The science history of Scotland: The Enlightenment and beyond
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4 September 2025 – 5 days for £1396
Learn more about Edinburgh and Glasgow's most famous scientific thinkers and discover how their ideas underpinned our emerging understanding of the world from the 16th century onwards.
Enjoy expert talks and explore key sites from the Scottish Enlightenment, a period of incredible scientific and intellectual creativity in the 18th and early 19th centuries. During that time, leading practitioners of geology, medicine, maths, physics, astronomy, economics and philosophy exchanged and developed key scientific ideas.
Learn about the Enlightenment's wide cast of protagonists, including such luminaries as James Watt, Lord Kelvin, Mary Somerville, John Napier, James Clerk Maxwell, Charles Bell, James Hutton, Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert Burns and even Charles Darwin, who was exposed to early ideas on the evolution of life while studying in Edinburgh.
The tour features guest speakers, walking seminars and several museums, as well as visits to two industrial marvels, the Falkirk Wheel and the Whitelee Windfarm.
In partnership with Kirker Holidays.
DAY 1: ARRIVE INTO GLASGOW, INTRODUCTORY LECTURES AND DINNER
After checking in to your central Glasgow hotel, you will meet your fellow guests to hear opening comments from the tour leader and then enjoy a lecture from author Dr. Craig Smith, who will cover the commercial, philosophical and political factors that led to the Enlightenment and assess its impact.
Afterwards, you will have dinner together in the hotel.
DAY 2: THE HUNTERIAN MUSEUM, KELVINGROVE MUSEUM, WHITELEES WINDFARM AND EVENING LECTURE
After a leisurely breakfast, you will take a brief city orientation tour before a visit to Glasgow’s Hunterian Museum, the oldest museum in Scotland. What started off as a Victorian gentlemen’s curio collection has expanded to cover nature and life sciences, ethnography from Captain Cook's voyages, Roman artefacts and the anatomical teaching aids accumulated by founder Dr. William Hunter. There are also the scientific instruments used by James Watt, Joseph Lister and Lord Kelvin.
In the afternoon, you will explore the nearby Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. This stunning building has 22 exhibition rooms covering a wide range of themes, including natural history, arms and armour, and art from many movements and periods of history, from ancient Egypt to Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Salvador Dali.
You will then board the coach for a 40-minute journey to Whitelee Windfarm, the UK’s largest onshore windfarm and the second largest in Europe. You will board an electric coach for a tour of the facility with an entertaining talk from the in-house guide. The 215 turbines can generate up to 539 megawatts of electricity on a windy day. Standing under one when it is in full rotation is an awe-inspiring experience.
In the evening, Dr. Richard Oosterhoff from the University of Edinburgh will give a talk on the natural scientists of Scotland from the 17th to 19th centuries, including Robert Sibbald, James Hutton and Charles Lyell. This was a time of significant discovery among the scientists of Edinburgh and Glasgow.
DAY 3: THE FALKIRK WHEEL, EXPLORE EDINBURGH AND THE JAMES CLERK MAXWELL FOUNDATION
After checking out of your hotel, you will board a comfortable coach for the 40-minute journey to the Falkirk Wheel. It is a visually stunning and unique rotating boat lift with two gondolas that replaced 11 locks and allows ease of navigation between the Union canal and the Forth and Clyde canal. Despite carrying 600 tonnes of water on each "lift", it uses surprisingly little power as the two gondolas are always in balance. You will experience it first hand as you take to the water and are lifted on a guided tour.
After lunch, you will then travel to Edinburgh for a short orientation tour before checking in to the MacDonald Holyrood Hotel & Spa in Edinburgh for the next two nights. You will then take a short drive to the James Clerk Maxwell Foundation for a talk and private tour. Maxwell discovered that light is made up of electromagnetic waves and his work laid the foundation for fields such as special relativity and quantum mechanics. Albert Einstein said: “I stand on the shoulders of Maxwell.”
DAY 4: SURGEONS HALL, THE NATIONAL MUSEUM AND THE ROYAL SCOTS' CLUB
Today, you will gain significant insight into the scientific history of Edinburgh as you visit several sites and museums.
Starting with a brief orientation tour of the city, you will then visit the Surgeons' Hall Museums, which includes The Wohl Pathology Museum, the History of Surgery Museum and The Dental Collection. Home to one of the largest and most historic pathology collections in the UK, it was originally developed as a teaching museum for students. You will see the work of noted surgeons and anatomists, such as Sir Charles Bell and John Barclay, who developed anatomical nomenclature.
A short walk will take you via Greyfriar's Kirkyard, where a number of influential scientists are buried, before reaching the National Museum of Scotland. It houses international collections covering science, technology, natural history, archaeology, world cultures and history. One of its more renowned artifacts is Dolly the sheep, the stuffed body of the first successful clone of a mammal from an adult cell. Half of the museum is housed within a magnificent iron-clad and light-filled auditorium, reminiscent of London’s Crystal Palace and built in 1866.
In the evening, you will enjoy a final dinner together in a private room at the Royal Scots Club, a historic building that has the charm of a country house with a cosy club atmosphere.
DAY 5: CHECK OUT AND DEPART
After breakfast, the tour has finished. If you travelled by vehicle to Glasgow, we will gladly give you a lift back there or we can arrange for you stay for some extra nights in Edinburgh for you to explore the city.
