Nehru Museum of Science and Technology

 The Nehru Museum of Science and Technology is a museum in Kharagpur, West Bengal, India. It was founded in 1990 at the Hijli Detention camp building, later the IIT-Kharagpur Heritage Building, which is now named as Hijli Saheed Bhavan. The imposing building, bearing resemblance to the Byzantine style of architecture, was used by the British rulers of India to detain the freedom fighters during the 1930s.

Nehru Museum of Science and Technology

Although there were few other detention camps around the country in those days, the Hijli detention camp was the only one to witness the death of two detainees by police firing within jail compound. The incident led to strong protest, to register their indignation by prominent national figures like Rabindranath Tagore, Subhas Chandra Bose and many others. Soon after independence, the building was used to house the first Indian Institute of Technology (known initially as the Higher Technical Institute).

The museum has many indoor exhibits which include technical models collected from various institutes and organisations across India. The park outside the museum contains 14 open-air demonstrations and outdoor exhibits including a hunter plane, and a steam engine. The museum has an archive room showcasing documents relating to history of the institute and Midnapore district.

The Nehru Museum of Science & Technology completed 25 years of its existence in 2016. In keeping with the spirit, a museum development fund received from the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, was utilized to renovate some of the galleries of the Museum. Though this work is still ongoing, a section of the museum has been attractively renovated with the help of the National Council of Science Museums and is drawing a large crowd of visitors each day since its opening in September 2014. The main attractions of these galleries are as follows:

Gallery 1: Mathematics

Gallery 2: Machine, motion, light, and sounds

Gallery 3: Laws and principles of Physics

Gallery 4: Electricity and magnetism

Gallery 5: Railway transportation in India

Gallery 6: Water transportation in India

Gallery 7: Aviation and Indian space research

Gallery 8: Genesis of computing machines at IIT Kharagpur

Gallery 9: Inflatable Planetarium / Exhibition Space

Gallery 10: Study/ Library 

Audio-Visual Room

The Museum is open to visitors throughout the year. The timings are indicated below:

Forenoon

Opening Time 9.30 a.m.

Closing Time 12.30 p.m.

Afternoon

Opening Time 3.00 p.m.

Closing Time 6.30 p.m.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday