These objects have come into the museum’s collections in many
different ways. Whether they reflect a lifetime of achievement or a
moment of conflict, each one gives a glimpse into someone else’s
life or another place and time.
Above: the Millennium Clock Tower in the Discoveries
gallery.
Click on any of the images of objects below to see a larger
version and find out more about it.
Scots have a long history of innovation and invention, making
ground-breaking discoveries and promoting ideas that have changed
lives. John Logie Baird was a pioneer of television. Professor
Joseph Black transformed the science of chemistry. Alexander
Fleming discovered penicillin. Engineers David and Thomas Stevenson
designed, built and sold lighthouses across the world.
Above: The coffin of Iufenamun in the Discoveries gallery.
Scotland has also been a place where people have come to learn –
some of the greatest scientists, writers and thinkers have studied
here, including Charles Darwin, who read medicine at the University
Edinburgh.
Their stories reveal how creativity, new ways of thinking, and
even accidental discoveries, have had a revolutionary impact on the
world.
Travellers and collectors
For many Scots, the Empire represented a chance to build a
career, find a better life and make money. As they travelled, Scots
collected curios, gifts and personal mementoes, from tiny trinkets
to royal mummies. The Discoveries gallery explains how many of
these became part of the museum collection.