Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences

Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences The Museum hosts an exciting collection of rocks, fossils and minerals. Free entry.

What’s on this June? 🌈 We have a range of free tours, events and exhibitions for you to drop into this June. From Magma ...
30/05/2026

What’s on this June? 🌈
 
We have a range of free tours, events and exhibitions for you to drop into this June.
 
From Magma to Magnets
📅 Open until Spring 2028
 
Bridging Binaries LGBTQ+ Tour
📅 Friday 5th June and Friday 19th June, 1pm - 1:45pm
 
Staff Favourites Tour
📅 Friday 12th June and Friday 26th June, 1pm - 1:30pm
 
Sedgwick Museum Late: Rock Up and Chill
📅 Thursday 25th June, 6pm - 9pm
 
Click the ‘What’s On’ link in our Linktree for more information. We look forward to seeing you there!

On this day in 1953, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest.⛰️Th...
29/05/2026

On this day in 1953, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest.⛰️

This piece of Ordovician limestone was collected just below the summit by Hillary, as he and Norgay descended the mountain. 

Mount Everest lies in the Himalayas, on the border between Nepal and Tibet. It is called Sagarmatha by the Nepali people and Chomolungma by the Tibetans. 

The Himalayas were formed by continental collision, when the Indian sub-continent collided with the rest of Asia. 

The rocks at the top of Mount Everest were formed in a shallow tropical marine environment 450 million years ago, during the Ordovician Period. These rocks were uplifted from the sea floor by the collision of tectonic plates. 

Have you ever wondered which prehistoric animals lived in Cambridgeshire? 🐚🦣🦑 Join us this half-term for some fabulous f...
21/05/2026

Have you ever wondered which prehistoric animals lived in Cambridgeshire? 🐚🦣🦑
 
Join us this half-term for some fabulous fossil fun as we discover which animals would have been our neighbours thousands, or even millions, of years ago.
 
Prepare for a summer of fossil hunting by learning how to spot fossilised prehistoric animals in local gravel.
 
Explore the Museum using our new trail to find out what these fossils can tell us about Cambridgeshire’s changing landscape; it will take you from Jurassic oceans to frozen tundra. If you find all the fossils, chat with us in the shop about them to win a prize!
 
10am-1pm: Meet Professor Elizabeth Harper from the Department of Earth Sciences ( ), University of Cambridge and find out what it’s like to research living and fossil sea animals using their shells.
 
2:30pm-5pm: Meet Dr Liz Hide and find out what it’s like to work as Director of the Sedgwick Museum.
 
We look forward to seeing you there.
 
📍 Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences 
📅 27th May 2026
🕰️ 10am-5pm
🎫 Free, family event

Last week we celebrated the art-science collaboration: Imagining Coastlines. We were lucky to have with us both the arti...
15/05/2026

Last week we celebrated the art-science collaboration: Imagining Coastlines. We were lucky to have with us both the artist, Kaitlin Ferguson, and scientist, Ilan Kelman, who worked together on the project.
 
Their work culminated in a series of artworks which, displayed in the Museum for the evening, invited us to imagine and reflect on future coastal change.
 
is an environmental and visual artist and is Professor of Disasters and Health at UCL. Through a series of walks along East Anglia’s present and predicted future coastlines, Kaitlin and Ilan investigated long-term environmental processes, local experiences of change, and the futures that coastal communities may face.
 
It was fascinating hearing directly from Kaitlin, Ilan and Jonathan Larwood from the Curry Fund, which supported the project, during the in-conversation portion of the evening.
 
We were also thrilled to be joined by the Cambridgeshire Geological Society, whose Fen Edge Trail walk inspired one of Kaitlin and Ilan’s walks. They advised us on the best local geology sites to visit, and had local fossils from the Sedgwick Museum collection available to handle, giving us the chance to get up close with specimens usually behind glass!
 
Thank you so much to Kaitlin and Ilan for sharing your work with us and to the Curry Fund for supporting it. And a huge thank you to everyone who joined us!
 
Image credits: Kaitlin, images 1-2. Ilan, image 3.
 
Find out more about the project on Kaitlin’s website: https://www.kaitlinferguson.com/

Museum Closure 📣 The Sedgwick Museum will be closed to visitors on the following dates: * Friday 15th May* Friday 22nd M...
11/05/2026

Museum Closure 📣
 
The Sedgwick Museum will be closed to visitors on the following dates:
 
* Friday 15th May
* Friday 22nd May
* Tuesday 26th May
* Friday 29th May
 
This is due to Unite industrial action taking place across the University of Cambridge.

The Sedgwick Museum wishes Sir David Attenborough a very Happy 100th Birthday! 🎂 Sir David Attenborough is naturalist, a...
08/05/2026

The Sedgwick Museum wishes Sir David Attenborough a very Happy 100th Birthday! 🎂

Sir David Attenborough is naturalist, and a pioneer of nature documentaries. He has dedicated much of his life to the natural world. Over a decades long career he has brought the wonders of the natural world to a global audience, combining rich scientific insight with compelling storytelling and engaging narration. He is an advocate for environmental awareness and conservation, and has inspired generations. 🎥

Much of his story began at the University of Cambridge in 1945, when he won a scholarship to Clare College, and came here to study Geology and Zoology.
Attenborough himself described the. University as “the first place where [he] saw the diversity of the world”. To celebrate his birthday, we took a journey through his time at Cambridge in our archives. You can spot a smiling younger Attenborough in the two Sedgwick Club class photos. This club is the official student geological society at the university, and is the oldest student-run geological society in the world. We find his signature, dated Jan 29th 1946, in the subscription account for the club, marking him as an official member. He graduated in 1947, with a degree in Natural Sciences. 👨‍🎓

We were delighted to invite Sir David Attenborough back to Cambridge in 2002, to open the refurbished galleries in the Museum. Attenborough has been an avid fossil collector since childhood, and we hope his visit to the museum continued to spark his joy in fossils. This opening showed how much the Museum and Sir Attenborough himself are committed to the continued promotion of Earth Sciences.

Happy 100th Birthday from the whole team at the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences and ! 🎉

The Sedgwick Museum is pleased to promote this play, involving students from our own Department of Earth Sciences.Writte...
06/05/2026

The Sedgwick Museum is pleased to promote this play, involving students from our own Department of Earth Sciences.
Written by David Finnigan, 'Scenes from the Climate Era' is a darkly human response to the climate crisis told through a kaleidoscope of short scenes and contrasting characters.

The play is showing from Tuesday 12th May to Saturday 16th May 2026 at 7:45pm. (Age rating 12+)

To book tickets please call the box office (01223 300085) or visit https://www.adctheatre.com/whats-on/play/scenes-from-the-climate-era/
from.climate.era_adc
 

This May we are celebrating the birthday of the naturalist and geologist Dr John Woodward (1665-1728), who played a cruc...
04/05/2026

This May we are celebrating the birthday of the naturalist and geologist Dr John Woodward (1665-1728), who played a crucial role in establishing geology as a science.

On his death he bequeathed £100 per annum to endow a position of lecturer at the University of Cambridge, establishing the oldest professorship in geology in the world. Adam Sedgwick himself, the namesake of our museum, was appointed the Woodwardian Professor of Geology from 1818.

Woodward also left his geological collection to the University, stipulating that it must be available for public viewing. This collection of around 10,000 fossils, rocks and minerals, in five beautiful walnut veneer cabinets, formed the founding collection of the Sedgwick Museum. In the almost 300 years following his death, and under the direction of many Woodwardian Professors, the Sedgwick Museum’s collection had grown to more than 2 million specimens. Woodward’s personal collection remains in its original secretaire style collector’s cabinets, which you can see in the recreation of his office on display in the museum. While much of Woodward’s collection was collected by Woodward himself, it was supplemented by assistants and global contacts around the world. Sir Isaac Newton, for example, gave Woodward 5 specimens of the mineral cinnabar.

Illustration of Dr John Woodward by is inspired by our portrait of him, which you can see in the recreation of his office on display in the museum.

Photos: Drawers from the Woodwardian Collection.

Fancy delving into the q***r histories of our Museum collections on a Friday afternoon in May? 🏳️‍🌈 Book onto a free Bri...
03/05/2026

Fancy delving into the q***r histories of our Museum collections on a Friday afternoon in May? 🏳️‍🌈
 
Book onto a free Bridging Binaries LGBTQ+ tour at the Sedgwick Museum or the Museum of Classical Archaeology, or both!

At the Sedgwick Museum:
Join us to explore and celebrate the q***r histories in our collections and the people connected to them. Discover the story of a dashing baron turned spy, uncover the Museum’s connection to a beloved LGBTQ+ bookshop and delve into local q***r history. We can’t wait to share these stories with you. To book your free place on the tour, email us at [email protected], call us at 01223 333456 or ask in our Museum shop.
 
At the Museum of Classical Archaeology:  
If you’re looking for a new perspective on the ancient world, or even just a fun way to spend an afternoon, why not join a Bridging Binaries tour at the Museum of Classical Archaeology? Our fantastic volunteers deliver unique tours exploring the q***r history behind some of the ancient masterpieces in our collection.
 
Upcoming Friday tour dates in May are:
📍Sedgwick Museum, Friday 8th May, 1 - 1:45pm
📍Sedgwick Museum, Friday 22nd May, 1 - 1:45pm
📍Museum of Classical Archaeology, Friday 29th May, 2:30 - 3:30pm
 
The Museum of Classical Archaeology also run tours on some Saturdays, swipe to see all of their upcoming Bridging Binaries tour dates. ➡️
 
Find out more about our tours, and the Bridging Binaries offers available at other University Cambridge Museum, by following the link in our Linktree.

Join us tomorrow, Thursday 7th May, 6pm - 9pm, and discover our pop-up art installation ‘Imagining Coastlines’ from 6pm ...
02/05/2026

Join us tomorrow, Thursday 7th May, 6pm - 9pm, and discover our pop-up art installation ‘Imagining Coastlines’ from 6pm - 9pm on Thursday 7th May at our free, 18+ evening event. 🏛️

‘Imagining Coastlines’ is a collaboration between artist Kaitlin Ferguson and Ilan Kelman, Professor of Disasters and Health at UCL, which explores how art and geology can help us imagine and understand future coastal change.

Spend the evening exploring the ‘Imagining Coastlines’ installation in the Museum, handle some local fossils with the team from Cambridgeshire Geological Society, and enjoy the galleries in an atmospheric evening setting.

At 7pm, we will be hosting a relaxed ‘in conversation’ with Kaitlin and Ilan to find out more about their fascinating art-science collaboration.

We will welcome you with a complimentary drink on arrival. Please note there will be no paid bar at this event, and there will be a 10% discount in our shop.

This event is FREE, but booking is essential. Head to the Linktree in our bio to book your place.

We are very sorry that our lift is currently unavailable, therefore we are unable to offer step-free access to the Museum. We are able to offer step-free access to the ‘in conversation’ hosted between 7pm and 8pm in the John Watson Building Stones Gallery, on the ground floor of the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge.

Please don’t hesitate to get in touch to discuss any access requirements: [email protected], 01223 333456.

📌 Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences
📅 7th May 2026
🕰️ 6-9pm
🎫 Free entry, booking essential

Address

Downing Street
Cambridge
CB23EQ

Opening Hours

Monday 10am - 5pm
Tuesday 10am - 5pm
Wednesday 10am - 5pm
Thursday 10am - 5pm
Friday 10am - 5pm
Saturday 10am - 4pm

Telephone

(01223) 333456

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