Dr Tilly Blyth, curator of the Information Age Exhibition, spoke about the seven year journey from inception to launch of the new blockbuster gallery at the Science Museum in London last year. She walked and talked members of the Women in Telecoms & Technology (WiTT) network group through a private tour of the gallery on Tuesday 24th February 2015. The Information Age gallery, which was opened Her Majesty The Queen on Friday 24 October 2014, celebrates more than 200 years of innovation in information and communication technologies. Her Majesty celebrated the opening by sending her first tweet via social media platform Twitter. It read: “It is a pleasure to open the Information Age exhibition today at the @ScienceMuseum and I hope people will enjoy visiting. Elizabeth R.” This was retweeted 3500 times within 45 minutes.
About the Information Age Gallery
Three years in the planning, the exhibition is one of the most ambitious projects the museum has undertaken to date. Alongside historic objects, visitors can enjoy interactive experiences like booths, video shows and games and play on the last manual (phone) exchange in Britain.
There are six zones in the gallery, each representing a different technology network: The Cable, The Telephone Exchange, Broadcast, The Constellation, The Cell and The Web. The gallery explores the important events that shaped the development of these networks, from the growth of the worldwide telegraph network in the 19th century, to the influence of mobile phones on our lives today.
Re-live remarkable moments in history, told through the eyes of those who invented, operated or were affected by the new wave of technology, from the first BBC radio broadcast in 1922 to the dawn of digital TV. There is the first transatlantic telegraph cable which connected Europe and North America, the broadcast equipment behind the BBC’s first radio programme in 1922, and Sir Tim Berners-Lee’s NeXT computer, which hosted the first website, complete with a sticker which reads “This machine is a server. Do NOT Power Down.” The computer section also boasts a gold-plated Acorn BBC micro computer!
Visitors can discover how wireless technology saved many lives on the Titanic and spread news of the disaster to the world within hours. You can also hear the personal stories of the operators who worked on the Enfield Telephone Exchange, the last manual exchange. Apparently, The Queen’s favourite exhibit was large mobile phone call box from Cameroon, owned by Emmanuel Bongsunu who earned enough income from it for the upkeep of his family in the countryside.
For further information visit www.sciencemuseum.org.uk