Thinktank, Birmingham (formerly known as simply Thinktank) is a science museum in Birmingham, England. Opened in 2001, it is part of Birmingham Museums Trust and is located within the Millennium Point complex on Curzon Street, Digbeth.
History
The Birmingham Collection of Science and Industry was started in the mid-19th century, initially consisting of collections of weapons from the gun trade and the Birmingham Proof House. The Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery opened in 1885, including science collections. In 1951, the Museum of Science and Industry opened at Elkington Silver Electroplating Works, Newhall Street. Over the following years, the museum acquired individual artefacts, as well as entire collections, that were related to local industry and the history of science and technology. Among the new exhibits are a leather flying helmet previously belonging to Helen Kerly, one of only two British civilian women commended for flying during the Second World War.
Collections
Aircraft
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! style="width: 150px;" | Photo !! style="width: 100px;" | Item !! style="width: 500px" | Description
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| 150px || Supermarine Spitfire Mark IXc || ML 427, built in 1944, gifted by the Air Ministry in 1958.
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| 150px || Easton & Amos pumping engine || Used from 1894 until the mid-1950s, at the Old Kent Road Gas Works, London, for pumping coal gas.
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| 150px || Murray's Hypocycloidal Engine || Made around 1802, It has lost its theme as new items have been added.
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! Photo !! Level !! Gallery !! Description
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| 0: The past
| Boulton and Watt [CLOSED]
| Display of objects relating to James Watt, Matthew Boulton, William Murdoch and associates, including other members of the Lunar Society. This area has since been removed.
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| 0: The past
| Move It
| Vehicles that were built in, or used around, the Birmingham area, including bikes, cars, trams, trains and planes.
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