Discovery Museum is a
science museumA science museum or a science centre is a museum devoted primarily to science. Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays of objects related to natural history, paleontology, geology, industry and industrial machinery, etc. Modern trends in museology have broadened the range of...
and local history museum situated in Blandford Square in
Newcastle upon TyneNewcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England...
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
It displays many exhibits of local history, including
TurbiniaTurbinia was the first steam turbine powered steamship. Built as an experimental vessel in 1894, and easily the fastest ship in the world at that time, Turbinia was demonstrated dramatically at the Spithead Navy Review in 1897 and set the standard for the next generation of steamships, the...
, the 34 metre long ship built by
Charles Algernon ParsonsSir Charles Algernon Parsons, O.M. was a British engineer, best known for his invention of the steam turbine. He worked as an engineer on dynamo and turbine design, and power generation, with great influence on the naval and electrical engineering fields...
to test the advantages of using the
steam turbineA steam turbine is a mechanical device that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam, and converts it into rotary motion. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Parsons in 1884....
to power ships. It also features examples of
Joseph SwanSir Joseph Wilson Swan was an British physicist and chemist, most famous for the invention of the incandescent light bulb for which he received the first patent in 1878...
's early lightbulbs which were invented on Tyneside.
It houses the regimental museum for the 15/19th King’s Royal Hussars and the Northumberland Hussars, exploring the human side of 200 years of life in the army. It is a "hands-on" museum designed to interest both children and adults.
It is one of the biggest free museums in
North East EnglandNorth-East England is one of the nine official regions of England and comprises the combined area of Northumberland, County Durham, Tyne and Wear, and Tees Valley. The historic name for North-East England is Northumbria and whilst a few regional bodies still use this name, it is rarely used in...
, and in 2006 was winner of the North East's Best Family Experience award at the North East England Tourism Awards. It is managed by
Tyne and Wear MuseumsTyne and Wear Museums is a regional group of United Kingdom national museums located across the Tyne and Wear area of north-east England.- Museums :...
and sponsored by the
Department for Culture, Media and SportThe Department for Culture, Media and Sport is a department of the United Kingdom government, with responsibility for culture and sport in England, and some aspects of the media throughout the whole UK, for example broadcasting...
.
History
Discovery Museum started life in 1934 as the Municipal Museum of Science and Industry. The collections were housed in a temporary pavilion built for the 1929 North East Coast Exhibition in Exhibition Park, Newcastle. This was the first UK science museum outside London.
The collections and displays grew for another forty years, until the temporary pavilion could no longer meet the Museum's needs. In 1978, the Museum was re-located to Blandford House, the former Co-operative Wholesale Society Headquarters for the Northern Region. Designed by Oliver, Leeson and Wood, this magnificent 1899 building had been the distribution centre for over 100 Co-op stores across the region, and contained extensive warehouse space and offices.
In 1993 the Museum was re-launched as Discovery Museum. Ongoing refurbishment has brought many new displays in recent years. This includes the spectacular transfer of
Turbinia, in 1994, from her old home in Exhibition Park through the streets of Newcastle to the new entrance hall at Discovery.
In 2004 the £13 million redevelopment of the Museum was complete and the following year the venue attracted 450,000 visitors.
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