The Elder Museum of Science and Technology (Spanish: ''Museo Elder de la Ciencia y la Tecnología'') is a museum in

Las Palmas Las Palmas (, ; ), officially Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, is a Spanish city and capital of Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands, on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital (jointly with Santa Cruz de Tenerife), the most populous city in the auto ...

, the capital city of

Gran Canaria Gran Canaria (, ; ), also Grand Canary Island, is the third-largest and second-most-populous island of the Canary Islands, an archipelago off the Atlantic coast of Northwest Africa which is part of Spain. the island had a population of that ...

in the Canary Islands.

History

The museum takes its name from the shipping company Elder Dempster Lines, the original owners of the building in which the museum is now housed. Elder Dempster Lines was founded in 1878 by two Scottish shipping entrepreneurs, Alexander Elder (brother of the shipbuilder John Elder) and John Dempster, and the company used to transport bananas from Gran Canaria to Britain. The Elder Museum took over the building and opened to the public in December 1999.

Collections

The museum display are on four floors, with exhibitions of technology, physics, mathematics, geology , biology, medicine and astronomy, with a digital planetarium. Among the items on display are models of steamships and a marine diesel engine, a

Northrop F-5 The Northrop F-5 is a family of supersonic light fighter aircraft initially designed as a privately funded project in the late 1950s by Northrop Corporation. There are two main models, the original F-5A and F-5B Freedom Fighter variants and t ...

fighter jet plane, a greenhouse ecosystem and a "

Robocoaster RoboCoaster Ltd is an amusement ride design firm based in Warwickshire, England. Through partnerships with KUKA and Dynamic Attractions, RoboCoaster has installed its namesake products at locations around the world. History In December 2000, Ro ...

". A steam locomotive dating from 1885 is displayed near the cafeteria. In 2017 the museum unveiled a scale model of the European Solar Telescope which is planned to be built on

La Palma La Palma (, ), also known as ''La isla bonita'' () and officially San Miguel de La Palma, is the most north-westerly island of the Canary Islands, Spain. La Palma has an area of making it the fifth largest of the eight main Canary Islands. The ...

. A new Science and Research room was also opened in 2017. The museum encourages hands-on interaction with the displays, and notices around the galleries humorously state that it is forbidden ''not'' to touch the exhibits.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Buildings and structures in Las Palmas Tourist attractions in Las Palmas Museums in the Canary Islands Museums established in 1999 Science museums in Spain Technology museums in Spain Science and technology in Gran Canaria 1999 establishments in Spain