Close up of many interlocking silver cogs inside a machine.
Departments

Science & Technology

Welcome to the Science and Technology department. We research, maintain and monitor one of the most important collections of scientific and technological material in Europe.

Our collections are open to researchers for examination, and we'd be happy to help you conduct research. Please contact our staff to enquire.

Contact list of staff members

Our collections

The Science and Technology collections are broad-based, ranging from scientific instruments made in the eleventh century to cutting-edge developments in renewable energy technologies. Some items are tiny, such as micro-electronic computing components; some are huge, including 73 aircraft. They are held at the National Museum of Rural Life and the National Museum of Flight as well as the National Museum of Scotland and National Museums Collection Centre.

These collections represent not only the development of scientific concepts and technical details but also the historical and cultural significance of science, medicine and technology, and their impact on people and the environment.

  • Glowing green magnified microbes.

    Science

    Our collections represent a wide range of scientific and medical endeavour.
  • An adult and child stand beneath the tail end wings of a Concorde aircraft stationed inside a large hangar.

    Technology

    Our collections include objects from industry, engineering, communications, transport and agriculture.

What we do

Science and Technology stories

  1. A group of men in high vis working around a large crucible of melted iron.

    Forging a path - Scotland's iron industry

    Science and technology, Scotland

    Written by Georgina Grant
    In July 2025 one of the last iron foundries in Scotland closed its doors. Ballantine Castings Ltd, based in Bo’ness, had been in operation for 200 years. The foundry supplied decorative, architectural and engineering ironwork across…
    Short read
  2. A colour photograph of a close-up of some wooden sticks with number pairs separated by diagonal lines.

    Napier's bones: The logarithmic genius who revolutionised calculations

    Science and technology

    Written by Dr Tacye Phillipson
    Find out how this brilliant Scottish mathematician and occultist invented a method of calculation that accelerated scientific discovery.In 1614, Edinburgh-born Renaissance scholar John Napier (1550-1617) invented logarithms. A means of…
    Long read

  3. The first ever colour television

    Science and technology

    The oldest known surviving colour television in the world is held in the National Museum of Scotland collection. It was manufactured in 1946 by General Electric in the USA for the Columbia Broadcasting Service (CBS) and is the only one of…
    Long read

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