Science through the keyhole: revealing scientific practices through workspaces

Lead Research Organisation: Science Museum Group
Department Name: Science Museum Research

Abstract

'Science through the keyhole: revealing scientific practices through workspaces' seeks to improve our collective understanding of scientific practice by paying close attention to the diverse spaces in which it occurred and the wide range of labours on which it depended. The network will bring together academics and museum professionals to investigate a series of questions to do with the role of space in facilitating and conditioning science through its workspaces and how those workspaces can most effectively be presented to public audiences in the context of a museum gallery. Central to the network is the question of how a spatial understanding of scientific practice can more fully reveal the nature of scientific truth, its claims to authority, and the role of scientific knowledge in public life.

Through a series of interdisciplinary workshops, the network will bring museum professionals, academics (including historians of science, historical geographers and scientists), and experts in historical recreation (including digital) into dialogue in order to explore the relationship between science and its workspaces, with a view to encouraging new research collaborations and laying the foundation for the development of a new public gallery at the Science Museum, 'Spaces of Science'. Each workshop will be guided by a one of three fundamental research questions (see "Objectives") and each will include a visit to a reconstructed scientific workspace (see "Case for Support").

The temporal focus of the network falls on the period since 1876, when the world's first international exposition of scientific instruments was held at the South Kensington Museum, the precursor to the Science Museum. The exposition-combining new and historical instruments-marked an important moment in popular and professional understandings of scientific workspaces and therefore serves as a central point of comparison when considering how scientific workspaces and practices have changed and evolved since then in response to the competing demands of government policy, and academic and commercial scientific research. Visited by more than a quarter of a million people, the 1876 exhibition was also a significant juncture in the popular history of science and, in laying the foundation for a new public-facing museum gallery, the network will place public understandings of science at the core of its activities.

Publications

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Description This research network highlighted some improved research methods that the PI plans to use at the Science Museum. The third workshop in the series was held at the Museum of the Home and the gallery tours revealed the complex research methods used by the team to plan and build recreations of historic spaces. This process is two-fold, on the one hand creating and maintaining a bank of information that can be used for future display ideas and on the other a complex process of in-depth research into a space once it has been identified as one that will be recreated. Similarly, the site visits to working science spaces in Cambridge at the first workshop demonstrated the importance of visiting spaces of science to document them and to identify potential acquisitions while that space is still operational. Traditionally, scientists have made contact with museums once a space and its equipment becomes disused, which means that the museum team have often only seen the space as a store room or a overly tidy space, rather than in its true working character.

This research network also opened up some important new research questions. The extent to which the participants responded to each research question at the three workshops was demonstrative of the significance of those questions for museum displays. While the discussions provided partial answers to each one, it became clear that in the museum context they are complex questions (despite their simple appearance) and more research is needed, primarily in the form of focus groups with non-academics and museum visitors, to provide richer answers.

Lastly, the research network has enabled a series of new collaborations to begin, which will have a public benefit. Conversations with three participants, previously unknown to the PI, followed the workshop series and have resulted in them becoming advisors to different exhibition projects at the Science Museum. Each of the three workshops also created a sub network of contacts with whom the PI is keeping in contact.
Exploitation Route Once the findings from the research network have been published, it is hoped that other museum professionals in the sector will make use of them in the development of their upcoming exhibition and gallery projects.
Sectors Education

Culture

Heritage

Museums and Collections
 
Description Science through the Keyhole workshop series 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Three workshops were held between April and September 2023. The first workshop took place over two days on the 17th and 18th April and was co-developed with project partners, Harry Cliff and Val Gibson (Department of Physics, University of Cambridge). The first day was spent at the Science Museum and the second at the Physics department in Cambridge. 20 people attended over the two days and the group consisted of museum curators, museologists, historians of science, professional scientists, historical geographers. The research question for this workshop was 'what is a scientific workspace?. The aim here was to interrogate what we mean by 'science' and 'workspace' given that the phrase 'scientific workspace' is often taken for granted in museums and has traditionally excluded people's contributions from associated displays. Participants thought very broadly about what counts as a space of science and a contribution to science. Going far beyond the traditional laboratory setting, this has given the project partners much to consider when planning new displays. The museum tours gave the non-museum attendees the opportunity to hear about the limitations of museum displays and the site visits in Cambridge gave the non-scientists the opportunity to see the limitations of buildings on scientific work and a glimpse into how this has changed over time.

The second workshop took place over two days on the 28th and 29th June and was co-developed with project partner, Emily Akkermans (Royal Museums Greenwich). It was attended by 23 people, again from the same range of disciplines identified above but different individuals. The research question for this workshop was 'how does science shape its spaces and vice versa?'. The aim here was to think about the constraints of spaces and places on science and how this needs to be brought out in museum interpretation of recreated spaces as it isn't always obvious to non-scientists. Similarly, to think about how some spaces have been designed with specific kinds of science in mind, how this has changed over time, and how this also needs to be made clear in museum interpretation. Participants identified a wide range of constraints impacting different spaces, which has given the project partners much to consider when thinking about how to bring these to the fore in recreations of spaces in museums. The museum tours gave the non-museum attendees the opportunity to observe the constraints of historic buildings and a further opportunity for this different group of attendees to hear about the limitations of museum displays.

The third workshop was held on the 5th September and was co-developed with project partner, Danielle Patten (Museum of the Home). 26 people attended and the group once again had a similar composition but this time also included historical reenactors and new media professionals. The research question for this workshop was 'how can we recreate/evoke a sense of a historic space?'. The aim here was to think about the ways in which a working space can be recreated around a single object using other interpretive techniques and ensuring that the display is as inclusive as possible. Participants thought broadly about their chosen objects and how they would create displays around them. Ideas about how to do so with a range of interpretive techniques were limited despite the specialists in these areas being present. The museum tours gave participants the opportunity to hear about how museums in the wider sector are creating more inclusive displays, which has given the project partners much to consider in terms of the methodologies that science museums could also benefit from.

So far this activity and the top-level findings have been reported at an international conference (Scientific Instrument Commission annual symposium in Palermo September 2023). Detailed findings will be shared in planned publications.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023