Science & Activism Tour

Every Saturday, the Science History Institute’s museum offers drop-in tours that give visitors the opportunity to hear the stories behind our objects. Join our museum educators this Saturday to explore the vital impacts made by engaged communities on scientific discovery, environmental justice, and public health. What does science look like when it leaves the lab and is put to work in local communities? On this tour, we will explore how activists use scientific advances to promote positive change. Stories include the influential book Silent Spring and the rise of the environmentalist movement, the AIDS crisis and the fight for patient-centric healthcare, the Black Panthers’ lead role in community testing for sickle-cell anemia, and other examples of how neighborhood coalitions have led the movement to hold government and industry accountable for environmental harm. Together we will explore how activists and scientists have been allies in the past and consider what that collaboration might look like in the future. Our longer tours are designed to offer visitors a comprehensive exploration of artifacts in our collection with unique stories. These tours last approximately 50 minutes and provide a deeper understanding of how science history and the present day are linked. Featured image: Miller’s 50% DDT Wettable, after 1937–before 1969. Join our museum educators at 11:30am and 2pm as we explore the scientific principles and history behind everyday household objects. Join us in our museum EVERY SATURDAY for a family-friendly program that highlights strange and surprising stories from the history of science! Academy of Natural Sciences librarian Briana Giasullo will discuss her organization’s use of artificial intelligence and crowdsourcing to extract text from field journals and notebooks. Copy the above HTML to republish this content. We have formatted the material to follow our guidelines, which include our credit requirements. Please review our full list of guidelines for more information. By republishing this content, you agree to our republication requirements.