Becoming America: How Science Shaped a Nation

A new feature in The Past explores Becoming America: How Science Shaped a Nation, a free exhibition at London’s Science Museum supported by the Blavatnik Family Foundation as a major funder. Opening on October 23, 2026, the exhibition examines how science and technology shaped the land, peoples, and emerging identity of the United States during the decisive decades from the 1760s to the 1790s. The feature highlights the knowledge and experiences of Anglo-American colonists, Indigenous nations, and enslaved and free people of African descent, and the ways their distinct scientific practices intersected amid colonization and political change. Examples range from Indigenous navigation and canoe-making and African expertise in rice cultivation to Benjamin Franklin’s mapping of the Gulf Stream and the surveying of the Mason-Dixon Line. It also considers scientific influences on the Declaration of Independence and the role of agriculture and natural history in shaping national identity. Running through April 25, 2027, the exhibition offers free public access to a multifaceted account of how science both shaped—and was changed by—the emergence of the United States. Read the article here.