Chalk it up to a life size model of the blue whale. Yup, I can say with certainty that the reason I got into science, biology, all of the things that have led to my current place as an academic, started with a freakishly impressive (especially if you're a young child looking up up up) model of a blue whale.
This blue whale, of course, is housed in London's Natural History Museum, one of the coolest museums on the planet, and also mostly with free admission (some special exhibits have a charge)
It's also one of the most architecturally inspiring places around. Here, check out this assortment of images from flickr.com:
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"Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black
And the dark street winds and bends.
Past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow
We shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And watch where the chalk-white arrows go
From Earth to the Universe was a brilliant outreach project for the 2009 International Year of Astronomy, displaying online, and in real life, some of the best astronomical images around.
A few years ago I needed to image some ants for a short taxonomic paper. Lacking a decent specimen imaging system (like Entovision), I decided to snap the photos at
"Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first." -Mark Twain
Not only all that, but it also houses one of the largest collections of specimins and fossils in the world as well as undertaking research.
I was developed my love of science and museums because of a blue whale, just on the other side of the Atlantic in the American Museum of Natural History. Perhaps the most vivid memory I have, however, is of the old "Brontosaurus" in the dim dinosaur halls when I was about 5 or 6; my imagination went wild.
I went to the museum twice during my holiday to London. Once to see the exhibits and once to do the architecture tour. I was seriously torn as to which was more interesting.
I'm not a scientist, but for the last 3 years I've been acting like one. I have to say that museums are absolutely my inspiration. I've never seen the London Museum, but I see now that I must.
Visiting the Museum of Natural History in Florence next week, I've heard it is beautiful as well.
Thank you for the pictures!
Being from London, I have visited this Museum a couple of times.