The Sun: Living With Our Star

Since May 2017, Prof. Sanjoy Bhattacharya (Professor of the History of Medicine and Director of the Centre for Global Health Histories) has been a member of the advisory panel on the Science Museum’s forthcoming exhibition about the Sun. The exhibition will be launched on 6th October and we are delighted to share some further details, and some comments from Prof. Bhattacharya about his involvement.

Revealing how the Sun has fundamentally shaped human life and the world we live in, the Science Museum’s exhibition explores the diverse ways people throughout history have sought to understand and harness the Sun. The exhibition is split into four sections looking at four key aspects of the Sun: ‘Power from the Sun’, ‘Sunshine and Health’, ‘Days and Years’, and ‘Observing the Sun’.

Of his involvement with this exhibition Prof. Bhattacharya said: ”It was a pleasure to work on this project, from an inter-disciplinary perspective, in collaboration with a wonderful scientist from University College London. As a historian of health and medicine, it was interesting and instructive to research disparate cultural attitudes to the sun and its restorative qualities, the diversity of views about the benefits and dangers from sunlight, and, not least, efforts by public health agencies to tackle vitamin deficiencies caused by insufficient access to the outdoors and sunshine, especially amongst Asian immigrant populations in the United Kingdom.”

Visitors will be able to bask in sunlight on our indoor beach, virtually try on a range of historic sunglasses in a digital mirror and see the Sun rise in different seasons and locations around the world on a huge illuminated wall display.

For further information about the exhibition, including prices and venue, visit the Science Museum’s website.

You can find our more about Professor Bhattacharya's research via his Department of History website.