n July 2016 the much-anticipated new Science and Technology galleries opened at the National Museum of Scotland (NMS) in Edinburgh. In this latest offering from the Museum, as part of its ongoing masterplan for redevelopment, visitors are treated to three floors of science and technology, in many cases shown through the lens of Scottish contributions to the field. This local focus provides an additional layer of interest and gives the galleries an edge that this collection is uniquely placed to achieve. Located at the opposite side of the Museum to the Natural World galleries, which opened in
Museums are on the up. More than fifty per cent of the UK population now visits one every year; with attendances across many western countries having grown as much as ten per cent in the last decade. During half that period, a variety of funding agencies and individuals have poured no less than five billion dollars into America’s museum infrastructure, with entirely new museums (such as the Eli Broad in LA and Smithsonian’s African American Museum) or hefty extensions of established ones (like that at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art) being built as a consequence. While on the other side