The Molecularium Project is an informal

science education Science education is the teaching and learning of science to school children, college students, or adults within the general public. The field of science education includes work in science content, science process (the scientific method), some ...

project of

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute () (RPI) is a private research university in Troy, New York, with an additional campus in Hartford, Connecticut. A third campus in Groton, Connecticut closed in 2018. RPI was established in 1824 by Stephen Van ...

. The Project introduces young audiences to the world of

atoms Every atom is composed of a nucleus and one or more electrons bound to the nucleus. The nucleus is made of one or more protons and a number of neutrons. Only the most common variety of hydrogen has no neutrons. Every solid, liquid, gas, an ...

and

molecules A molecule is a group of two or more atoms held together by attractive forces known as chemical bonds; depending on context, the term may or may not include ions which satisfy this criterion. In quantum physics, organic chemistry, and bioche ...

using character driven stories, immersive animation, interactive games and activities, and state of the art molecular visualizations. Rensselaer's three principal scientist and educators behind the project are Linda Schadler, Richard W. Siegel, and Shekhar Garde. The Molecularium Project began as an outreach project of Rensselaer's Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center. To realize the productions, the scientists employed the creative team Nanotoon Entertainment, led by writer and director

V. Owen Bush V. Owen Bush is a Canadian designer, producer, and filmmaker who uses immersion and participation to create transformative social experiences. His works have been seen worldwide in venues such as digital planetariums, live concerts and events, IMA ...

, and writer/producer Kurt Przybilla. The Molecularium Project is funded by Rensselaer, the

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...

, and

New York State New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. stat ...

Productions

Pilot show

In 2002, Schadler and Garde produced a seven-minute pilot show for the local

planetarium A planetarium ( planetariums or ''planetaria'') is a theatre built primarily for presenting educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navigation. A dominant feature of most planetarium ...

called “Molecularium” for the

Digistar II Digistar is the first computer graphics-based planetarium projection and content system. It was designed by Evans & Sutherland and released in 1983. The technology originally focused on accurate and high quality display of stars, including for the ...

Planetarium system. It introduces children to the concepts of atoms and molecules from small molecules like water (

H2O Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a s ...

) to larger molecules like

polymers A polymer (; Greek '' poly-'', "many" + ''-mer'', "part") is a substance or material consisting of very large molecules called macromolecules, composed of many repeating subunits. Due to their broad spectrum of properties, both synthetic an ...

"Molecularium - Riding Snowflakes"

In early 2004, Schadler, Garde, and Siegel were awarded a U.S.

grant to make a new Molecularium show exclusively for an immersive dome based video display environment, also known as a

fulldome Fulldome refers to immersive dome-based video display environments. The dome, horizontal or tilted, is filled with real-time (interactive) or pre-rendered (linear) computer animations, live capture images, or composited environments. Although t ...

medium. They recruited filmmaker, and experience designer,

to bring the idea to life. Bush founded the production company Nanotoon Entertainment with writer/producer Kurt Przybilla to realize the new project. Bush and Przybilla proposed an adventure story of personified atoms flying a ship called the Molecularium through nanoscale materials including a snowflake, a penny, a stick of gum and the human body. In February 2005, the team debuted "Molecularium - Riding Snowflakes" a 23-minute digital planetarium show at the Children's Museum of Science and Technology. In 2005, "Molecularium - Riding Snowflakes" won the Domie award at Domefest, a festival for immersive dome films, in Albuquerque New Mexico. "Molecularium - Riding Snowflakes" has shown at

Chabot Space and Science Center Chabot Space and Science Center, located in Oakland, California, is a center for science learning featuring interactive exhibits, planetariums, a large screen theater, hands-on activities and three powerful telescopes. The center is the continu ...

in Oakland, California, the

Newark Museum The Newark Museum of Art (formerly known as the Newark Museum), in Newark, Essex County, New Jersey, United States, is the state's largest museum. It holds major collections of American art, decorative arts, contemporary art, and arts of Asia, Af ...

Planetarium in Newark, New Jersey, Dubai Children’s City, UAE, and

Thinktank, Birmingham Thinktank, Birmingham (formerly known as simply Thinktank) is a science museum in Birmingham, England. Opened in 2001, it is part of Birmingham Museums Trust and is located within the Millennium Point complex on Curzon Street, Digbeth. Hi ...

, UK, among other digital planetariums. It has been translated and versioned in

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...

and

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

. It is Distributed by E&S,

Spitz Spitz (derived from the German word ''spitz'' 'pointed') is a type of domestic dog characterized by long, thick, and often white fur, and pointed ears and muzzles. The tail often curls over the dog's back or droops. While all of the breeds rese ...

, Sky-Skan, and e-Planetarium. In 2010, the

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with 49,727 members a ...

(ALA) selected the Molecularium Kid's Site for inclusion to its Great Websites for Kids.

"Molecularium - Molecules to the MAX!"

"Molecules to the MAX!" is a 41-minute fully animated 3D

IMAX IMAX is a proprietary system of high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (approximately either 1.43:1 or 1.90:1) and steep stadium seating. Graeme F ...

film for the Giant Screen. The film re-imagines the characters and story developed for "Molecularium- Riding Snowflakes" for an older audience and a different medium. The film's simulations and rendering were partially computed at the

Computational Center for Nanotechnology Innovations The Center for Computational Innovations (CCI), (formerly the Computational Center for Nanotechnology Innovations) is a supercomputing center located at the Rensselaer Technology Park in Troy, New York, Troy, New York (state), New York. Motivation ...

. The film was produced by Nanotoon Entertainment and Developed at Rensselaer, with a gift from Curtis R. Priem, co-founder of

Nvidia Nvidia CorporationOfficially written as NVIDIA and stylized in its logo as VIDIA with the lowercase "n" the same height as the uppercase "VIDIA"; formerly stylized as VIDIA with a large italicized lowercase "n" on products from the mid 1990s to ...

corporation. The digital version of the film premiered at

EMPAC The Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) is a multi-venue arts center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, which opened on October 3, 2008. The building is named after Curtis Priem, co-founder ...

, in Troy, New York, on February 27, 2009. The

version premiered at the

Giant Screen Cinema Association In folklore, giants (from Ancient Greek: '' gigas'', cognate giga-) are beings of human-like appearance, but are at times prodigious in size and strength or bear an otherwise notable appearance. The word ''giant'' is first attested in 1297 fro ...

International Conference and Trade Show in Indianapolis, Indiana, on September 22, 2009. The IMAX 3D Premiere was at the GSCA Film Expo in Los Angeles on February 24, 2010. It is available in 2D & 3D for 15/70 and 8/70 large format film and in digital 3D. The film has been composed with Omnimax / IMAX Domes in mind. Molecules to the MAX! was nominated for Best Film Produced for the Giant Screen, Best Film for Lifelong Learning and Best Sound Design at the 2010 GSCA’s Achievement Awards. Molecules to the MAX! has shown at the National Museum of Natural Science (Taichung, Taiwan) Maloka Interactive Museum (Bogota, Colombia), The Scientific Center (Salmiya, Kuwait),

McWane Science Center The McWane Science Center (formerly known as the McWane Center) is a science museum and research archive located in downtown Birmingham, Alabama, United States. The state-of-the-art hands-on science center, aquarium, and 280-seat IMAX Dome Theater ...

(Birmingham, Alabama) Proctor's Theatre (Schenectady, New York) among others. It has been translated and versioned in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

and

. It is distributed to Giant Screen theaters by SK Films.

NanoSpace

In the spring of 2012, the Molecularium Project launched NanoSpace, an online molecular theme park. Visitors to NanoSpace learn scientific concepts with games, activities and movies. Areas within Nanospace include the Hall of Atoms and Molecules, H2O park (the

water cycle The water cycle, also known as the hydrologic cycle or the hydrological cycle, is a biogeochemical cycle that describes the continuous movement of water on, above and below the surface of the Earth. The mass of water on Earth remains fairly cons ...

), Sizes in the Universe ( scale and

scientific notation Scientific notation is a way of expressing numbers that are too large or too small (usually would result in a long string of digits) to be conveniently written in decimal form. It may be referred to as scientific form or standard index form, o ...

), Material Boulevard ( Materials Science), and DNA Land (

Molecular Biology Molecular biology is the branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecular basis of biological activity in and between cells, including biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactions. The study of chemical and physi ...

References

External links

* {{official website, http://www.molecularium.com/ Science education in the United States Computer animation Chemistry education Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute