The Museum of Science and Industry (MSI) is a
science museum
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, industry and industrial machinery, etc. Modern trends in mu ...
located in
Chicago, Illinois
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, in
Jackson Park, in the
Hyde Park
Hyde Park may refer to:
Places
England
* Hyde Park, London, a Royal Park in Central London
* Hyde Park, Leeds, an inner-city area of north-west Leeds
* Hyde Park, Sheffield, district of Sheffield
* Hyde Park, in Hyde, Greater Manchester
Austra ...
neighborhood between
Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that o ...
and
The University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the be ...
. It is housed in the former ''Palace of Fine Arts'' from the 1893
World's Columbian Exposition
The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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. Initially endowed by
Julius Rosenwald
Julius Rosenwald (August 12, 1862 – January 6, 1932) was an American businessman and philanthropist. He is best known as a part-owner and leader of Sears, Roebuck and Company, and for establishing the Rosenwald Fund, which donated millions in ...
, the
Sears, Roebuck and Company
Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...
president and philanthropist, it was supported by the
Commercial Club of Chicago
The Commercial Club of Chicago is a Nonprofit organization, nonprofit 501(c)_organization#501(c)(4), 501(c)(4) social welfare organization founded in 1877 with a mission to promote the social and economic vitality of the Chicago metropolitan are ...
and opened in 1933 during the
Century of Progress Exposition
A Century of Progress International Exposition, also known as the Chicago World's Fair, was a world's fair held in the city of Chicago, Illinois, United States, from 1933 to 1934. The fair, registered under the Bureau International des Expositio ...
.
Among the museum's exhibits are a full-size replica
coal mine
Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...
, captured during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, a model railroad, the command module of
Apollo 8
Apollo 8 (December 21–27, 1968) was the first crewed spacecraft to leave low Earth orbit and the first human spaceflight to reach the Moon. The crew orbited the Moon ten times without landing, and then departed safely back to Earth. These ...
, and the first diesel-powered streamlined stainless-steel passenger train (''
Pioneer Zephyr
The ''Pioneer Zephyr'' is a diesel-powered trainset built by the Budd Company in 1934 for the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad (CB&Q), commonly known as the Burlington Route. The trainset was the second internal combustion-powered streamli ...
'').
History
![Palace of fine arts floor plan](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1b/Palace_of_fine_arts_floor_plan.jpg)
The Palace of Fine Arts (also known as the Fine Arts Building) at the 1893
World's Columbian Exposition
The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordi ...
was designed by
Charles B. Atwood
Charles Bowler Atwood (1849–1895) was an architect who designed several buildings and a large number of secondary structures for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. He also designed a number of notable buildings in the city of Ch ...
for
D. H. Burnham & Co. During the fair, the palace displayed paintings, prints, drawing, sculpture, and metal work from around the world.
Unlike the other "
White City White City may refer to:
Places Australia
* White City, Perth, an amusement park on the Perth foreshore
* White City railway station, a former railway station
* White City Stadium (Sydney), a tennis centre in Sydney
* White City FC, a football clu ...
" buildings, it was constructed with a brick substructure under its plaster facade.
After the World's Fair, the palace initially housed the Columbian Museum, largely displaying collections left from the fair, which evolved into the
Field Museum of Natural History
The Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH), also known as The Field Museum, is a natural history museum in Chicago, Illinois, and is one of the largest such museums in the world. The museum is popular for the size and quality of its educational ...
. When the Field Museum moved to a new building five miles north in the
Near South Side in 1920, the palace was left vacant.
School of the Art Institute of Chicago
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) is a private art school associated with the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to an art students' cooperative founded in 1866, which grew into the museum and ...
professor
Lorado Taft
Lorado Zadok Taft (April 29, 1860, in Elmwood, Illinois – October 30, 1936, in Chicago) was an American sculptor, writer and educator. His 1903 book, ''The History of American Sculpture,'' was the first survey of the subject and stood for decad ...
led a public campaign to restore the building and turn it into another art museum, one devoted to sculpture. The South Park Commissioners (now part of the
Chicago Park District
The Chicago Park District is one of the oldest and the largest park districts in the United States. As of 2016, there are over 600 parks included in the Chicago Park District as well as 27 beaches, several boat harbors, two botanic conservatories ...
) won approval in a referendum to sell $5 million in bonds to pay for restoration costs, hoping to turn the building into a sculpture museum, a technical trade school, and other things. However, after a few years, the building was selected as the site for a new science museum.
At this time, the
Commercial Club of Chicago
The Commercial Club of Chicago is a Nonprofit organization, nonprofit 501(c)_organization#501(c)(4), 501(c)(4) social welfare organization founded in 1877 with a mission to promote the social and economic vitality of the Chicago metropolitan are ...
was interested in establishing a science museum in Chicago.
Julius Rosenwald
Julius Rosenwald (August 12, 1862 – January 6, 1932) was an American businessman and philanthropist. He is best known as a part-owner and leader of Sears, Roebuck and Company, and for establishing the Rosenwald Fund, which donated millions in ...
, the
Sears, Roebuck and Company
Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...
president and philanthropist, energized his fellow club members by pledging to pay $3 million towards the cost of converting the Palace of Fine Arts (Rosenwald eventually contributed more than $5 million to the project). During its conversion into the MSI, the building's exterior was re-cast in limestone to retain its 1893
Beaux Arts look. The interior was replaced with a new one in
Art Moderne
Streamline Moderne is an international style of Art Deco architecture and design that emerged in the 1930s. Inspired by aerodynamic design, it emphasized curving forms, long horizontal lines, and sometimes nautical elements. In industrial design ...
style designed by
Alfred P. Shaw.
Rosenwald established the museum organization in 1926 but declined to have his name on the building. For the first few years, the museum was often called the Rosenwald Industrial Museum. In 1928, the name of the museum was officially changed to the Museum of Science and Industry. Rosenwald's vision was to create a museum in the style of the
Deutsches Museum
The Deutsches Museum (''German Museum'', officially (English: ''German Museum of Masterpieces of Science and Technology'')) in Munich, Germany, is the world's largest museum of science and technology, with about 28,000 exhibited objects from ...
in
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
, which he had visited in 1911 while in Germany with his family.
Sewell Avery
Sewell Lee Avery (November 4, 1874 – October 31, 1960) was an American businessman who achieved early prominence in gypsum mining and became president of the United States Gypsum Company (1905–1936). At the beginning of the Depression, he ...
, another businessman, had supported the museum within the Commercial Club and was selected as its first president of the board of directors. The museum conducted a nationwide search for the first director. MSI's Board of Directors selected
Waldemar Kaempffert
Waldemar Kaempffert (September 27, 1877 - November 27, 1956) was an American science writer and museum director.
Career
Waldemar (Bernhard) Kaempffert was born and raised in New York City. He received his Bachelor of Science from the City Colleg ...
, then the science editor of ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', because he shared Rosenwald's vision.
He assembled the museum's curatorial staff and directed the organization and construction of the exhibits. In order to prepare the museum, Kaempffert and his staff visited the Deutsches Museum in Munich, the
Science Museum
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, industry and industrial machinery, etc. Modern trends in mu ...
in
Kensington
Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London.
The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...
, and the
Technical Museum in
Vienna
en, Viennese
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, all of which served as models. Kaempffert was instrumental in developing close ties with the science departments of the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
, which supplied much of the scholarship for the exhibits. Kaempffert resigned in early 1931 amid growing disputes with the second president of the board of directors; they disagreed over the objectivity and neutrality of the exhibits and Kaempffert's management of the staff.
The new Museum of Science and Industry opened to the public in three stages between 1933 and 1940. The first opening ceremony took place during the
Century of Progress Exposition
A Century of Progress International Exposition, also known as the Chicago World's Fair, was a world's fair held in the city of Chicago, Illinois, United States, from 1933 to 1934. The fair, registered under the Bureau International des Expositio ...
. Two of the museum's presidents, a number of curators and other staff members, and exhibits came to MSI from the Century of Progress event.
For years, visitors entered the museum through its original main entrance, but that entrance became no longer large enough to handle an increasing volume of visitors. The newer main entrance is a structure detached from the main museum building, through which visitors descend into an underground area and re-ascend into the main building, similar to the
Louvre Pyramid
The Louvre Pyramid (Pyramide du Louvre) is a large glass and metal structure designed by the Chinese-American architect I. M. Pei. The pyramid is in the main courtyard ( Cour Napoléon) of the Louvre Palace in Paris, surrounded by three smalle ...
.
In 1992, due to increased attendance, the museum started planning its underground parking lot, located in three underground levels below the front lawn. Construction of the underground parking lot was finished in July 1998.
For over 55 years, admission to the MSI was free, although some exhibits such as the Coal Mine and U-505 required small fees. General entrance fees were first charged in the early 1990s, with general admission rates increasing from $13 in 2008 to $18 in 2015.
Many "free days"—for
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...
residents only—are offered throughout the year.
On October 3, 2019, the museum announced that it intends to change its name to the Kenneth C. Griffin Museum of Science and Industry after a donation of $125 million from the now former Chicago billionaire
Kenneth C. Griffin
Kenneth Cordele Griffin (born October 15, 1968) is an American hedge fund manager, entrepreneur and investor. He is the founder, chief executive officer, co-chief investment officer, and 80% owner of Citadel LLC, a multinational hedge fund. He ...
. It is the largest single gift in the museum's history, effectively doubling its endowment. However, president and chief executive officer David Mosena said the formal name change could take some time, due to the complexity of the process. He also said part of the gift will go into funding "a state-of-the-art digital gallery and performance space that will be the only experience of its kind in North America." Chevy Humphrey became president and CEO of the private, non-profit museum in January 2021.
Exhibits
![XmasTreeExhibitChicagoMuseumOfScienceIndustry](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/XmasTreeExhibitChicagoMuseumOfScienceIndustry.jpg)
The museum has over 2,000 exhibits, displayed in 75 major halls. The museum has several major permanent exhibits. Access to several of the exhibits (including the Coal Mine and ''U-505'') requires the payment of an additional fee.
Entry Hall
The first diesel-powered, streamlined stainless-steel train, the ''
Pioneer Zephyr
The ''Pioneer Zephyr'' is a diesel-powered trainset built by the Budd Company in 1934 for the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad (CB&Q), commonly known as the Burlington Route. The trainset was the second internal combustion-powered streamli ...
'', is on permanent display in the Great Hall, renamed the Entry Hall in 2008. The train was once displayed outdoors, but it was restored and placed in the former Great Hall during the construction of the museum's underground parking lot.
Lower Level
U-505
is one of just six German submarines captured by the Allies during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, and, since its arrival in 1954, the only one on display in the Western Hemisphere, as well as the only one in the United States. The U-boat was newly restored beginning in 2004 after 50 years of being displayed outdoors, and was then moved indoors as "The New U-505 Experience" on June 5, 2005. Displayed in an underground shed, it remains as a popular exhibit for visitors, as well as a memorial to all the casualties of the Battle of the Atlantic during World War II. Guided tours of the submarine are offered for an additional fee. Near the U-505 there is both a Mold-A-Rama machine and a
penny flattening device. Both have
U-505 designs.
Henry Crown Space Center
MSI's
Henry Crown Space Center
Henry Crown Space Center opened in 1986. The space center includes artifacts and interactive exhibits about space travel. Located in the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry the Henry Crown Space Center includes the Apollo 8 spacecraft and Aur ...
includes the
Apollo 8
Apollo 8 (December 21–27, 1968) was the first crewed spacecraft to leave low Earth orbit and the first human spaceflight to reach the Moon. The crew orbited the Moon ten times without landing, and then departed safely back to Earth. These ...
spacecraft, which flew the first mission beyond low earth orbit to the Moon, enabling its crew,
Frank Borman
Frank Frederick Borman II (born March 14, 1928) is a retired United States Air Force (USAF) colonel, aeronautical engineer, test pilot, businessman, and NASA astronaut. He was the commander of Apollo 8, the first mission to fly around the Moo ...
,
James Lovell
James Arthur Lovell Jr. (; born March 25, 1928) is an American retired astronaut, naval aviator, test pilot and mechanical engineer. In 1968, as command module pilot of Apollo 8, he became, with Frank Borman and William Anders, one of the f ...
and
William Anders
William Alison Anders (born 17 October 1933) is a retired United States Air Force (USAF) major general, former electrical engineer, nuclear engineer, NASA astronaut, and businessman. In December 1968, he was a member of the crew of Apollo 8, ...
, to become the first human beings to see the Earth as a whole, as well as becoming the first to view the Moon up close (as well as the first to view its far side). Other exhibits include
Scott Carpenter
Malcolm Scott Carpenter (May 1, 1925 – October 10, 2013) was an American naval officer and aviator, test pilot, aeronautical engineer, astronaut, and aquanaut. He was one of the Mercury Seven astronauts selected for NASA's Project Mercury ...
's
Mercury-Atlas 7
Mercury-Atlas 7, launched May 24, 1962, was the fourth crewed flight of Project Mercury. The spacecraft, named ''Aurora 7'', was piloted by astronaut Scott Carpenter. He was the sixth human to fly in space. The mission used Mercury spacecraft No ...
spacecraft and a
lunar module
The Apollo Lunar Module (LM ), originally designated the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM), was the lunar lander spacecraft that was flown between lunar orbit and the Moon's surface during the United States' Apollo program. It was the first crewed ...
trainer.
Located in the
Henry Crown Space Center
Henry Crown Space Center opened in 1986. The space center includes artifacts and interactive exhibits about space travel. Located in the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry the Henry Crown Space Center includes the Apollo 8 spacecraft and Aur ...
is a domed theater, considered to be the only domed theater in Chicago. The screen of the theater is made of perforated aluminum, allowing the speakers mounted behind the screen to be heard throughout the theater.
FarmTech
The "FarmTech" exhibit showcases modern agricultural techniques and how farmers use modern technology like GPS systems to improve work on the farm, and includes a
tractor
A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or construction. Most common ...
and a
combine harvester
The modern combine harvester, or simply combine, is a versatile machine designed to efficiently harvest a variety of grain crops. The name derives from its combining four separate harvesting operations—reaping, threshing, gathering, and winnow ...
from
John Deere
Deere & Company, doing business as John Deere (), is an American corporation that manufactures agricultural machinery, heavy equipment, forestry machinery, diesel engines, drivetrains (axles, transmissions, gearboxes) used in heavy equipment, ...
. The exhibit also showcases a greenhouse, a mock up of a kitchen showcasing much the foods we eat is soybean, and how we use cows, from energy to what we drink.
Other
A transportation gallery is located on the museum's west wing, containing models of "Ships Through the Ages" and several historic racing cars.
"Future Energy Chicago" shows alternative resources, housing developments, and the future of
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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. The exhibit requires an additional fee.
Some areas in the museum aim for younger children, including the "Swiss Jollyball", the world's largest pinball machine built by a British man from Switzerland using nothing but salvaged junk; the "Idea Factory", a toddler water table play area; and the "Circus", featuring animated dioramas of a miniature circus as well as containing a shadow garden and several funhouse mirrors. The Circus exhibit was closed in September 2022.
Silent-film star and stock-market investor
Colleen Moore
Colleen Moore (born Kathleen Morrison; August 19, 1899 – January 25, 1988) was an American film actress who began her career during the silent film era. Moore became one of the most fashionable (and highly-paid) stars of the era and helped po ...
's Fairy Castle "doll's house" is on display.
First Level
Numbers in Nature: A Mirror Maze
Numbers in Nature: A Mirror Maze contains an interactive theater and stations to learn about patterns in nature, including the Golden Ratio, spirals, fractal branching, and Voronoi patterns.
It also contains a mirror maze to help emphasize the geometric patterns that can be utilized.
Transportation Gallery
The Transportation Zone contains several permanent exhibits.
The Great Train Story
The Great Train Story is a HO scale model railroad display located in the Transportation Zone of Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry. It explains the story of modern-day rail transportation in a journey from Seattle, Washington, through se ...
is a HO-scale model railroad and recounts the story of transportation from Chicago to
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
.
The museum includes a replica of
Stephenson's Rocket
Stephenson's ''Rocket'' is an early steam locomotive of 0-2-2 wheel arrangement. It was built for and won the Rainhill Trials of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway (L&MR), held in October 1829 to show that improved locomotives would be mo ...
, which was the first steam locomotive to exceed 25 miles per hour.
The
''999 Empire State Express'' steam locomotive was alleged to be the first vehicle to exceed in 1893, although no reliable measurement ever took place (and such a speed was likely impossible). Designed to win the battle of express trains to the
World's Columbian Exhibition
The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The centerpiece of the Fair, hel ...
, it was donated to the museum by the
New York Central
The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Midw ...
in 1962. The locomotive was located outside the museum until 1993, when extensive restoration took place and it was moved indoors as an exhibit in the Transportation Zone.
A replica of the
Wright Brothers first airplane, the
Wright Flyer
The ''Wright Flyer'' (also known as the ''Kitty Hawk'', ''Flyer'' I or the 1903 ''Flyer'') made the first sustained flight by a manned heavier-than-air powered and controlled aircraft—an airplane—on December 17, 1903. Invented and flown b ...
, is on display.
Two
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
warplanes are also exhibited. Both were donated by the British government: a German Ju 87 R-2/Trop.
Stuka
The Junkers Ju 87 or Stuka (from ''Sturzkampfflugzeug'', "dive bomber") was a German dive bomber and ground-attack aircraft. Designed by Hermann Pohlmann, it first flew in 1935. The Ju 87 made its combat debut in 1937 with the Luftwaffe's Cond ...
divebomber—one of only two intact Stukas left in the world—and a British
Supermarine Spitfire
The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Grif ...
. Also on display is the museum's
Travel Air Type R Mystery Ship
The Type R "Mystery Ships" were a series of wire-braced, low-wing racing airplanes built by the Travel Air company in the late 1920s and early 1930s. They were so called, because the first three aircraft of the series (R614K, R613K, B11D) were bui ...
, nicknamed "Texaco 13", which set many world records in flying.
"Take Flight" features the first
Boeing 727
The Boeing 727 is an American narrow-body airliner that was developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes.
After the heavy 707 quad-jet was introduced in 1958, Boeing addressed the demand for shorter flight lengths from smaller airpo ...
jet plane in commercial service, donated by
United Airlines
United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois. , with one wing removed and holes cut on the fuselage to facilitate visitor access.
Science Storms
In March 2010, the museum opened "Science Storms" in the
Allstate
The Allstate Corporation is an American insurance company, headquartered in Northfield Township, Illinois, near Northbrook since 1967. Founded in 1931 as part of Sears, Roebuck and Co., it was spun off in 1993 but still partially owned by S ...
Court, as a permanent exhibit. This multilevel exhibit features a water vapor tornado, tsunami tank,
Tesla coil
A Tesla coil is an electrical resonant transformer circuit designed by inventor Nikola Tesla in 1891. It is used to produce high-voltage, low-current, high-frequency alternating-current electricity. Tesla experimented with a number of different ...
,
heliostat
A heliostat (from ''helios'', the Greek word for ''sun'', and ''stat'', as in stationary) is a device that includes a mirror, usually a plane mirror, which turns so as to keep reflecting sunlight toward a predetermined target, compensating ...
system, and a
Wimshurst machine
The Wimshurst influence machine is an electrostatic generator, a machine for generating high voltages developed between 1880 and 1883 by British inventor James Wimshurst (1832–1903).
It has a distinctive appearance with two large contra-rot ...
built by
James Wimshurst
James Wimshurst (13 April 1832 – 3 January 1903) was an English inventor, engineer and shipwright. Though Wimshurst did not patent his machines and the various improvements that he made to them, his refinements to the electrostatic generator led ...
in the late 19th century. Also housed are
Newton's Cradle
The Newton's cradle is a device that demonstrates the conservation of momentum and the conservation of energy with swinging spheres. When one sphere at the end is lifted and released, it strikes the stationary spheres, transmitting a force throu ...
, the
color spectrum
The visible spectrum is the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that is visual perception, visible to the human eye. Electromagnetic radiation in this range of wavelengths is called ''visible light'' or simply light. A typical human eye wil ...
, and
Foucault pendulum
The Foucault pendulum or Foucault's pendulum is a simple device named after French physicist Léon Foucault, conceived as an experiment to demonstrate the Earth's rotation. A long and heavy pendulum suspended from the high roof above a circular a ...
. All artifacts allow guests to explore the physics and chemistry of the natural world.
Genetics: Decoding Life
In keeping with Rosenwald's vision, many of the exhibits are interactive. "Genetics: Decoding Life," looks at how genetics affect human and animal development as well as containing a chick hatchery composed of an incubator where baby chickens hatch from their eggs and a chick pen for those that have already hatched, as well as housing
genetically modified
Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification or genetic manipulation, is the modification and manipulation of an organism's genes using technology. It is a set of Genetic engineering techniques, technologies used to change the gene ...
frogs, mice, and drought resistant plants.
The chick hatchery has been part of the museum since 1956. About 20 chicks are hatched a day, around 140 hatch in a week, and up to 8000 hatch in a year. A week after emerging from their shells, the chicks are sent to the
Lincoln Park Zoo
Lincoln Park Zoo, also known as Lincoln Park Zoological Gardens, is a zoo in Lincoln Park, Chicago, Illinois. The zoo was founded in 1868, making it the fourth oldest zoo in North America. It is also one of a few free admission zoos in the Unit ...
to be fed to various animals, including lions, crocodiles, snakes, vultures, owls and tigers. This partnership between the museum and the zoo has been operating for decades, with about 7000 chicks being sent to the zoo each year. Some of the chicks hatched are of the
Java species of chicken, and these chicks are sent to a farm in
La Fox, Illinois that works to preserve the rare breed. There have been numerous efforts to shut down the exhibit, as early as 1998 and as recent as 2017.
ToyMaker 3000
"ToyMaker 3000", is a working assembly line which lets visitors order a toy top and watch as it is made. The interactive "
Fab Lab MSI
Fab Lab MSI (Fabrication Laboratory at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, Illinois) is a small scale workshop that uses various machines to create both prototypes for individuals and small projects for museum members and visitors. Th ...
" is intended as an interactive lab where members can "build anything".
Coal Mine
The "Coal Mine" re-creates a working deep-shaft,
bituminous coal
Bituminous coal, or black coal, is a type of coal containing a tar-like substance called bitumen or asphalt. Its coloration can be black or sometimes dark brown; often there are well-defined bands of bright and dull material within the seams. It ...
mine inside the museum's Central Pavilion, using original equipment from Old Ben #17, circa 1933. It is one of the oldest exhibits at the museum. In this unique exhibit, visitors go underground and ride a mine train to different parts of the mine and learn the basics of its operation. The experience takes around 30 minutes and requires an additional fee.
Yesterday's Main Street"
"Yesterday's Main Street" is a mock-up of a Chicago street from the early 20th century, complete with a
cobblestone
Cobblestone is a natural building material based on cobble-sized stones, and is used for pavement roads, streets, and buildings.
Setts, also called Belgian blocks, are often casually referred to as "cobbles", although a sett is distinct fro ...
roadway, old-fashioned light fixtures,
fire hydrant
A fire hydrant, waterplug, or firecock (archaic) is a connection point by which firefighters can tap into a water supply. It is a component of active fire protection. Underground fire hydrants have been used in Europe and Asia since at least ...
s, and several shops, including the precursors to several Chicago-based businesses. Included are:
Unlike the other shops, Finnigan's Ice Cream Parlor and The Nickelodeon Cinema can be entered and are functional. Finnigan's serves an assortment of ice cream and The Cinema plays short silent films throughout the day.
Other
In spring 2013, the "Art of the Bicycle" exhibit opened, showcasing the history of the bicycle and how modern bikes continue to evolve.
"Reusable City" focuses on recycling and other methods that could cut down harmful pollution and especially climate change and the Regenstein Hall of Science, containing a giant
periodic table of the elements
The periodic table, also known as the periodic table of the (chemical) elements, is a rows and columns arrangement of the chemical elements. It is widely used in chemistry, physics, and other sciences, and is generally seen as an icon of c ...
. Other main level exhibits include: "Fast Forward", which features some aspects of how technology will change in the future; "Earth Revealed", featuring a "Science on a Sphere" holographic globe; and a "Whispering Gallery".
Second Level
YOU! The Experience
The museum is also known for unique and quirky permanent exhibits, such as a walk-through model of the
human heart
The heart is a muscular organ in most animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the body, while carrying metabolic waste such as carbon dioxide to ...
, which was removed in 2009 for the construction of "YOU! the Experience", which replaced it with a , interactive,
3D heart. Also well known are the "Body Slices" (two
cadaver
A cadaver or corpse is a dead human body that is used by medical students, physicians and other scientists to study anatomy, identify disease sites, determine causes of death, and provide tissue to repair a defect in a living human being. Stud ...
s exhibited in slices) in the exhibit.
Other
Several
US Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...
warship models are also on display in the museum, and flight simulators including of the new
F-35 Lightning II
The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is an American family of single-seat, single-engine, all-weather stealth multirole combat aircraft that is intended to perform both air superiority and strike missions. It is also able to provide ele ...
are featured.
Former Exhibits
An
F-104 Starfighter
The Lockheed F-104 Starfighter is an American single-engine, supersonic air superiority fighter which was extensively deployed as a fighter-bomber during the Cold War. Created as a day fighter by Lockheed as one of the "Century Series" of fi ...
on loan to MSI from the
US Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...
since 1978 was sent to the
Mid-America Air Museum
The Mid-America Air Museum is an aerospace and aircraft museum located in Liberal, Kansas, United States.
The Mid-America Air Museum is the largest aircraft museum in Kansas. It has on display over 100 aircraft (both within the museum's primary ...
in
Liberal, Kansas
Liberal is the county seat of Seward County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 19,825. Liberal is home of Seward County Community College.
History
Early settler S. S. Rogers built the first house ...
, in 1993. In March 1995, Santa Fe Steam Locomotive 2903 was moved from outside the museum to the
Illinois Railway Museum
The Illinois Railway Museum (IRM, reporting mark IRMX) is the largest railroad museum in the United States. It is located in the Chicago metropolitan area at 7000 Olson Road in Union, Illinois, northwest of downtown Chicago.
Overview
Histo ...
. "Telefun Town", a hall dedicated to the wonders of telephone communication, sponsored by the company then known as "The Bell Telephone Company", no longer exists.
Exhibitions
In addition to its three floors of standing exhibits, the museum hosts temporary and traveling exhibitions. Exhibitions last for five months or less and usually require a separate paid admission fee.
Exhibitions at MSI have included ''Titanic: The Exhibition'', which was the largest display of relics from the wreck of
RMS ''Titanic''; Gunther von Hagens' ''
Body Worlds
''Body Worlds'' (German title: ''Körperwelten'') is a traveling exposition of dissected human bodies, animals, and other anatomical structures of the body that have been preserved through the process of plastination. Gunther von Hagens develope ...
'', a view into the human body through use of
plastinated human specimens; ''
Game On'', which featured the history and culture of
video games
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...
; ''
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, Drawing, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially res ...
: Man, Inventor, Genius''; ''
CSI: The Experience''; ''Robots Like Us''; ''City of the Future''; ''
Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination''; ''The Glass Experience''; ''
Harry Potter: The Exhibition''; ''Robot Revolution'', which was sponsored by
Google
Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...
and featured numerous hands-on demonstrations and advice from experts for prospective future robot scientists and engineers; and four installments of ''Smart Home: Green + Wired'', featuring the work of green architect
Michelle Kaufmann
Michelle Kaufmann is an American architect and designer. In 2002, Kaufmann founded Michelle Kaufmann Designs, which designed and built single-family and multi-family green homes using prefabricated modular technology. The firm was closed in May 20 ...
. ''The Science Behind Pixar'' exhibit opened May 24, 2018. The ''Wired to Wear'' exhibit opened on March 21, 2019. The touring exhibit ''Marvel: Universe of Super Heroes'' officially opened to the public on March 7, 2021.
Yearly, from late November to early January, the museum hosts its ''Christmas Around the World'' and ''Holidays of Light'' exhibit, featuring Christmas trees from different cultures from around the world. Started in 1942 with just one tree to honor soldiers fighting in World War Two, the tradition spawned into more than 50 trees.
See also
*
Architecture of Chicago
The buildings and architecture of Chicago reflect the city's history and multicultural heritage, featuring prominent buildings in a variety of styles. Most structures downtown were destroyed by the Great Chicago Fire in 1871 (an exception being th ...
*
List of museums and cultural institutions in Chicago
The city of Chicago, Illinois, has many cultural institutions and museums, large and small. Major cultural institutions include:
*the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Architecture Foundation, Lyric Opera of Chicago ...
References
Explanatory notes
Citations
Further reading
* Kogan, Herman. ''A Continuing Marvel: The Story of the Museum of Science and Industry''. 1st ed. Garden City, N.Y., Doubleday, 1973.
* Pridmore, Jay. ''Inventive Genius: The History of the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago''. Chicago, Museum of Science and Industry, 1996.
* Pridmore, Jay. ''Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago''. New York, Harry N. Abrams, 1997.
External links
Museum websiteCommercials and news clipsat
The Museum of Classic Chicago Television
The Museum of Classic Chicago Television (also known as FuzzyMemoriesTV) is an online museum dedicated to the preservation of Chicago television broadcasts. Most of the museum's footage originates from "airchecks" of local Chicago channels (and t ...
High-resolution 360° Panoramas and Images at Columbia University
{{DEFAULTSORT:Museum Of Science And Industry (Chicago)
Museums in Chicago
Chicago Landmarks
Cultural infrastructure completed in 1893
Hyde Park, Chicago
Industry museums in Illinois
Technology museums in Illinois
World's Columbian Exposition
World's fair architecture in Chicago
Museums established in 1933
1933 establishments in Illinois
Association of Science-Technology Centers member institutions
Science museums in Illinois