Carnegie Museum of Natural History
Encyclopedia
Carnegie Museum of Natural History, located at 4400 Forbes Avenue in the Oakland
neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
, USA, was founded by the Pittsburgh-based industrialist Andrew Carnegie
in 1896. It maintains an international reputation for research and is ranked among the top five natural history museums in the United States.
The museum consists of 115000 square feet (10,683.8 m²) organized into 20 galleries as well as research, library, and office space. It holds some 22 million specimens, of which about 10,000 are on view at any given time and about 1 million are cataloged in online databases. In 2008 it hosted 386,300 admissions and 63,000 school group visits.
The museum first made history in 1899 when its scientists unearthed the fossils of Diplodocus carnegii. Today its dinosaur collection
includes the world's largest collection of Jurassic
dinosaurs and its Dinosaurs in Their Time exhibition offers the third largest collection of mounted, displayed dinosaurs in the United States (behind the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History
and the American Museum of Natural History
). Notable specimens include one of the world's only fossils of a juvenile Apatosaurus
, the most complete Tyrannosaurus rex known to date, and a brand new, yet-to-be-named species of oviraptorosaur.
Research teams including Carnegie scientists have made critical discoveries such as Puijila darwini, Castorocauda lutrasimilis
, and Hadrocodium wui.
Other major exhibits include Hillman Hall of Minerals and Gems
, Alcoa Foundation Hall of American Indians, Polar World: Wyckoff Hall of Arctic Life, Walton Hall of Ancient Egypt, Benedum Hall of Geology, and Powdermill Nature Reserve, established by the museum in 1956 to serve as a field station for long-term studies of natural populations.
The museum's active curatorial departments are: Anthropology
, Bird
s, Botany
, Herpetology
, Invertebrate Paleontology
, Invertebrate Zoology
, Mammal
s, Mineral
s, Mollusks, specimen/exhibit Conservation, and Vertebrate Paleontology
. These departments work collaboratively under strategic Centers created to re-frame how the museum leverages its research, exhibitions, and public programming to meet the challenges and issues of today. The museum publishes scholarly journals and books including Annals of Carnegie Museum, which offers peer-reviewed articles in organismal biology, earth sciences, and anthropology; Bulletin of Carnegie Museum of Natural History, offering monographs or collections of related papers from symposia; and Special Publications of Carnegie Museum, documenting special topics or areas of research.
Oakland (Pittsburgh)
Oakland is the academic, cultural, and healthcare center of Pittsburgh and is Pennsylvania's third largest "Downtown". Only Center City Philadelphia and Downtown Pittsburgh can claim more economic and social activity than Oakland...
neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, USA, was founded by the Pittsburgh-based industrialist Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish-American industrialist, businessman, and entrepreneur who led the enormous expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century...
in 1896. It maintains an international reputation for research and is ranked among the top five natural history museums in the United States.
The museum consists of 115000 square feet (10,683.8 m²) organized into 20 galleries as well as research, library, and office space. It holds some 22 million specimens, of which about 10,000 are on view at any given time and about 1 million are cataloged in online databases. In 2008 it hosted 386,300 admissions and 63,000 school group visits.
The museum first made history in 1899 when its scientists unearthed the fossils of Diplodocus carnegii. Today its dinosaur collection
includes the world's largest collection of Jurassic
Jurassic
The Jurassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about Mya to Mya, that is, from the end of the Triassic to the beginning of the Cretaceous. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of the Mesozoic era, also known as the age of reptiles. The start of the period is marked by...
dinosaurs and its Dinosaurs in Their Time exhibition offers the third largest collection of mounted, displayed dinosaurs in the United States (behind the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History
National Museum of Natural History
The National Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. Admission is free and the museum is open 364 days a year....
and the American Museum of Natural History
American Museum of Natural History
The American Museum of Natural History , located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States, is one of the largest and most celebrated museums in the world...
). Notable specimens include one of the world's only fossils of a juvenile Apatosaurus
Apatosaurus
Apatosaurus , also known by the popular but scientifically deprecated synonym Brontosaurus, is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived from about 154 to 150 million years ago, during the Jurassic Period . It was one of the largest land animals that ever existed, with an average length of and a...
, the most complete Tyrannosaurus rex known to date, and a brand new, yet-to-be-named species of oviraptorosaur.
Research teams including Carnegie scientists have made critical discoveries such as Puijila darwini, Castorocauda lutrasimilis
Castorocauda lutrasimilis
Castorocauda was a genus of small, semi-aquatic relative of mammals living in the mid Jurassic period, around 154 million years ago, found in lakebed sediments of the Daohugou Beds of Inner Mongolia...
, and Hadrocodium wui.
Other major exhibits include Hillman Hall of Minerals and Gems
Hillman Hall of Minerals and Gems
The Hillman Hall of Minerals and Gems is a notable mineral and gem collection within the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania....
, Alcoa Foundation Hall of American Indians, Polar World: Wyckoff Hall of Arctic Life, Walton Hall of Ancient Egypt, Benedum Hall of Geology, and Powdermill Nature Reserve, established by the museum in 1956 to serve as a field station for long-term studies of natural populations.
The museum's active curatorial departments are: Anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
, Bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
s, Botany
Botany
Botany, plant science, or plant biology is a branch of biology that involves the scientific study of plant life. Traditionally, botany also included the study of fungi, algae and viruses...
, Herpetology
Herpetology
Herpetology is the branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians and reptiles...
, Invertebrate Paleontology
Invertebrate paleontology
Invertebrate paleontology is sometimes described as Invertebrate paleozoology or Invertebrate paleobiology....
, Invertebrate Zoology
Invertebrate zoology
Invertebrate zoology is the biological discipline that consists of the study of invertebrate animals, i.e. animals without a backbone...
, Mammal
Mammal
Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...
s, Mineral
Mineral
A mineral is a naturally occurring solid chemical substance formed through biogeochemical processes, having characteristic chemical composition, highly ordered atomic structure, and specific physical properties. By comparison, a rock is an aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids and does not...
s, Mollusks, specimen/exhibit Conservation, and Vertebrate Paleontology
Vertebrate paleontology
Vertebrate paleontology is a large subfield to paleontology seeking to discover the behavior, reproduction and appearance of extinct animals with vertebrae or a notochord, through the study of their fossilized remains...
. These departments work collaboratively under strategic Centers created to re-frame how the museum leverages its research, exhibitions, and public programming to meet the challenges and issues of today. The museum publishes scholarly journals and books including Annals of Carnegie Museum, which offers peer-reviewed articles in organismal biology, earth sciences, and anthropology; Bulletin of Carnegie Museum of Natural History, offering monographs or collections of related papers from symposia; and Special Publications of Carnegie Museum, documenting special topics or areas of research.
See also
- Carnegie Museums of PittsburghCarnegie Museums of PittsburghCarnegie Museums of Pittsburgh are four museums that are operated by the Carnegie Institute headquartered in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...
- Andrew CarnegieAndrew CarnegieAndrew Carnegie was a Scottish-American industrialist, businessman, and entrepreneur who led the enormous expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century...
- William Jacob HollandWilliam Jacob HollandWilliam Jacob Holland was the eighth Chancellor of the University of Pittsburgh and Director of the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh. He was an accomplished zoologist and paleontologist, as well as an ordained Presbyterian minister.-Life:Holland was born August 16, 1848 in Jamaica, West Indies, the...
- M. Graham NettingM. Graham NettingMaurice Graham Netting — known as M. Graham Netting — was a herpetologist, an early participant in the conservation and environmental movement, and a director of the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh.-Biography:...
- Andrey AvinoffAndrey AvinoffAndrey Avinoff sometimes referred to as Andrej Nikolajewitsch Avinoff or Andrei Avinoff, was a Russian entomologist and painter who became Director of the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh.He was especially interested in Lepidoptera among many other interests...
- List of museums in Pennsylvania