It's British Science Week this week and, bright sparks that we are, we've taken a microscope to our collection and brought you some highlights to brighten up the start of your week.

Above, a female chemist in the laboratory of a cement works in Scotland carries out important work during the First World War.

Scroll down and boff up.

The light fantastic

Did you know there was such a thing as the Photometry Section of the Light Division at the National Physical Laboratory? Neither did we!

This crackling image was taken in Teddington in 1944 and shows a technician examining a variety of electric light bulbs.

View other images

Cracking the code

We think cracking HTML can be tricky, let alone the Enigma code!

Brilliant mathematician Alan Turing's code-breaking work was so crucial that Winston Churchill acknowledged it, saying that Turing made the single biggest contribution to the Allied victory.

How did he do it?

Gauging the war

This painting by Leslie Cole features two women in a munitions factory observing a projection of a screw gauge - 50 times magnified! The work of women in factories was vital for the war effort - personified by the famous Ruby Loftus.

Keeping Britain going

Tank mastermind

An often under-represented aspect of the D-Day landing, and crucial to the eventual Allied success, was the sheer number of weird and wonderful tanks and contraptions masterminded by Major-General Sir Percy Hobart.

Discover them

What's on at IWM

Expert Insight:
The history behind Dunkirk

IWM London I 15 March 2018

A limited number of tickets are open to the public for a special members’ event with author Joshua Levine, historical advisor on Oscar-nominated film Dunkirk. He will be joined by veteran survivors sharing their own personal experiences.

Buy tickets