Celebrities have backed some of the most significant scientific breakthroughs in history as a campaign is launched to find the top invention.
Celebrities have backed some of the most significant scientific breakthroughs in history as a campaign is launched to find the top invention.
The Science Museum in London has invited the public to vote for the object which has had the greatest impact on the past, present and future to mark the attraction's 100th anniversary.
Curators have selected 10 items from past centuries to form a Centenary Journey trail at the museum to enable visitors to find out more about them. The list includes the V-2 rocket engine, Model T Ford and Crick & Watson's DNA model.
Famous figures have already put their weight behind their favourites. Musician Nitin Sawhney, who chose penicillin, said: "As an asthmatic recovering from a debilitating bout of pneumonia, I am painfully aware of how important a role penicillin has played in curing my lung infection.
"Countless lives have been saved by Alexander Fleming's wonder drug."
Top Gear presenter James May said his vote would go to the Apollo 10 capsule "as it represents the furthest reach to date of manned exploration".
Backing the X-ray machine, television presenter and biologist Alice Roberts said: "X-rays provided the first possibility of looking inside someone's body without cutting them open - a massive medical advance."
The Centenary Journey will be ready by June 26, 100 years after the museum became an independent organisation.
People can cast their votes at the museum and on its website throughout the summer, with the winning object announced in October.
The Science Museum is also launching a Centenary Appeal with a target of £1m, holding a three-day birthday party (June 26-28) and a summer "space season" to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Moon landings.
To mark the end of the centenary year, two of the museum's galleries - Who Am I? and Antenna - will reopen in June next year.
The Centenary Journey objects are:
- Thompson's Atmospheric Engine
- V-2 rocket engine
- Cooke & Wheatstone's five-needle telegraph
- Stephenson's Rocket
- Reynolds' X-ray set
- Model T Ford motor car
- Penicillin
- Pilot model ACE (Automatic Computing Engine)
- Crick & Watson's DNA model
- Apollo 10 command module www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/centenary
