lockdown
period. This time, I will delve into the world of Science and Natural History
museum websites that are worth exploring during the pandemic. It is much harder
for Science museums to exhibit their collections, as many of the items are not
inherently visual. However, I have picked my three favourite museums that I
feel best showcase their exhibitions online.
3. Natural History Museum
The key exhibits I would recommend are the
main 14 digital exhibitions, including the famous dinosaur exhibit (containing
an extensive virtual tour and even an incredibly detailed 3D model of Dippy the
Diplodocus’ skeleton) and the ‘Life of the Blue whale’ interactive exhibit
which records the history behind the blue whale. Also check out the gigapixel
photo of the Hintze Hall’s gilded canopy.
2. The Pitt Rivers Museum/ Oxford
University Natural History Museum
Next, The Oxford University Natural History
Museum is based more around archaeology, and, if dinosaurs are your thing, you
should definitely check out this website. Within the collection are the
Oxfordshire dinosaurs, some of the most important archaeological finds in
England, the Nantan meteorite (a meteorite that is 4.5 billion years old and is
one of the oldest objects on display anywhere on Earth), the Oxford Dodo (the
only surviving dodo soft tissue remains in the world) and the Red Lady of
Paviland, the oldest remains of a human burial ever found in the UK.
On top of this, there is also Mary
Anning’s famous ichthyosaur itself, discovered in 1835, and still containing
the visible remains of prehistoric fish in its stomach. Finally, there is a
24/7 livestream of the swifts in the museum’s tower as well as a tour of the
museum’s neo-gothic building for people more interested in wildlife and
architecture.
1.
1. Smithsonian National Museum of Air and Space
1. Smithsonian National Museum of Air and Space
Many of these new attractions are
only possible on the website, so you can experience more than you would see if
you visited in person. Yes, there are still exhibits from the museum such as
Pioneer Stories and Artifact Stories, but other resources such as the K12 (educational)
programmes, the AirSpace Podcast, the Virtual Tours and the interactive Object
Exploration are brand new.
The most incredible of the interactive
features is the ability to explore some of the museum’s most famous items in
3D, such as the 1903 Wright Flyer (the first plane), The Discovery Space
Shuttle and even the Apollo-11 Command module itself. These 3D models are so
intricate you can zoom in on every bolt in the metal plating, bringing you far
closer to these legendary craft. Furthermore, you can now even go inside the
cockpit via 3D scans taken from inside, allowing you to explore the Lockheed
Vega 5B, the Gemini VII and the SkyLab Orbital Workshop from the driver’s seat.
I recommend this amazing experience for anyone interested in aviation.
If you want to explore further, I
recommend the K12 Programmes. These bring together a wide variety of learning
resources for aspiring astronauts, engineers and astronomers of the future, so
if you are interested in online courses on aviation and space including advice
from dozens of astronauts, courses from Mythbusters’ Adam Savage and much more,
then these resources are a must.
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