Exhibiting science in Portugal: Practices and representations in museums

This article discusses the role played by science museums in the public understanding of science in a semi-peripheral country, Portugal. It is based on the assumption that museums are at the intersection of science and society, being strongly influenced by what happens in the scientific field and in society at large, and that in a globalised world, they are susceptible to both international trends and national specificities. The article describes how in the last decade both the scientific system and the field of science museums have developed in Portugal, whereas visitor numbers and the connection to society have remained weak. The content analysis of a scientific exhibition on nuclear research and technology shows that the deficit mode of envisaging the relation between science and the public still persists.