Communication | Science Museum

From vast undersea cables to the thousands of satellites in orbit around Earth, discover the incredible technologies and feats of engineering that paved the way for communication as we know it today.

Satellites

1:6 scale model of the Landsat 5 satellite against a black background

Seeing Earth from space: Flip-books to Google Earth

Satellite photography is a dramatic example of how computer graphics and remote imaging have changed the way we view our planet.

Telstar, Intelsat and the first global satellite broadcast

Discover the story of the technology that makes global live broadcasting possible.

Map of the Arabian gulf, with vignettes of inhabitants in native costume, 1714, detail

GPS navigation: from the Gulf War to civvy street

How did the use of satellite navigation affect recent conflicts, as well as civilian life?

Wireless communication

Titanic, Marconi and the wireless telegraph

The dramatic rescue of over 700 survivors from the Titanic disaster was made possible by wireless telegraphy.

A snapshot photograph of a mother and her children listening to the radio, taken by an unknown photographer in about 1930.

2LO calling: The birth of British public radio

Find out about the people and technology behind the first BBC radio broadcast.

Tele-snap of Queen Elizabeth at her coronation

Television reigns: Broadcasting Queen Elizabeth’s coronation

Find out how one royal celebration cemented the TV set’s place in our living rooms.

'Digit Al' soft toy against a grey background

How did the UK switch to digital television?

Digital television has quickly become part of most people's daily lives. How was the decision to switch from analogue to digital made, and how was it tested?

Telephones

Ahoy! Alexander Graham Bell and the first telephone call

On 7 March 1876, Alexander Graham Bell was granted a patent for the telephone—but did he invent it?

Two female switchboard operators at work at Enfield telephone exchange, 1960

Goodbye to the hello girls: automating the telephone exchange

Automatic telephone exchanges made communication faster, but led to the disappearance of one of Britain’s first female workforces.

1950s rotary telephone (model 700F black C56/1) against a light grey background

Telephones save lives: The history of the Samaritans

Find out how this vital service, started by one man with a telephone, was made possible by advancements in communication technology.

The invention of mobile phones

At the dawn of the 1980s, engineers raced to build a cellular phone network from scratch, changing the way we communicate forever.

Parts from a mobile phone repair workshop in Buea, Cameroon, 2012, laid flat on a white background

Connecting Cameroon: Mobile phones and call boxes

Cameroon’s telecommunications market flourished in the late 1990s, connecting rural and urban communities in new ways. How did the humble call box make this possible?

The Exchange

Blog post

Explore our relationship with the telephone through new artworks inspired by our collection and created during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Cable communication

Crop of Grappling the abandoned cable, 1866. Lithograph after Robert Dudley

How perseverance laid the first transatlantic telegraph cable

In 1858 a new transatlantic telegraph cable shrank the world, dramatically changing the way we communicate.

An early railway timetable, 1844, with reference to London time

Standardising time: Railways and the electric telegraph

Discover how new communications technology solved a timekeeping problem.

Receiver printer, or stock ticker, for Stock Exchange printing telegraph, 1907

Boom and bust: Telegraphy and the Wall Street Crash

What impact did new telegraph technology have on the fragile world of finance when the Wall Street Crash hit in 1929?

Robeson sings: the first transatlantic telephone cable

Discover how a concert by singer Paul Robeson tested the possibilities of the new transatlantic telephone cable.