- Thousands of unseen exhibits from three of the UK's leading
museums will today be made available by the launch of a new science website.
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- For the first time, more than 30,000 objects from the
collections of the Science museum, the National Museum of Photography,
Film and Television and the National Railway museum will be accessible
at www.ingenious.org.uk.
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- Until now, the three museums, which together form the
National Museum of Science and Industry (NMSI), have only been able to
exhibit between 5% and 7% of their vast 300,000-piece collection at any
one time.
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- However, through the digitisation of images of key objects
and records, the new site aims to provide access to many items that have
been stored away for months or years, unseen by the even the most frequent
of museum visitors.
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- It features detailed, interactive guides to the objects,
offering what the NMSI describes as an "unprecedented insight"
into the stories behind practically every modern invention.
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- "We are offering millions of virtual visitors the
chance to see thousands of iconic objects that will help improve the understanding
of the contribution of science, technology and invention to the material
world around us and how they have changed our lives," Lindsay Sharp,
the director of NMSI, said.
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- "As you'd expect from one of the world's leading
science museums, we've exploited the potential of new technology to make
sure the experience for visitors is rich and exciting."
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- A second site, www.makingthemodernworld.org.uk, based
around the Science Museum gallery of the same name, is also being launched
today.
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- Focusing on more than 100 objects, ranging from Stephenson's
Rocket locomotive to the Apollo 10 mooncraft, it is more targeted at teachers
and students, offering 72 learning modules to complement the A-level curriculum.
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- Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited
2004 http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/news/0,12597,1235009,00.html
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