• Museum entrance
  • Downing Street view of Museum
  • Museum steps
  • Tower
  • Museum gallery

Travel through time…

The Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences is the oldest of the University of Cambridge museums, having been established in 1728 as the Woodwardian Museum. Since then the collection has grown from about 10,000 fossils, minerals and rocks, to at least 2 million. A walk through the museum will take you on a 4.5 billion year journey through time, from the meteoritic building blocks of planets, to the thousands of fossils of animals and plants that illustrate the evolution of life in the oceans, on land and in the air. Also a major teaching and research resource in the Department of Earth Sciences, the Sedgwick Museum collections are a national treasure.

School Bookings Visiting
 

Director of the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences

The University of Cambridge is currently recruiting for the position of Director of the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences. Further details about this opportunity at one of the oldest geological museums in the world can be found here.

Earth Stories - The latest geological news Collections Up Close
 

Monday to Friday
10:00 to 13:00 & 14:00 to 17:00

Saturday
10:00 to 16:00 

Sunday
Closed


The Sedgwick Bicentenary Meeting

Saturday 22nd September 2018

A one-day conference bringing together international scientists to mark 200 years since Adam Sedgwick was appointed to the Woodwardian Chair of Geology.

Further information >
 




SCIENCE MADE VISIBLE: DRAWINGS, PRINTS, OBJECTS 2 JULY 2018 – 30 NOVEMBER 2018 THE ROYAL SOCIETY, 6-9 CARLTON HOUSE TERRACE LONDON SW1Y 5AG

Historic fossils from Agostino Scilla’s collection within the Sedgwick Museum’s Woodwardian cabinets are currently on display in the Royal Society’s summer exhibition in London. Called ‘Science made Visible: Drawings, Prints, Objects’, the exhibit explores the questions of how and when science become visual; how drawings, diagrams and charts came to be used alongside words and objects; who made them and what made them scientific?

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In Memoriam: Roderick Antony Long (1942-2018)

All the Museum and Department were very sad to hear of the death of former staff member Rod Long. Rod, Uncle Rod as he was affectionately known, was to many people the face of the Museum. Dave Norman, our long time Director, has kindly written his recollections of a man who, put simply, we all loved him for his friendly, helpful and kind nature.
Liz Harper


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Sedgwick 200!

Celebrating 200 years since Adam Sedgwick (1775-1873) became the 7th Woodwardian Professor 21st May 1818.
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Publications

'Tools of the Trade'
Available to purchase in the Sedgwick Museum shop

Tools of the Trade

Agostino Scilla's
'Vain Speculation Undeceived by Sense'
English translation available to download.
Agostino Scilla download

Our Rocks are on the Move!
We are reuniting our important rock collections under one roof! Can you help support the building of our new Sedgwick Museum Collections store? Read more and donate here

Friends of the Sedgwick Museum prizewinners give us their thoughts on their time at the Museum in 2016
Click here to read

Work Experience at the Sedgwick - read about our latest student to visit us for two weeks and experience life in a Museum. 

Studying Earth Sciences at Cambridge University

Did you know?
The University of Cambridge is listed at the top of The Complete University's Guide 2016 for geology.

Discover more about studying Earth Sciences at the University of Cambridge in this video featuring Museum Curator of Mineralogy and Petrology Professor Marian Holness and Sir David Attenborough