It is an idea that has been partially built into the new Wellcome Wing at the Science Museum and the recently opened Darwin Centre at the Natural History Museum - both of which have high-turnover exhibits and bring the public into direct contact with scientists.

BBC: NEWS | Science/Nature | Centre opens for X-rated science

Last week, at Oxford's Museum of the History of Science Lemaire broke his own record for the task, taking it down to 77.99 seconds.

BBC: How does a human calculator do it?

"Because of this, and the typewriter's importance in the history of business communication, we felt that giving it a home at the Science Museum would be a fitting tribute, " he said.

BBC: UK's 'last typewriter' produced