Rijksmuseum Boerhaave is the national treasury of 500 years of science and medicine. Denkers, doeners, durfals. Vijf eeuwen onderzoek en innovatie in Nederland shows the gems from this treasury. The microscopes with which Van Leeuwenhoek made the world of the small visible, the oldest telephone in the Netherlands, the very first artificial kidney — together they guide the reader through the highlights of our scientific and medical history. Experts from inside and outside the museum shed light on the salient episodes from this history in accurate essays and from various angles.
In 2019, Rijksmuseum Boerhaave received the European Museum of the Year Award for its renovated interior. The former chronological order of the rooms has made way for a modern and more thematic arrangement, for example Golden Age, Sickness & Health and Water, Power and Data.