The Museum of Irish Industry in Dublin, in its short existence (1845–1867) facilitated the access of ordinary people to popular scientific education, became a cause célèbre and was defended by popular protest when the government recommended its abolition in 1862. Its Director, Sir Robert Kane (1809–1890) was not only an advocate of popular industrial education but also had a lifelong commitment to ‘united’ (or non‐denominational) education believing that only this type of education would achieve the ultimate result of tolerance, religious peace and national prosperity in Ireland. From 1854 a Government School of Science was part of the museum’s educational activities and from 1854 to 1867 the professors attached to the museum offered courses of lectures, both ‘popular’ and formal courses, on physics, chemistry, botany, zoology and geology, and in applied science. With its exhibition collections, its laboratories and the range of educational courses organised by its staff the museum was one of the British government’s most innovative experiments in education in Victorian Ireland. Beyond this, Kane’s determination that the courses offered by the museum would be available to all, with no distinction of creed or gender, distinguishes this institution as a pioneer in providing equal access to scientific education to all in the mid‐nineteenth century. This article will explore the role this unique education played in the educational and social life of mid‐Victorian Dublin.