Science museum

From Freepedia

A science museum is a museum devoted primarily to science. Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays of objects related to natural history, paleontology, geology, etc. Modern trends in museology have broadened the range of subject matter and introduced many interactive exhibits. Many if not most modern science museums also put much weight on technology.

Contents 1 Historical background 2 Modern examples 2.1 Europe 2.2 Latin America 2.3 North America 2.4 Asia 3 See also 4 External links

Historical background

"...The public museum as understood today is a collection of specimens and other objects of interest to the scholar, the man of science as well as the more casual visitor, arranged and displayed in accordance with the scientific method. In its original sense, the term "museum" meant a spot dedicated to the muses - "a place where man's mind could attain a mood of aloofness above everyday affairs." — Museum of Jurassic Technology, Introduction & Background, p.2

As early as the Renaissance, many aristocrats collected curiosities for display to their friends. Universities and particularly medical schools also maintained study collections of specimens for their students. Such collections were the predecessors of modern natural history museums. The Utrecht University Museum, among others, still displays an extensive collection of 18th-century animal and human "rarities" in its original setting.

Another line in the genealogy of science museums came during the Industrial Revolution, with great national exhibits intended to showcase the triumphs of both science and industry. For example, the Great Exhibition in the Crystal Palace (1851) eventually gave rise to London's Science Museum.

In the mid-twentieth century, Frank Oppenheimer pioneered interactive science exhibits at San Francisco's Exploratorium. The Exploratorium made public the details of their own exhibits in published "Cookbooks" that served as an inspiration to other museums.

Four years after the Exploratorium opened, the first OMNIMAX theater opened as the Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater and Science Center in San Diego's Balboa Park. The tilted-dome Space Theater doubled as a planetarium. The Science Center was an Exploratorium-style museum included as a small part of the complex. This combination interactive science museum, planetarium and OMNIMAX theater set the standard that most major science museums follow today.

Modern examples

Some of the pre-eminent science museums of the world are:

Europe

• The Science Museum in London, United Kingdom

Universally known as just "The Science Museum". Unlike many other institutions referred to as science museums, the Science Museum is primarily a historical museum and not a demonstration exhibit (although it does contain such science centre installations as well). It includes such famous items as many of the first steam engines, Stephenson's Rocket steam locomotive, the original models of DNA and heme, the first MRI machine, the first jet engine, and more. Entrance is free.

• The Museum of the History of Science, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.

• The Museon in The Hague, Netherlands.

• Nemo, Amsterdam, Netherlands [1]

• Teylers Museum in Haarlem, Netherlands.

• Museum Boerhaave in Leiden, Netherlands.

• Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh, United Kingdom.

Focuses specially in earth science.

• The Palais de la Découverte in Paris, France.

• The Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris, France.

• The Oceanographic Museum in Monaco.

• The Museo di Storia della Scienza in Florence, Italy.

Many of Galileo Galilei's original instruments are housed in this museum.

Latin America

• The Municipal Museum of Botany (Museu Botânico Municipal) in Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil

One of the largest collections of plants in Brazil and the most important collections of the South Brazilian flora .

North America

• The Exploratorium in San Francisco, California, United States of America.

• The Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose, California, United States of America.

• The Reuben H. Fleet Science Center in San Diego, California, United States of America

The first science museum to combine interactive exhibits with a planetarium and an OMNIMAX theater.

• The Science Museum of Minnesota in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States of America.

• The Museum of Science in Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America.

• The Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, Illinois United States of America.

This museum was formerly known as the Rosenwald Museum and is the sole remaining structure of the World Columbian Exposition. It is located on Chicago's south lakefront east of the University of Chicago campus. Special exhibits include an operating coal mine, a space museum and Omnimax theatre, a railroad museum and a German World War II submarine. Entrance fee required.

• The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry in Portland, Oregon, United States of America.

• The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America.

• The Ontario Science Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

• Science North and Dynamic Earth in Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada.

• Science World in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Home to the world's largest OMNIMAX Theatre

Asia

• The Hong Kong Science Museum, Hong Kong, China.
• The Singapore Science Centre, Jurong East, Singapore
• National Science Museum, Pathum Thani, Thailand

See also

• List of museums

External links

• Yahoo directory of science museums
• History of Zoological Museum in Copenhagen
• Museums as a Mirror of Society