An in-person event only. No need to sign up, just come along – all are welcome.

From pharmaceutical innovation to public engagement in the North West

In 1981, a new kind of museum opened in Buxton’s old Pump room. It was the ‘Micrarium’, created by Stephen Carter, who had previously been involved in cancer research at ICI’s Pharmaceutical Research Centre at Alderley Park in Cheshire. The Micrarium’s ambition was to make the microscopic world, which Carter had explored in his work for ICI, more readily accessible to the wider public. Unfortunately, Carter’s premature death in 1987, and the eventual displacement of the apparatus used in the Micrarium by digital technology, led to the ultimate demise, not only of the Micrarium itself, but of its idea as a museum.

This talk will illustrate the short-lived ‘World First’ use of microscopes in a dedicated museum setting which, through Carter, bridged the gap between scientific innovation and public engagement. It will touch on the importance of place – Carter’s home, where he did much of the work for the Micrarium, was situated between Alderley Park, with which he retained useful contacts even after he had retired, and Buxton in the Peak District. However, considering the resistance and sometimes outright opposition directed against the museum by some of the local inhabitants, my paper will also ask whether this was the right place to set up such a museum, at a time when the microscopic world was attracting public interest, but which perhaps clashed with the image of a traditional spa town.

About the Speaker

Viviane Quirke is a historian of science, technology and medicine. She has worked on the history of drugs and the pharmaceutical industry in Britain, France and the USA, and has published several articles, chapters and books on the subject.

Viviane retired from Oxford Brookes University in 2023, and is currently Research Associate at the University of Oxford and at University College London.