Museum of Science, Boston
Encyclopedia
The Museum of Science is a Boston, Massachusetts landmark, located in Science Park, a plot of land spanning the Charles River
. Along with over 500 interactive exhibits, the Museum features a number of live presentations throughout the building every day, along with shows at the Charles Hayden Planetarium and the Mugar Omni IMAX theater
, the only domed IMAX
screen in New England
. The Museum is also an accredited member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums
(AZA) and is home to over 100 animals, many of which have been rescued and rehabilitated from various dangerous situations. The Museum is also one of the city's three bases of operations for Boston's privately operated Duck Tour
s.
The Museum began as the Boston Society of Natural History
in 1830, founded by a collection of men who wished to share scientific interests. In essence, the museum began as a place where these men could store and display skins and other trophies of their travels to Africa and Asia. Today, a number of taxidermed
specimens remain on display, much as they do at the American Museum of Natural History
in New York, as well as many other museums, teaching children about the animals of New England
and of the world
. In 1864, after the Society had gone through several temporary facilities, a building was purchased in the Back Bay area of the city and dubbed the "New England Museum of Natural History." There it remained through World War II
, presumably growing and changing over the decades into more of a science museum and less of a gentleman's club for safari
trophies.
After the war, this building was sold, and the museum was reestablished under the name "Boston Museum of Science". Under the leadership of Bradford Washburn
, the Society negotiated with the Metropolitan District Commission for a 99-year lease of the land now known as Science Park. The Museum pays $1 a year to the state for use of the land. Construction and development began in 1948, and the Museum opened in 1951, arguably the first all-encompassing science museum in the country. In these first few years, the Museum developed a traveling planetarium, a version of which is still brought to many elementary schools in the Greater Boston
area every year. They also obtained during these early years "Spooky," a great horned owl
who became a symbol or mascot of the Museum; he lived to age 38, the longest any great horned owl is known to have lived.
The Science Park/West End
MBTA
station was opened in 1956, and the Charles Hayden Planetarium in 1958.
Many more expansions continued into the 1970s and 1980s. In 1999, The Computer Museum
in Boston closed and became part of the Museum of Science, integrating some of its displays, although the collection moved to the Computer History Museum
in Mountain View
, California
.
A major renovation and expansion took place during 2005 and 2006.
Although the history artifacts of "The Computer Museum" were moved to Silicon Valley
and forms the current Computer History Museum
, TCM educational exhibits and objects were transferred to the Boston Museum of Science where two new computing and technology exhibits were created. One, The Computing Revolution, relates the history of computing through a variety of hands-on interactive exhibits, while the other, Cahners Computer Place, houses displays ranging from educational video games to an interactive AIBO
ERS-7.
Charles River
The Charles River is an long river that flows in an overall northeasterly direction in eastern Massachusetts, USA. From its source in Hopkinton, the river travels through 22 cities and towns until reaching the Atlantic Ocean at Boston...
. Along with over 500 interactive exhibits, the Museum features a number of live presentations throughout the building every day, along with shows at the Charles Hayden Planetarium and the Mugar Omni IMAX theater
Mugar Omni Theater
The Mugar Omni Theater is a domed IMAX theater at the Museum of Science, in Boston, Massachusetts.-Description:The Mugar Omni is named after David G. Mugar's parents, Stephen P. Mugar and Marian G. Mugar. The Mugar Omni is non-profit and opened in 1987. Over 900,000 visitors came in its first...
, the only domed IMAX
IMAX
IMAX is a motion picture film format and a set of proprietary cinema projection standards created by the Canadian company IMAX Corporation. IMAX has the capacity to record and display images of far greater size and resolution than conventional film systems...
screen in New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
. The Museum is also an accredited member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums
Association of Zoos and Aquariums
The Association of Zoos and Aquariums was founded in 1924 and is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of zoos and public aquariums in the areas of conservation, education, science, and recreation.The AZA headquarters is located in Silver...
(AZA) and is home to over 100 animals, many of which have been rescued and rehabilitated from various dangerous situations. The Museum is also one of the city's three bases of operations for Boston's privately operated Duck Tour
Duck tour
Duck tours, or DUKW tours, are tours that take place on purpose-built amphibious tour buses or military surplus DUKWs and LARC-Vs.Duck tours are primarily offered as tourist attractions in harbor, river and lake cities, such as Halifax, Albany, Austin, Baltimore, Chattanooga, Pittsburgh, Belfast,...
s.
History
Boston Society of Natural History
The Boston Society of Natural History in Boston, Massachusetts, was an organization dedicated to the study and promotion of natural history. It published a scholarly journal and established a museum. In its first few decades, the society occupied several successive locations in Boston's Financial...
in 1830, founded by a collection of men who wished to share scientific interests. In essence, the museum began as a place where these men could store and display skins and other trophies of their travels to Africa and Asia. Today, a number of taxidermed
Taxidermy
Taxidermy is the act of mounting or reproducing dead animals for display or for other sources of study. Taxidermy can be done on all vertebrate species of animals, including mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians...
specimens remain on display, much as they do at 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...
in New York, as well as many other museums, teaching children about the animals of New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
and of the world
World
World is a common name for the whole of human civilization, specifically human experience, history, or the human condition in general, worldwide, i.e. anywhere on Earth....
. In 1864, after the Society had gone through several temporary facilities, a building was purchased in the Back Bay area of the city and dubbed the "New England Museum of Natural History." There it remained through World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, presumably growing and changing over the decades into more of a science museum and less of a gentleman's club for safari
Safari
A safari is an overland journey, usually a trip by tourists to Africa. Traditionally, the term is used for a big-game hunt, but today the term often refers to a trip taken not for the purposes of hunting, but to observe and photograph animals and other wildlife.-Etymology:Entering the English...
trophies.
After the war, this building was sold, and the museum was reestablished under the name "Boston Museum of Science". Under the leadership of Bradford Washburn
Bradford Washburn
Henry Bradford Washburn, Jr. was an American explorer, mountaineer, photographer, and cartographer. He established the Boston Museum of Science, served as its director from 1939–1980, and from 1985 until his death served as its Honorary Director .Washburn is especially noted for exploits in four...
, the Society negotiated with the Metropolitan District Commission for a 99-year lease of the land now known as Science Park. The Museum pays $1 a year to the state for use of the land. Construction and development began in 1948, and the Museum opened in 1951, arguably the first all-encompassing science museum in the country. In these first few years, the Museum developed a traveling planetarium, a version of which is still brought to many elementary schools in the Greater Boston
Greater Boston
Greater Boston is the area of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts surrounding the city of Boston. Due to ambiguity in usage, the size of the area referred to can be anywhere between that of the metropolitan statistical area of Boston and that of the city's combined statistical area which includes...
area every year. They also obtained during these early years "Spooky," a great horned owl
Great Horned Owl
The Great Horned Owl, , also known as the Tiger Owl, is a large owl native to the Americas. It is an adaptable bird with a vast range and is the most widely distributed true owl in the Americas.-Description:...
who became a symbol or mascot of the Museum; he lived to age 38, the longest any great horned owl is known to have lived.
The Science Park/West End
Science Park (MBTA station)
Science Park, signed as Science Park/West End, is a station on the MBTA Green Line and is located at the Boston end of the Old Charles River Dam at Leverett Circle, near the intersection of Nashua Street and Charles Street . The station is located on the elevated Lechmere Viaduct, which connects...
MBTA
Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, often referred to as the MBTA or simply The T, is the public operator of most bus, subway, commuter rail and ferry systems in the greater Boston, Massachusetts, area. Officially a "body politic and corporate, and a political subdivision" of the...
station was opened in 1956, and the Charles Hayden Planetarium in 1958.
Many more expansions continued into the 1970s and 1980s. In 1999, The Computer Museum
The Computer Museum, Boston
The Computer Museum was a Boston, Massachusetts museum that opened in 1979 and operated in three different locations until 1999. It was once referred to as TCM and is sometimes called the Boston Computer Museum....
in Boston closed and became part of the Museum of Science, integrating some of its displays, although the collection moved to the Computer History Museum
Computer History Museum
The Computer History Museum is a museum established in 1996 in Mountain View, California, USA. The Museum is dedicated to preserving and presenting the stories and artifacts of the information age, and exploring the computing revolution and its impact on our lives.-History:The museum's origins...
in Mountain View
Mountain View, California
-Downtown:Mountain View has a pedestrian-friendly downtown centered on Castro Street. The downtown area consists of the seven blocks of Castro Street from the Downtown Mountain View Station transit center in the north to the intersection with El Camino Real in the south...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
.
A major renovation and expansion took place during 2005 and 2006.
Historical exhibits
- In the 1950s, a small Wilson cloud chamberCloud chamberThe cloud chamber, also known as the Wilson chamber, is a particle detector used for detecting ionizing radiation. In its most basic form, a cloud chamber is a sealed environment containing a supersaturated vapor of water or alcohol. When a charged particle interacts with the mixture, it ionizes it...
was featured in the main entrance hall. Visitors could come within inches of radioactive material to watch the vapor trails of the particles they emitted. - The first Fresnel lensFresnel lensA Fresnel lens is a type of lens originally developed by French physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnel for lighthouses.The design allows the construction of lenses of large aperture and short focal length without the mass and volume of material that would be required by a lens of conventional design...
used in a lighthouse in the U.S. (Navesink lighthouse), was on display from the early 1950s until 1979. - From August to October 2004, the Museum was host to the U.S. premiere of The Lord of the RingsThe Lord of the RingsThe Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...
the Motion Picture Trilogy the Exhibition, developed by the Te PapaMuseum of New Zealand Te Papa TongarewaThe Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is the national museum and art gallery of New Zealand, located in Wellington. It is branded and commonly known as Te Papa and Our Place; "Te Papa Tongarewa" is broadly translatable as "the place of treasures of this land".The museum's principles...
museum in New ZealandNew ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, and containing many of the costumes and props from the films. - "Gunther von Hagens' Body WorldsBody WorldsBody Worlds is a traveling exhibition of preserved human bodies and body parts that are prepared using a technique called plastination to reveal inner anatomical structures...
2: The Anatomical Exhibition of Real Human Bodies" was at the Museum of Science from July 29, 2006 to January 7, 2007. - From October 25, 2009 - February 21, 2010, "Harry Potter The ExhibitionHarry Potter The Exhibition-Harry Potter: The Exhibition:- Overview :Harry Potter: The Exhibition is a traveling exhibition featuring hundreds of authentic props, costumes, artifacts, and set dressings from all of the Harry Potter films...
" was at the museum.
Computing section
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a term which refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations...
and forms the current Computer History Museum
Computer History Museum
The Computer History Museum is a museum established in 1996 in Mountain View, California, USA. The Museum is dedicated to preserving and presenting the stories and artifacts of the information age, and exploring the computing revolution and its impact on our lives.-History:The museum's origins...
, TCM educational exhibits and objects were transferred to the Boston Museum of Science where two new computing and technology exhibits were created. One, The Computing Revolution, relates the history of computing through a variety of hands-on interactive exhibits, while the other, Cahners Computer Place, houses displays ranging from educational video games to an interactive AIBO
AIBO
AIBO was one of several types of robotic pets designed and manufactured by Sony...
ERS-7.
Other attractions
- The Museum's Theater of Electricity contains the world's largest Van de Graaff generatorVan de Graaff generatorA Van de Graaff generator is an electrostatic generator which uses a moving belt to accumulate very high voltages on a hollow metal globe on the top of the stand. It was invented in 1929 by American physicist Robert J. Van de Graaff. The potential differences achieved in modern Van de Graaff...
, designed by Dr. Robert J. Van de GraaffRobert J. Van de GraaffRobert Jemison Van de Graaff, was an American physicist, noted for his design and construction of high voltage generators, who taught at Princeton University and MIT.-Biography:...
himself and donated by MITMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyThe Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
in 1956. - The Current Science & Technology Center's live presentations are in a constant state of development, keeping up with the cutting edge of science & technology news, and offering several very informative and interesting "Updates in Science & Technology" presentations every day. CS&T presentations are also often aired on New England Cable News (NECN). A CS&T podcastPodcastA podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication...
is also available for updates on-the-go. - The Museum has developed a to-scale community solar system modelSolar system modelSolar System models, especially mechanical models, called orreries, that illustrate the relative positions and motions of the planets and moons in the Solar System have been built for centuries. While they often showed relative sizes, these models were usually not built to scale...
that spans as far as the RiversideRiverside (MBTA station)Riverside is the western terminus of the MBTA Green Line "D" Branch light rail line. It is located at 333 Grove Street, off Exit 22 on Interstate 95 , in Auburndale, a village of Newton, Massachusetts. Scheduled travel time to Park Street is 46 minutes. Riverside includes a parking...
MBTA station (in Newton, MassachusettsNewton, MassachusettsNewton is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States bordered to the east by Boston. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the population of Newton was 85,146, making it the eleventh largest city in the state.-Villages:...
). The models of the SunSunThe Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...
, MercuryMercury (planet)Mercury is the innermost and smallest planet in the Solar System, orbiting the Sun once every 87.969 Earth days. The orbit of Mercury has the highest eccentricity of all the Solar System planets, and it has the smallest axial tilt. It completes three rotations about its axis for every two orbits...
and VenusVenusVenus is the second planet from the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. The planet is named after Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty. After the Moon, it is the brightest natural object in the night sky, reaching an apparent magnitude of −4.6, bright enough to cast shadows...
are located on the Museum grounds. - The Museum of Science built and designed its own film-based exhibit, entitled Star Wars: Where Science Meets ImaginationStar Wars: Where Science Meets ImaginationStar Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination is a traveling exhibition created by the Museum of Science, Boston, featuring props and costumes used in the Star Wars films, but focusing primarily on the science behind George Lucas' science fiction-fantasy epic...
. It was on display there from October 2005 to April 2006. The exhibit is now traveling. - The MIT DaedalusMIT DaedalusThe MIT Aeronautics and Astronautics Department's Daedalus was a human-powered aircraft that, on 23 April 1988, flew a distance of 71.5 mi in 3 hours, 54 minutes, from Iraklion on the island of Crete to the island of Santorini...
human-powered aircraftHuman-powered aircraftA human-powered aircraft is an aircraft powered by direct human energy and the force of gravity; the thrust provided by the human may be the only source; however, a hang glider that is partially powered by pilot power is a human-powered aircraft where the flight path can be enhanced more than if...
hangs in the entry lobby of the museum as does DecavitatorDecavitatorThe Decavitator is a human-powered hydrofoil that was built by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It holds the human-powered speed record on water...
, MIT's human-powered high-speed boat. - Design Challenges, a hands on engineering program, offers different activities, depending on the day, that deal with solving a variety of problems.
- The Discovery Center (http://mos.org/discoverycenter) offers parents the opportunity to talk with cognitive scientists, for kids to participate in experiments, and everyone to learn through inquiry and play.
- Construction began on a rooftop Wind Turbine Lab in 2009. The Lab will test nine wind turbines from five different manufacturers on the roof of the Museum. An exhibit in the Blue Wing, Catching the Wind, includes a live data stream on how much electricity each turbine is producing.
- Across from the Museum's gift shop lies a 24-hour Foucault pendulumFoucault pendulumThe Foucault pendulum , or Foucault's pendulum, named after the French physicist Léon Foucault, is a simple device conceived as an experiment to demonstrate the rotation of the Earth. While it had long been known that the Earth rotated, the introduction of the Foucault pendulum in 1851 was the...
. - The museum offers a "Camp-In" program to students in grades 1-7 allowing them to spend a night at the museum.
- There is a simulator ride near the musical stairs.
External links
- http://www.mos.org/ – Museum of Science official website
- The Museum's Current Science & Technology Center
- Current Exhibits & Reviews
- A science podcast from the Current Science & Technology Center
- Navesink lighthouse information from the National Park Service
- "Human Connections" Video on the making of this large interactive polarized light mural, located in the atrium of the Mugar Imax Wing of the MOS (Artist: Austine Wood Comarow)