Join our museum’s Gallery Guides for a “drop-in” tour that explores the vital impacts made by engaged communities on scientific discovery, environmental justice, and public health.

Our Science & Activism Tour invites visitors to consider these questions: Who is a scientist? Who is an activist? How does each bring about change?

Stories include the influential book Silent Spring by conservationist Rachel Carson and the rise of the environmental movement; ACT UP, the AIDS crisis, and the development of the patients’ bill of rights; the Black Panthers’ lead role in community testing for sickle cell anemia; and the community-led research conducted by neighborhood coalition groups fighting to make government and industry accountable for environmental injustice.

This tour offers a broad picture of the ways activists have reshaped our understanding of science and how visitors can become engaged today through community science.


Drop-in tours are free and no reservations are necessary.

More events

Book illustration in color of early lab apparatus
October 16, 2025
Conferences & Symposia

Fall 2025 Meeting of the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry

Invited speakers will present on topics ranging from medieval medicine to modern climate science.

Vintage ad for margarine featuring a knife spreading margarine on one piece of bread out of the loaf. The ad copy talks about the benefits of margarine.
October 18, 2025
Drop-In Tours

School Lunch Tour

This interactive drop-in tour reveals how food scientists, the government, and the public have shaped in-school nutrition.

color illustration of medicinal plants
October 18, 2025
For Families

Stories of Science: Spooky Science

Join us in our museum EVERY SATURDAY for a family-friendly program that highlights strange and surprising stories from the history of science!

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