What are the opening hours?

Monday 12:30pm - 4:30pm Tuesday 12:30pm - 4:30pm Wednesday 12:30pm - 4:30pm Thursday 12:30pm - 4:30pm Friday 12:30pm - 4:30pm

Whipple Museum of the History of Science

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Whipple Museum of the History of Science

"A fabulous chocolate box cornucopia of a collection"

Open Monday to Friday, 12.30pm - 4.30pm. Every third Saturday of the month, 10am - 4pm.

Open selected Bank Holidays. Discover a vast array of scientific instruments dating from the Middle Ages to the present day. From microscopes and telescopes to pocket calculators and slide rules, find out more about the tools that scientists have used to understand the world around us.

18/05/2026

🚨 Museum Closure 🚨

The Whipple Museum will be closed to visitors from 20–22 May and 26–29 May due to University-wide industrial action over pay.

We will also be closed for the May Bank Holiday on Monday 25 May.

Our Little Stars morning session for early years will still take place on 21 May, 10:30am–12:30pm, we look forward to welcoming you.

✨ Plan your visit:
📍 Whipple Museum, Free School Lane, Cambridge
🗓 Monday–Friday, 12:30–4:30pm
📅 Next Saturday opening: 20 June, 10–4pm

16/05/2026

Join us this Monday for our free Whipple Highlights Tour ✨

What exactly is an orrery? Why does our clock chime 13? And why would anyone collect plaster horses’ teeth, green spectacles, or hundreds of pocket calculators? 👀 🐴 🔭 🌍

Discover the stories behind some of Whipple’s most intriguing objects on a guided tour through the collection in 10 highlights, from scientific instruments to surprising connections with some of Cambridge’s most famous names.

🕝 Monday 18 May, 2.30-3pm
🎟️ Book your free tickets via our website, or use the link in bio

✨ Plan your visit:
📍 Whipple Museum, Free School Lane, Cambridge
🗓 Mon–Fri, 12.30–4.30pm
📅 Next Saturday opening: 20 June, 10.00–4.00pm

12/05/2026

🚨 Museum Closure 🚨

The Whipple Museum will be closed to visitors from 13–15 May 2026 due to University-wide industrial action over pay. Further strike action is planned for 20–22 May and 26–29 May.

We will be open as usual on Saturday 16 May, 10.00am–4.00pm.

✨ Plan your visit:
📍 Whipple Museum, Free School Lane, Cambridge
🗓 Mon–Fri, 12:30–4:30pm
📅 Next Saturday opening: 16 May, 10.00–4.00pm

17/04/2026

Ottoman Turkish miniatures are on display in our new exhibition, The Art of Deception.

We’re open tomorrow, have you had a chance to explore it yet? 🧐

The Art of Deception takes visitors into the dark underbelly of the world of collecting. How do fake artefacts end up in museums? Who made them, and why? And how do we detect them?

From an intricately crafted “silver” globe to striking medical prints, the exhibition brings together over a hundred notorious objects—alongside the careful detective work that exposed them.

🔍Plus, test your eye in our fakes quiz! Look closely and use your judgement to decide which objects are genuine and which are forgeries. Can you foil the forgers?

✨ Plan your visit:
📍 Whipple Museum, Free School Lane, Cambridge
🗓 Mon–Fri, 12.30–4.30pm
📅 Next Saturday opening: 18 April, 10.00–4.00pm

16/04/2026

Museum Closure

The Whipple Museum will be closed to visitors on 21–22 April and 30 April–1 May 2026 due to University-wide industrial action over pay.

Our Little Stars morning session for early years will still take place on the 21 April, 10.30-12.30pm.

✨ Plan your visit:
📍 Whipple Museum, Free School Lane, Cambridge
🗓 Mon–Fri, 12.30–4.30pm
📅 Next Saturday opening: 18 April, 10.00–4.00pm

19/03/2026

Meet the Researchers Day at the Whipple Museum ⭐️

Join us for a day of engaging talks with researchers from the Department of History and Philosophy of Science, sharing fresh ideas and new perspectives.

📅 Saturday 21 March
⏰ 10am – 4pm
📍 Drop in anytime — all talks are free

HPS Researcher Spotlight
Fermenting Science: Sake, Soy Sauce and the Dutch Quest for Japanese Knowledge in the Tokugawa Era, with Postdoctoral Researcher Dr Maria Florutau

How did Europeans discover soy sauce, sake, and Japanese tea culture when Japan was closed to the outside world?

This talk explores how Dutch merchants and scientists, working via the Batavian Society in Java, became Europe’s only gateway to Japanese knowledge during the Tokugawa period — uncovering insights that reshaped European views of East Asia.

🕒 Maria’s talk starts at 2pm

✨ Drop in, discover something new, and meet the researchers behind the work

Part of Cambridge Festival 2026

Plan your visit
📍 Whipple Museum, Free School Lane, Cambridge
🗓 Mon–Fri, 12.30–4.30pm
📅 Next Saturday opening: 21 March, 10am–4pm

17/03/2026

Meet the Researchers Day at the Whipple Museum 📚

Join us for a day of inspiring talks as researchers from the Department of History and Philosophy of Science share insights from their latest work.
Part of Cambridge Festival 2026

📅 Saturday 21 March
⏰ 10am – 4pm
📍 Drop in anytime — all talks are free

HPS Researcher Spotlight: PhD researcher Sandra Liwanowska
Giants! A history of height, science and the Potsdam army

Discover the remarkable story of Frederick William I’s towering soldiers, the Potsdam Giants. In 18th-century Europe, kings and scientists alike measured, displayed, and experimented on extraordinary bodies. This talk explores a world of ambition, spectacle, and power — and how curiosity about human height shaped ideas about beauty, heredity, and what it meant to be “perfect.”

🕒 Sandra’s talk begins at 3pm
✨ Come along, discover new ideas, and meet the researchers behind them.

Plan your visit
📍 Whipple Museum, Free School Lane, Cambridge
🗓 Mon–Fri, 12.30–4.30pm
📅 Next Saturday opening: 21 March, 10am–4pm

12/03/2026

⏳ Weekend at the Whipple: Travellers in Time ⏳
Step across centuries and discover how scientific ideas have travelled through time! Join us for a special Cambridge Festival 2026 weekend opening.

🧭 Explore the Whipple’s collections to learn about measuring time, journeys around the world, and how ideas have moved and evolved across history. Meet scientists from different times and places, and create your own time-travelling adventure!

📅 28–29 March 2026
🕚 11:00am – 4:30pm
🎟 Free entry

✨ Plan your visit
📍 Whipple Museum, Free School Lane, Cambridge
🗓 Mon–Fri, 12:30–4:30 PM
📅 Next Saturday opening: 21 March, 10am – 4pm

10/03/2026

Meet the Researchers Day at the Whipple Museum ⭐️

Join us for a day of five inspiring talks as researchers from the Department of History and Philosophy of Science share insights from their latest work.

📅 Saturday 21 March
⏰ 10am – 4pm
📍 Drop in anytime — all talks are free

HPS spotlight: Teaching Associate Dr Tom McClelland
Dr Tom McClelland explores a fascinating question: is machine consciousness still science fiction — or is it becoming science fact? His talk looks at the arguments for and against artificial consciousness, and the ethical questions it raises.

🕧 Tom’s talk starts at 12.30pm

✨ Come along, discover new ideas, and meet the researchers behind them.

Part of Cambridge Festival 2026

✨ Plan your 2026 visit
📍 Whipple Museum, Free School Lane, Cambridge
🗓 Mon–Fri, 12.30–4.30pm
📅 Next Saturday opening: 21 March, 10am–4pm

06/03/2026

The Art of Deception, Fakes from the Whipple Collection 🕵️‍♀️🔎

Now open, The Art of Deception takes visitors into the dark underbelly of the world of collecting. How do fake artefacts end up in museums? Who made them, and why? And how do we detect them?

From an intricately crafted “silver” globe to striking medical prints, the exhibition brings together over a hundred notorious objects—alongside the careful detective work that exposed them.

🔍Plus, test your eye in our fakes quiz! Look closely and use your judgement to decide which objects are genuine and which are forgeries. Can you foil the forgers?

✨ Plan your visit in 2026:
📍 Whipple Museum, Free School Lane, Cambridge
🗓 Open Monday–Friday, 12.30–4.30pm
📅 Next Saturday opening: 21 March, 10am–4pm

Address

Free School Lane
Cambridge
CB23RH

Opening Hours

Monday	12:30pm - 4:30pm
Tuesday	12:30pm - 4:30pm
Wednesday	12:30pm - 4:30pm
Thursday	12:30pm - 4:30pm
Friday	12:30pm - 4:30pm

Telephone

+441223330906

Website

https://www.whipplemuseum.cam.ac.uk/

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