Exhibitions and Displays

The Main Gallery

Formerly the 17th century Perse Room, the Whipple Museum's Main Gallery houses selected objects from our large collection. As well as large instruments - such as the 18th century Grand Orrery built by George Adams, and William Herschel's Newtonian telescope - there are a number of themed cases. These contain many exhibits associated with a variety of scientific fields. The gallery also hosts Case Studies, individual contributions by members of the Department of History and Philosophy of Science that display current research or areas of personal interest.

Our latest display in this gallery is Physics & Glass, featuring objects from the Cavendish Museum and the Whipple's own collection.

Special Exhibition Gallery

The current exhibition in the Special Exhibitions Gallery is The Art of Deception. Now open, the exhibition takes visitors into the dark underbelly of the world of collecting, asking how fake artefacts end up in museums, who made them, and why — and how experts detect them.

Opened in January, The Art of Deception puts forged scientific instruments that have fooled collectors and specialists under the spotlight. From an intricate “silver” globe to eye-popping medical prints, visitors can explore over a hundred notorious objects alongside the careful investigative work that exposed them.

The Learning Gallery

This Learning Gallery is next door to the Main Gallery, and features exhibits related to study and learning.

Importantly, it also contains family-friendly resources! Our activity boxes contain handling objects that help illustrate scientific concepts in an enjoyable way.

Globes in the Upper Gallery

The Upper Gallery features our stunning permanent exhibition: Globes. Often light-sensitive, globes are challenging to display, not least because it is desirable, but difficult, to see the entire surface of the globe. Our cases allow visitors a complete 360° view of our oustanding collection of globes, planetaria and other related objects. This has been part-funded by DCMS/Wolfson.

Learn more about Globes in our Exploresection.

The Victorian Parlour

Upstairs in the Museum is the Victorian Parlour. This mini-gallery evokes the parlour of a 19th-century family interested in science. The room is filled with scientific objects which might have been found in the home during this period. Explore the drawers to find many 19th-century activities and games with a scientific theme - have fun designing your own animations using the zoetrope or look at early 3D images with the stereoscopic viewer.