The Polytechnic Museum (russian: Политехнический музей) is one of the oldest
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 ...
s in the world and is located in
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
. It showcases
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
n and
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...
technology and science, as well as modern inventions. It was founded in 1872 after the first
All-Russian Technical Exhibition
The Society of Devotees of Natural Science, Anthropology, and Ethnography (OLEAE; russian: Императорское общество любителей естествознания, антропологии и этнографии (ОЛЕАЭ)) ...
on the bicentennial anniversary of the birth of
Peter the Great
Peter I ( – ), most commonly known as Peter the Great,) or Pyotr Alekséyevich ( rus, Пётр Алексе́евич, p=ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ, , group=pron was a Russian monarch who ruled the Tsardom of Russia from t ...
at the initiative of the
.
[Polytechnic Museum]
History
/ref> The first stage of the museum was designed by Ippolit Monighetti and completed in 1877.[ The north wing was added in 1896 and the south wing in 1907.
The Polytechnic Museum is the largest technical museum in Russia, and houses a wide range of historical inventions and technological achievements, including humanoid automata of the 18th century, and the first Soviet computers. The collection contains over 160,000 items in 65 halls including, ]chemistry
Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...
, mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...
, metallurgy
Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys.
Metallurgy encompasses both the sc ...
, transport
Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land (rail and road), water, cable, pipeline, an ...
, energy
In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of heat a ...
, optics
Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behaviour of visible, ultraviole ...
, automation
Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, namely by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machines ...
, computer engineering
Computer engineering (CoE or CpE) is a branch of electrical engineering and computer science that integrates several fields of computer science and electronic engineering required to develop computer hardware and software. Computer engineers ...
, radio electronics
Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...
, communications
Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inquir ...
, and space exploration
Space exploration is the use of astronomy and space technology to explore outer space. While the exploration of space is carried out mainly by astronomers with telescopes, its physical exploration though is conducted both by robotic spacec ...
. Highlights include the first achromatic telescope; an early solar microscope by German anatomists Johann Nathanael Lieberkühn; an early seismograph by Boris Borisovich Galitzine
Prince Boris Borisovich Golitsyn ( – ) was a prominent Russian physicist who invented the first electromagnetic seismograph in 1906. He was one of the founders of modern Seismology. In 1911 he was chosen to be the president of the Intern ...
; galvanoplastics by Moritz von Jacobi
Moritz Hermann or Boris Semyonovich (von) Jacobi (russian: Борис Семёнович Якоби; 21 September 1801, Potsdam – 10 March 1874, Saint Petersburg) was a Prussian and Russian Imperial engineer and physicist of Jewish descent. Jac ...
; and early electric lights by Pavel Yablochkov
Pavel Nikolayevich Yablochkov (also transliterated as Jablochkoff; russian: Павел Николаевич Яблочков) ( – ) was a Russian electrical engineer, businessman and the inventor of the Yablochkov candle (a type of electric ...
.
History
The Society of Devotees of Natural Science was formed in Moscow in 1863. The society's first President was Gregory Ephimovich Shchurovsky and he together with other leading members of the society discussed having a museum. Their first move in this direction was to establish a library this held books documenting the history of science and technology. This became the Central Polytechnic Library but this established their ambitions. In 1871 Moscow council set aside half a million roubles to create a museum. A committee was formed with Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich as an honorary chair. The formation of a museum was timely as Peter the Great
Peter I ( – ), most commonly known as Peter the Great,) or Pyotr Alekséyevich ( rus, Пётр Алексе́евич, p=ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ, , group=pron was a Russian monarch who ruled the Tsardom of Russia from t ...
's 200th anniversary would inspire the All-Russian Technical Exhibition
The Society of Devotees of Natural Science, Anthropology, and Ethnography (OLEAE; russian: Императорское общество любителей естествознания, антропологии и этнографии (ОЛЕАЭ)) ...
that would be used to launch the new museum.[The Polytechnical Museum opened in Moscow]
Presidential Library, Retrieved 17 November 2015
Collections
As of January 1, 2013 the museum fund of the museum consisted of 229,348 items.
The collection of computing equipment is the most comprehensive display in Russia and includes rare copyrights devices, such as automated abacus
The abacus (''plural'' abaci or abacuses), also called a counting frame, is a calculating tool which has been used since ancient times. It was used in the ancient Near East, Europe, China, and Russia, centuries before the adoption of the Hin ...
by Viktor Bunyakovsky
Viktor Yakovlevich Bunyakovsky (russian: Ви́ктор Я́ковлевич Буняко́вский, uk, Ві́ктор Я́кович Буняко́вський; , Bar, Ukraine, Bar, Podolia Governorate, Russian Empire – , St. Petersburg, R ...
, one of the first models of Odner's adding machine, the only surviving copy of the domestic computer "Ural", hydraulic integrator by Vladimir Lukyanov, the world's only computer based on ternary logic
In logic, a three-valued logic (also trinary logic, trivalent, ternary, or trilean, sometimes abbreviated 3VL) is any of several many-valued logic systems in which there are three truth values indicating ''true'', ''false'' and some indeterminat ...
, "Syetun" and many other rarities.
Modernization
On the basis of the decree of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, the Development Fund of the Polytechnic Museum held a tender for the development of the museum concept. As a result of a choice from 14 competitive bids provided by Russian and foreign companies specializing in museum design, British company Event Communications
Event Communications, or Event, is one of Europe's longest-established and largest museum and visitor attraction design firms; it is headquartered in London.
History
The firm was founded in 1986 by businesswoman Celestine ("Cel") Phelan and des ...
was selected.
Public lectures
In addition to its function as a museum, the Polytechnic Museum has been an important place for the dissemination of science and culture in Russian. From 1913 to 1918 it was the centre of discussions about Russian avant-garde, with public lectures given by Vladimir Mayakovsky
Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky (, ; rus, Влади́мир Влади́мирович Маяко́вский, , vlɐˈdʲimʲɪr vlɐˈdʲimʲɪrəvʲɪtɕ məjɪˈkofskʲɪj, Ru-Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky.ogg, links=y; – 14 Apr ...
, David Burlyuk, Andrei Bely
Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev ( rus, Бори́с Никола́евич Буга́ев, p=bɐˈrʲis nʲɪkɐˈlajɪvʲɪtɕ bʊˈɡajɪf, a=Boris Nikolayevich Bugayev.ru.vorb.oga), better known by the pen name Andrei Bely or Biely ( rus, Андр ...
, Alexei Kruchenykh, Velimir Khlebnikov
Viktor Vladimirovich Khlebnikov, better known by the pen name Velimir Khlebnikov ( rus, Велими́р Хле́бников, p=vʲɪlʲɪˈmʲir ˈxlʲɛbnʲɪkəf; – 28 June 1922) was a Russian poet and playwright, a central part of th ...
. In the period of the Khrushchev thaw
The Khrushchev Thaw ( rus, хрущёвская о́ттепель, r=khrushchovskaya ottepel, p=xrʊˈɕːɵfskəjə ˈotʲ:ɪpʲɪlʲ or simply ''ottepel'')William Taubman, Khrushchev: The Man and His Era, London: Free Press, 2004 is the period ...
, its main auditorium was the place for public performances of Andrei Voznesensky
Andrei Andreyevich Voznesensky (russian: link=no, Андре́й Андре́евич Вознесе́нский, 12 May 1933 – 1 June 2010) was a Soviet and Russian poet and writer who had been referred to by Robert Lowell as "one of the ...
, Robert Rozhdestvensky
Robert Ivanovich Rozhdestvensky (russian: Ро́берт Ива́нович Рожде́ственский; 20 June 1932 – 19 August 1994) was a Soviet-Russian poet and Songwriter who broke with socialist realism in the 1950s–1960s during ...
and Bulat Okudzhava
Bulat Shalvovich Okudzhava (russian: link=no, Булат Шалвович Окуджава; ka, ბულატ ოკუჯავა; hy, Բուլատ Օկուջավա; May 9, 1924 – June 12, 1997) was a Soviet and Russian poet, writer, musici ...
. This was also a place for popular science lectures given by Élie Metchnikoff
Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov (russian: Илья Ильич Мечников; – 15 July 1916), also spelled Élie Metchnikoff, was a Russian zoologist best known for his pioneering research in immunology. Belkin, a Russian science historian, explain ...
, Alexander Fersman
Alexander Evgenyevich Fersman (; 8 November 1883 – 20 May 1945) was a prominent Soviet Russian geochemist and mineralogist, and a member of the Soviet Academy of Sciences (1919–1945).
Early life and education
Fersman was born in St. Peter ...
and Niels Bohr
Niels Henrik David Bohr (; 7 October 1885 – 18 November 1962) was a Danish physicist who made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum theory, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922. B ...
.About Public Lectures at the Polytechnical Museum (in Russian)
/ref>
References
External links
Polytechnic Museum
State Polytechnic Museum (Moscow)
— 3d model
{{authority control
Museums established in 1872
Cultural infrastructure completed in 1877
Museums in Moscow
Science museums in Russia
History of science museums
Technology museums in Russia
1872 establishments in the Russian Empire
Cultural heritage monuments of regional significance in Moscow