Strictly Science - brand new medical exhibition in London

Having so enjoyed the Death exhibition at the Wellcome Institute I am on the look out for other medical and scientific exhibitions to tickle my fancy at the weekend. This one, Strictly Science, at Imperial College, London is a must for those with an interest or older teenagers who also find medical history fascinating.

To celebrate 100 years of the Medical Research Council (MRC) which was set up to be dedicated to improving human health, the interactive exhibition Strictly Science contrasts the scientific endeavours in 1913 with those today and asks visitors to speculate on what the next 100 years will bring.

The MRC was really kickstarted in response to the devastating effects of a TB epidemic and when the cure for TB was discovered in 1944 the MRC conducted the first ever large-scale controlled trial to assess the antibiotic streptomycin on patients, thereby establishing an international blueprint for drug testing which is still used today.

The exhibition showcases key historical achievements including MRC's role in:

• helping to recude the death rate of TB by 99.5% in the UK - in 1911 almost 500,000 deaths were recorded and by 2011 just 250 were recorded in the UK.
• Supporting the development of the first anti-typhoid vaccine which saved over 100,000 soldiers in WW1 from death and disease
• Identifying vitamin-deficiency diseases and the curative potential of vitamins including cod-liver oil and sunshine 

Strictly Science not only celebrates 100 years of progress in medical research, but accentuates how knowledge gained through basic research shapes our life in general, from culture and commerce to politics.

The exhibition is open daily from 10-6pm from 5-14 April 2012 in the Exhibition Road Foyer of Imperial College London, South Kensington.

Death at the Wellcome Collection

Tete de Morte Postcard 1910 - Richard Harris collection

All the years I've lived in London and I've never been to the Wellcome Trust which is just opposite Kings Cross Station! Flicking through a magazine an advert for an exhibition on Death caught my eye and as husband had been nagging for ages to take me to the Wellcome Collection, we decided that this was the perfect place to be on a disgustingly grey afternoon in November.

Death in  all its guises - from our portrayal of death to our markers for the deceased is all found in this small but beautifully put together (and free) exhibition.

Skeleton Puppet - Richard Harris collection 

Collected over the years by Richard Harris, a former antique print dealer in Chicago, the exhibition includes illustrations, aretfacts, rare prints by the likes of Durer, Goya and Rembrant along with war art and antique metamorphic postcards. There are 5 themed rooms, Contemplating Death, The Dance of Death, Violent Death, Eros and Thanatos and Commemoration. 

Richard Harris says 'The collection was from the beginning meant to be shown as an exhibition to the public, never as a private, personal statement for my eyes only. I hoped to create a body of work that would chronologically and culturally capture the essence of Death through its iconography, from masterpieces of fine art to the incidental'.

You are also free to wander the galleries of the Wellcome Trust collection which has even more amazingly weird and wonderful pieces like a lock of George III hair and a Chinese torture chair. There is a great bookshop and lovely cafe with freshly made cakes - well worth a wander on a Sunday afternoon.

'Death: A self-portrait, the Richard Harris Collection' runs from 15 November 2012 to 24 February 2013 at Wellcome Collection, 183 Euston Road, NW1 2BE.