Faraday Museum
The Faraday Museum, currently in the process of being organized within the framework of the Scientific Area of Electronics of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (DEEC), brings together an important collection of approximately 600 historical scientific instruments and pieces of equipment, mainly from the 19th and 20th centuries.
Most of the collection results from decades of teaching and research at IST, in the fields of Physics—particularly Electricity and Magnetism—Electrical Engineering, Electronics, and Communications (Radio, Television, Computers). The collection had been dispersed, although partially inventoried within the context of previous projects aimed at enhancing IST’s heritage. Another part of the collection comes from private donations, from companies, but above all from former professors and students of IST.
Since January 2015, this collection has been undergoing restoration and cataloguing. The Faraday Museum, inaugurated in February 2017, comprises seven permanent and temporary exhibition rooms located in the Electricity Pavilion. It features interactive modules and new technologies, in addition to the presentation and interpretation of contemporary IST research for broader audiences, particularly school groups. In this context, educational experiments demonstrating fundamental principles of physics, electrical engineering, and electronics are frequently presented to students during school visits.