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Sir Ian Blatchford, Director of the Science Museum Group, and the Science Museum’s Head of Collections, Dr Tilly Blyth, continue their series exploring how art and science have inspired each other from the Enlightenment to dark matter.

They focus on a new post-war age of ambivalence in the relationship between art and science through a 1951 parable about the drive for new artificial textiles and the dangers of scientific hubris.

The Ealing comedy the Man in the White Suit presents Britain seeking to relaunch itself as a high tech nation. It stars Alec Guinness as Sidney Stratton, a divisive chemist with the personal aim of making an indestructible synthetic fibre. It’s a potential boon for consumers but would deal a deathblow for the textile industry.

As Tilly reveals, the film reflects the mixed reactions to new synthetic substitutes for silk and cotton. It warns of the dangers of narrow minded scientific hubris, and shows how art can effectively address some of the big challenges we face in developing socially responsible technologies.

Producer Adrian Washbourne

Produced in partnership with The Science Museum Group

Photograph by LMPC via Getty Images