Things to do in January at Science & Industry Museum

After all the celebrations to end the year, January is often seen as a time to stay home, but with all the free things to see, do, and discover at the Science and Industry Museum, there’s plenty of reason to venture out.

Rediscover iconic engines and experience thundering textile machines in action, or lift a Mini and explore ideas that started in Manchester and went on to change the world. The museum provides all the ingredients for a free, fun, full day out in a warm space sheltered from the Manchester weather.

Visitors to the newly reopened Power Hall: The Andrew Law Gallery will be immersed in the sights, smells, and sounds of engine-driven ideas and industry.

New displays tell the stories of the people whose skills and determination have shaped our relationship with energy, from the Industrial Revolution to greener futures. Budding engineers can get hands-on with interactives, putting their problem-solving skills to the test as they build, hammer, and even crawl to complete them.

Manchester’s deep links to cotton can be discovered in the Textiles Gallery. Visitors can meet the machines, people, and ideas that made Manchester into the first industrial city and learn how this growing wealth went hand in hand with exploitation on a global and local scale.

The thundering sounds of a working mill can be experienced with daily demonstrations of historic working machinery. “Weavers Wanted” demonstrations transport visitors back in time to find out what life was like for thousands of mill workers, while the “Cost of Cotton” demonstrations unravel the threads of Manchester’s textiles industry by exploring how the process of making cloth impacted communities around the world.

Journey through Manchester’s rich legacy of industrial innovations, scientific discoveries, and ideas that changed the world in Revolution Manchester. See one of the first Rolls-Royce motorcars and explore the city’s role in the creative industries, with highlights including the iconic “G” from Granada TV’s Quay Street building.

Celebrate Manchester’s scientific heritage with objects from scientist James Joule’s experiments, or look to the future with the sticky tape dispenser that played a central role in the isolation of the wonder material, graphene.

Visitors can also meet a working replica of the iconic Manchester “Baby,” the very first computer to store and run a program. “Baby” is demonstrated regularly by museum volunteers, giving visitors the opportunity to discover just how much computers have advanced since 1948. 

Manchester’s story of science meeting industry is also brought to life in daily Revolution Manchester shows. Visitors of all ages can discover how the city shaped our lives today in the action-packed experience.

The interactive gallery, Experiment, brings science to life through hands-on activities to inspire the next generation of scientists, engineers, and innovators.

Science superpowers can be discovered through activities including lifting a Mini with one hand, creating a hurricane, and using heat vision to explore the world around us. Younger visitors can also join a weekend Mini Movers session, designed especially for children aged 5 and under, or pick up a Construction Pack to discover the museum in their own way.

Ground-breaking science is on display in Stephen Hawking at Work, an intimate exploration of 15 specially selected objects from the acquisition of Stephen Hawking’s Cambridge University office, which provide insights into Hawking’s remarkable life as a scientist, science communicator, and as a person who lived with motor neurone disease.

Highlight objects include a wheelchair he used, a rare copy of his PhD thesis, and a wager he made with his peers on whether what falls into a black hole is forever lost to our universe.

The museum’s historic Upper Yard, together with Power Hall, has reopened more than 1.4 acres of free space to relax, reflect, and explore in. Accessibility across the historic yard has been transformed while retaining and celebrating the globally significant industrial beauty and heritage of the site.

It is the first step towards a 1 km accessible outdoor walking loop through 200 years of history on the museum’s site and creating new entrances from Liverpool Road, Water Street, and Aviva Studios in future years.

Revolution is currently in progress to restore and transform the Science and Industry Museum. Through a multi-million-pound restoration programme, we’re revealing inspirational new spaces and perspectives for all to enjoy, play, and learn in.

This includes restoring the historic 1830 Station and Warehouse, currently closed to the public; creating new indoor and outdoor experiences for families; highlighting the story of the revolutionary railway; using our collections to develop galleries that showcase how Manchester’s past and present shape the modern world; and decarbonising our site.