UK: The Queen opens landmark communications gallery at the Science Museum

LONDON Oct. 25 (People's Daily Online) —— On 24 October, Her Majesty The Queen accompanied by His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh visited the Science Museum to officially open Information Age, the UK’s first permanent museum gallery dedicated to the history of information and communication technologies.

During an introductory tour of the new gallery, The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh listened to the personal recollections of people whose first experience of television was watching the Coronation in 1953. These audio histories form part of The Broadcast section of the gallery and reveal the significance of this first moment of mass television entertainment.

Information Age: Six Networks That Changed Our World explores the remarkable technological breakthroughs that have transformed how we communicate over the last 200 years. Information Age will look at the huge impact of developments in communication technology on all our lives.

Ian Blatchford, Director of the Science Museum, said, “Behind each of the 800 plus objects in Information Age is a fascinating story that helps us all understand more about the connected world we live in today. It is an honour to welcome Her Majesty and The Duke of Edinburgh to formally open Information Age, the first of several ambitious new galleries that will transform the Science Museum over the next few years.”

The tour finished in front of the monumental 6-metre high aerial tuning inductor from Rugby Radio Station that sits at the centre of the gallery. This beautiful object made of copper and wood was once part of the most powerful radio transmitter in the world and was donated to the Science Museum by BT.

Information Age will explore how our modern connected world was created through six communication networks, the telegraph, the telephone, radio and television broadcasting, satellite communications, computer networks and mobile communications. The gallery features more than 800 unique objects from the Science Museum collections as well as state-of-the-art interactive displays to illustrate the dramatic personal stories of those whose lives were changed by each new wave of technology.