PHASE One of the Natural History Museums Darwin Centre opens in
September, drawing on expertise from Imperial College and offering
visitors the chance to see previously hidden specimens, including
sea creatures collected by Captain Cook in Australia on his 1768
Endeavour voyage, and lizards collected by Charles Darwin during
his historic HMS Beagle expedition.
Visitors viewing some large specimens which are housed in
the Tank Room of the Darwin Centre |
The Centre, which has collaborated at varying levels with Imperials
departments of chemistry, chemical engineering and civil and
environmental engineering, will be the only place in the UK where
the public can interact with scientists seven days a week, and see
for themselves how the collection helps address contemporary
issues, such as air quality, the causes of disease and the
maintenance of delicate ecosystems around the world.
Other Imperial involvement includes a joint PhD student, a joint
MSc course and a joint project on Lichen biomonitoring. An Imperial
undergraduate is spending a year in industry with the botany
department and the department of earth sciences and engineering has
shared facilities with NHM with the eventual aim of running a joint
facility. Both are also partners in a Marie Curie training site
funded by the EC to provide training for PhD students in ore
deposits.
The first of two phases will also offer behind-the-scenes access
to the collection, enabling visitors to explore storerooms filled
with more than 22 million zoology specimens and previously only
used by scientific researchers and Museum curators.
Professor Phil Rainbow, Head of Zoology at the Natural History
Museum said: There are 350 scientists based at the Museum who are
engaged in practical problem-solving science, especially in
biodiversity. Working in partnership with over 60 countries
worldwide, we are also using our applied knowledge to help find
solutions to pests, parasites and diseases. The Darwin Centre will
now bring this important work out from behind the scenes.
The Natural History Museums collection contains more than 70
million items, yet only one per cent is displayed in the public
galleries. More than 877,000 type specimens from which species were
first identified and named, are also housed in the collection.
The Darwin Centre project will play an essential role in
safeguarding this collection for the future, while also offering
visitors an insight into the role of this vital resource, and
providing them with a close-up view of the work carried out by
scientists.
The Darwin Centre, which opens to the public on 30 September
2002, will be completed in 2007 when Phase Two opens its doors to
the public. Phase Two will house the Museums Entomology and Botany
Collections, comprising 28 million insects and six million plants.
On completion, almost 80 per cent of the Museums Collection will be
accessible to members of the public.
