Thinktank, Birmingham (formerly known as simply Thinktank) is a

science museum A science museum is a museum devoted primarily to science. Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays of objects related to natural history, paleontology, geology, industry and industrial machinery, etc. Modern trends in ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Opened in 2001, it is part of Birmingham Museums Trust and is located within the Millennium Point complex on Curzon Street, Digbeth.

History

The Birmingham Collection of Science & Industry was started in the mid-19th century, initially consisting of collections of weapons from the

gun A gun is a ranged weapon designed to use a shooting tube (gun barrel) to launch projectiles. The projectiles are typically solid, but can also be pressurized liquid (e.g. in water guns/cannons, spray guns for painting or pressure washing, p ...

trade and the

Birmingham Proof House The Birmingham Gun Barrel Proof House is a weapons proving establishment in Banbury Street, Birmingham, UK. The building was designed by John Horton and consists of a centre bay, emphasised by a segmental parapet, which contains trophies by W ...

. The

Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (BM&AG) is a museum and art gallery in Birmingham, England. It has a collection of international importance covering fine art, ceramics, metalwork, jewellery, natural history, archaeology, ethnography, local h ...

opened in 1885, including science collections. In 1951 the Museum of Science and Industry opened at

Elkington Silver Electroplating Works The Elkington Silver Electroplating Works was a building on Newhall Street in Birmingham, England. It later housed the Birmingham science museum Museum of Science and Industry until the creation of Thinktank. Standing opposite the Birmingham ...

, Newhall Street. Over the following years, the museum acquired individual artefacts, as well as entire collections, that were related to local industry and the history of science and technology.

Birmingham City Council Birmingham City Council is the local government body responsible for the governance of the City of Birmingham in England, which has been a metropolitan district since 1974. It is the most populated local council area in the United Kingdom ...

decided in 1995 to relocate the museum when it was given an opportunity by the

Millennium Commission The Millennium Commission, a United Kingdom public body, was set up to celebrate the turn of the millennium. It used funding raised through the UK National Lottery to assist communities in marking the close of the second millennium and celebra ...

to construct a new building. The former museum closed in 1997, and Thinktank opened on 29 September 2001 as part of the £114-million Millennium Point complex. It was funded by Birmingham City Council, supported by the

. The area adjacent to the building is designated

Eastside City Park Eastside City Park is a 6.75 acre (2.73 ha) urban park located in the Eastside district of Birmingham City Centre. Designed by architects Patel taylor with landscape architect Allain Provost, the park was opened to the public on 5 December 201 ...

. While many objects were put on display at Thinktank, others were stored at the

Birmingham Museum Collection Centre The Museum Collection Centre (MCC) in Nechells, Birmingham, England, is a building that holds 80% of Birmingham Museums Trust's stored collections under one roof. It is one of the UK's largest museum stores. Among the thousands of objects stored ...

, and some were brought out of storage. Although the previous science museum was free to enter, Thinktank charges an entrance fee. In 2005 the museum underwent a £2 million upgrade, including the installation of a planetarium. By 2007 it had received over 1 million visitors. In April 2012, Birmingham Museums Trust took over governance and management responsibility for Thinktank, along with eight other sites. In March 2015, a new "Spitfire gallery" opened, relating the displayed aircraft to their production, locally. Among the new exhibits are a

leather flying helmet During the first years of aviation, pilots started wearing leather flying helmets as a form of protection from the cold and the noise of aircraft engines. Leather was becoming a popular choice for protective gear with the rise of motor sport and ...

previously belonging to

Helen Kerly Helen Kerly or Ruth Helen Clark (6 January 1916 - 26 May 1992) was a British civilian female pilot officer who was one of only two such women commended for their work. Life Third Officer Ruth Helen Kerly was born in 1916 in London and she came ...

, one of only two British civilian women commended for flying during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

Collections

Aircraft

Locomotives

Trams

Cars

Stationary steam engines

Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museum has a big collection of stationary steam engines. The following are some examples of them:

Other machines

Displays

Thinktank has four floors of over 200 hands-on exhibits and artefacts. Each floor has a theme, in general going from the past, in ''The Past'' (Level 0), through ''The Balcony'' (Level 1) and ''The Present'' (Level 2), to the future, in ''The Future'' gallery (Level 3).Thinktank What's On Leaflet, 2013 It has lost its theme as new items have been added.

Surroundings

The museum shares the Millennium Point building with

Birmingham City University , mottoeng = "Do what you are doing; attend to your business" , established = 1992—gained university status1971—City of Birmingham Polytechnic1843—Birmingham College of Art , type = Public , affiliation = ...

, and is situated in the Eastside district. It lies near

Aston University Aston University (abbreviated as ''Aston''. for post-nominals) is a public research university situated in the city centre of Birmingham, England. Aston began as the Birmingham Municipal Technical School in 1895, evolving into the UK's first ...

and the

Gun Quarter The Gun Quarter is a district of the city of Birmingham, England, which was for many years a centre of the world's gun-manufacturing industry, specialising in the production of military firearms and sporting guns. It is an industrial area to the ...

– which was for many years the centre of world's gun-manufacturing industry. Immediately opposite are

The Woodman The Woodman is a public house on Albert Street in Birmingham, England that is Grade II listed. It stands beside the Eastside City Park and the abandoned, but listed, Curzon Street railway station which will be part of the new station being de ...

, a public house, and Curzon Street railway station - both listed buildings.

References

External links

* {{authority control Museums in Birmingham, West Midlands Planetaria in the United Kingdom Railway museums in England Industry museums in England Steam museums in England Local museums in the West Midlands (county) Transport museums in England Technology museums in the United Kingdom Science museums in England Articles containing video clips Industry in Birmingham, West Midlands Birmingham Museums Trust