science

National Science and Media Museum

National Science and Media Museum is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand National Science and Media Museum rather than just read about it. In short: The National Science and Media Museum (formerly The National Museum of Photography, Film & Television, 1983–2006 and then the National Media Museum, 2006–2017), located in Bradford, West Yorkshire, is part of the national Science Museum Group in the UK. The museum has seven floors of galleries with permanent exhibitions focusing on photography, television, animation, videogaming, the Internet and the scientific prin…

Key takeaways

National Science and Media Museum belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect National Science and Media Museum to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of National Science and Media Museum from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The National Science and Media Museum (formerly The National Museum of Photography, Film & Television, 1983–2006 and then the National Media Museum, 2006–2017), located in Bradford, West Yorkshire, is part of the national Science Museum Group in the UK. The museum has seven floors of galleries with permanent exhibitions focusing on photography, television, animation, videogaming, the Internet and the scientific principles behind light and colour. It also hosts temporary exhibitions and maintains a collection of 3.5 million pieces in its research facility. The venue has three cinemas, including Europe's first opened IMAX screen, finished in April 1983. It hosts festivals dedicated to widescreen film, video games and science. It has hosted popular film festivals, including the Bradford International Film Festival, until 2014. In September 2011 the museum was voted the best indoor attraction in Yorkshire by the public, and it is one of the most visited museums in the north of England. As of February 2016 the museum, in response to revenue shortfalls, has controversially adopted a policy of focusing on "the science and culture of light and sound"—to the exclusion of what are seen as "unsustainable" aspects of creativity and culture, such as past film festivals. In March 2016 a £7.5 million five year investment plan in the museum was revealed by the Science Museum Group. In March 2017 its name was changed from National Media Museum to National Science and Media Museum. In July 2023, the museum closed temporarily as part of a project to construct two new galleries. As of 16 January 2025 the museum has since reopened to visitors.

Building and admission Entrance is free, with the exception of cinema screens. The museum is open 10 am until 6 pm every day. The museum underwent a £16 million refurbishment in 1998, developing a new digital technology gallery. This new development created a new glass-fronted atrium, which houses a new café and shop.

Galleries There are six permanent exhibitions:

Kodak Gallery – The Kodak Gallery takes the viewer on a journey through the history of popular photography, from the world's first photographs to the digital snapshots of today. Most of the items on display in the gallery are taken from the museum collection of 35,000 objects and images donated by Kodak. Wonderlab – Explores light and sound through interactive exhibits and live experiments. Opened in 2016, replacing the Experience TV gallery. Power Up – Playable classic games in their original arcade or console formats; the history of video gaming; the story behind this global phenomenon. Sound and Vision – new galleries exploring the history of sound and vision technologies. Opened in 2025.

Cinemas

The museum incorporates the first permanent UK installation of an IMAX cinema (with a second screen opening in the UK 15 years later). Opened in 1983 as part of the Bradford Film Festival with the projector visible from a darkened booth of the 4th floor. Films included IMAX prints of Apollo 13, The Lion King, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Batman Begins. In 1999, IMAX upgraded the system and began releasing IMAX 3D presentations. In 2015 it was changed to digital projection instead of film. As a result, the IMAX projection booth is no longer visible.

The museum also incorporates the Pictureville Cinema – opened in 1992 and described by David Puttnam as 'the best cinema in the world', Pictureville Cinema screens everything from 70 mm to video; from Hollywood to Bollywood; from silents to digital sound, with certifications in presentation including THX in sound and picture and the Dolby EX system. In 2008, the cinema presented the only true recorded public screening of Danny Boyle's 2002 film Alien Love Triangle. Pictureville Cinema is one of only three public cinemas in the world permanently equipped to display original 3-strip 35mm Cinerama prints, and is the only public Cinerama venue in the UK. Cinerama films are screened at the annual Widescreen Weekend film festival. The Cubby Broccoli Cinema (in memory of the producer of James Bond films), contains 106 seats and is used for a variety of film shows. In 2012, it was one of three venues in the UK to screen the Olympic Opening Ceremony in Super Hi-Vision.

Insight Insight is a facility where members of the public can (by prior booking) view parts of the collections which are not on general display.

Collection

The museum's collection contains 3.5 million items of historical, cultural and social value. Notable objects and archives include:

The first photographic negative The earliest television footage The world's first colour moving pictures Louis Le Prince's 1888 films Roundhay Garden Scene and Traffic Crossing Leeds Bridge A collection of 35,000 objects and images donated by Kodak Ltd. A collection of around 1,000 historical objects from the BBC The photographic archive of the Daily Herald, comprising millions of images The photographic archive of Tony Ray-Jones Original toys from the BBC series Play School – the first programme on BBC2 Objects and designs used in the making of Hammer horror films The collections are accessible to the public through the museum's Insight study centre. The collection of the Royal Photographic Society was transferred to the Museum on behalf of the nation in 2003. As of 2017, most of the collection is moving to the Victoria and Albert museum in London. The National Science and Media Museum "will retain collections that help explore the development of photographic processes, such as the Kodak collection; the cultural impact of photography, such as the Daily Herald archive; and archives that have a direct relevance to Bradford."

History

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with National Science and Media Museum

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what National Science and Media Museum claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to National Science and Media Museum before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about National Science and Media Museum ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of National Science and Media Museum

In research: National Science and Media Museum appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses National Science and Media Museum in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: National Science and Media Museum is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1983 establishments in England, Art museums and galleries established in 1983, Cartooning museums, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for National Science and Media Museum outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study National Science and Media Museum in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what National Science and Media Museum means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain National Science and Media Museum out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is National Science and Media Museum in simple terms?

Why does National Science and Media Museum matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study National Science and Media Museum?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on National Science and Media Museum.