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Centre for Education
Research & Impact
In the natural world, things are not always quite what they appear to be at first sight. This is certainly true in the case of one specimen from the Dawes Collection of parasitic helminths, in the Museum of Life Sciences at King’s College London. Dr Andrew McCarthy from EKC Canterbury College and King’s College London examines the contents of the two cabinets of microscope slides that have become known as the "Dawes Collection" and muses on a rare specimen amongst the slides.
The Museum of Life Sciences at King’s College London often claims that its collections include specimens dating back 150 years. That historical perspective, in fact, underplays the true scope of our coverage through time. The true figure is not 150 years but more like 480,000,000 years, almost half a billion years. That deep time oversight of life comes from our fossils. We have been collating and organising the fossils we have been given and the oldest of them is 480 million years old.
A quick quiz question: "What interest is shared by the Museum of Life Sciences, the Marquis de Sade and, according to some, God?’’
The Museum is open to members of the college and their invited guests during the opening hours of the Gordon Museum. We regret that the Museum is not currently accesible to the public, but we do plan to open to the public in future when funding allows. Visits by academically-related non-members of the College can be arranged with the Curator. The Museum is situated in the Hodgkin Building, on the Guy’s Site of King’s College. It is close to London Bridge underground and mainline stations and is well served by buses. Access is via the Gordon Museum, Hodgkin Building unless by prior agreement when non-step access direct from the Memorial Garden in the centre of the site can be arranged.
gillian.sales@kcl.ac.uk
Museum of Life Sciences, Hodgkin Building, Guy's Campus, London SE1 1UL