Celebrating the best breakthroughs
The history of STEM has more inventions, innovations and ideas than we could ever cram into one set, but we’ve packed plenty of them into this one. From the smallest molecules to large buildings, it’s all there.
Let’s start small with the 3D replica of a carbon atom. Now, this one is pretty important, since carbon, made up of six neutrons, six protons and six electrons, is the element on which all life on earth is based. Possibly equally important, is the DNA strand diagram representing a small section of deoxyribonucleic acid with the corresponding base pairs ATCG.
At the other end of the size scale, there is a bustling metropolis, a distillation of many capital cities icons of the world that symbolize modern city living and globalization. There’s also an early model car to signify the importance of transport and, to represent the digital age, an early home computer with internet screen and a robotic arm symbolizing automation and mass-manufacturing.
The natural world is well represented too, through Sir Isaac Newton’s apple tree, where the British polymath developed his theory of gravity, George Washington Carver’s botanical bed, including cotton, peanut and corn flowers, which he is famous for promoting throughout America, and a bumble bee. After all, they are one of nature’s great engineers.
Next, we blast off into the space age, with a brick-built model of the NASA Voyager Probe. Launched in 1977, the Voyager probes are NASA’s longest-operating mission and the only spacecraft ever to explore interstellar space. The probe carries with it a Golden Record, which contained sounds and images showing the diversity of life and culture on Earth.
It's important to remember too, that almost all these things began life as an idea in someone’s head. So, to pay homage to some of the most important theories from history, there’s a chalkboard that features references to Fibonacci’s spiral and Einstein’s theory of relativity.
And because there would be no STEM without the incredible people that have dedicated their lives to it, Daniel and the LEGO design team picked some of the very best to showcase in the set.
