Photo: Walej · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Faraday Museum

A free museum at the Royal Institution in Mayfair with Michael Faraday's 1850s laboratory and objects from two centuries of scientific discovery.

Opening hoursFree admission Wheelchair accessible Café

Website Directions

About the museum

The Royal Institution was founded in 1799 and has been based at 21 Albemarle Street in Mayfair ever since. The Faraday Museum was opened there in 1973 in honour of Michael Faraday, who began as a bookbinder's apprentice and became one of the leading experimental scientists of his century. It was officially accredited in 2009.

The museum is on the lower ground floor and shows Faraday's magnetic laboratory as it was in the 1850s, set opposite a modern nanotechnology laboratory. Nearby are objects from famous experiments, including an early electrical transformer and the apparatus used in work on the blue colour of the sky.

The ground floor presents the people of the Royal Institution, among them Faraday, Humphry Davy, Ada Lovelace and the Nobel Prize winners who worked there. The first floor shows paintings, props and film clips from past speakers in the Institution's lecture theatre.

Highlights

Michael Faraday's magnetic laboratory as it was in the 1850s
Early electrical transformer and other experimental apparatus
Exhibits on Humphry Davy, Ada Lovelace and Nobel laureates
Interactive chemical elements game
Props from past lecture speakers

Permanent exhibitions

Faraday's laboratory and experimental objects (lower ground floor) – Faraday's magnetic laboratory as in the 1850s, with apparatus from famous experiments and an elements game.
The people of the Royal Institution (ground floor) – Displays on Faraday, Davy, Lovelace and the Nobel Prize winners connected with the institution.
Lecture theatre speakers (first floor) – Paintings, props and film clips from past speakers at the Royal Institution's theatre.

Founded: 1973
Operated by: Royal Institution

Admission & discounts

Admission is free.

Welcome tour (45 minutes), non-members	£10Free for Members; booking fee applies, refundable if you join on the day.

Entry to the museum is free.

Accessibility

Wheelchair accessible
Elevator
Accessible restroom
Accessible parking
Service dogs welcome
Tactile models & exhibits: no information
Sign language tours: no information
Easy-to-read materials: no information
Audio description: no information

Step-free visitor entrance on Albemarle Street, one lift in the Atrium and wheelchair access to all public areas. Accessible toilets are on the ground floor near reception. Induction loops operate in the Theatre. Portable seats for tours are available on request. Blue Badge parking: four spaces on Mayfair Place and three on Cork Street.

Kids & families

Baby changing facilities

Baby changing on the ground floor. The Royal Institution runs family events and science shows separately.

Getting there & parking

By public transit

Green Park · 5-min walk

Green Park station is about a 5-minute walk; Piccadilly Circus and Oxford Circus are within about 10 minutes' walk. Buses 9, 14, 19, 22 and 38 run along Piccadilly.