Join our museum’s Gallery Guides for a “drop-in” tour that explores the importance of water and the histories of pollution and protection that have changed our relationship to this vital substance.

Clean water is life, and our scientific understanding of the water cycle’s significance and complexity has grown in the last few centuries.

On this tour, you’ll learn about the gods and powerful beings that were believed to protect flowing waters, how early anti-pollution advocates dealt with crises like thousands of dead fish in the Colorado River, and how chemistry and water knowledge intersect. Find out how Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, the EPA, and scientists and activists throughout history have fought to protect our waters from contamination.

We’ll also talk about the history of our local water sources in the Delaware Valley, the technological advancements that led to the water systems we have today, and how innovators helped us observe, test, and purify water, first to make it fit for human consumption, and later as a matter of environmental ethics.


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

More events

July 14, 2025
Science on Tap

America’s Scientific Revolutionaries

As the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence approaches, Jeffery R. Appelhans highlights the American Philosophical Society’s efforts to shed light on the overlooked scientific revolution from 1763 to 1804.

Science History Institute Othmer Library
July 16, 2025
Free

Othmer Library Tour

Curious about the other half of the Science History Institute? Step into the Othmer Library of Chemical History!

illustration of the ocean, with headline: First Production of Magnesium Metal from the Sea! Recording an epoch-making achievement in chemical engineering
July 19, 2025
For Families

Stories of Science: Summertime 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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