In the ninth instalment of “The Scientific Tourist in London”, Matt Brown explores the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (http://network.nature.com/hubs/london/blog/2009/11/12/the-scientific-tourist-in-london-9-famous-men-of-public-health). Built in 1926, the building's art deco elegance “has been tastefully matched with a modern atrium and theatre complex”, writes Brown.

He is particularly impressed with the details on the building's exterior. “The most striking features are the golden representations of animals that adorn the window balconies. Each one is a disease vector, such as the mosquito and flea.”

The building is also decorated by a frieze that “sports the names of 23 eminent names in the field of public health,” writes Brown, pointing out that none of them is a woman. The guide to the frieze notes that Florence Nightingale was short-listed, but that her surname proved too long — even though the designers managed to squeeze in Max von Pettenkofer.

Other installments of Brown's series describe scientific landmarks such as the Edmond Halley Memorial and Robert Hooke's grave.