Ascience museum is amuseum devoted primarily toscience. Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays of objects related tonatural history,paleontology,geology,industry andindustrial machinery, etc. Modern trends inmuseology have broadened the range of subject matter and introduced manyinteractive exhibits. Modern science museums, increasingly referred to as "science centres" or "discovery centres", also featuretechnology.
While themission statements of science centres and modern museums may vary, they are commonly places that make science accessible and encourage the excitement of discovery.
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'.
As early as theRenaissance period,aristocrats collected curiosities for display. Universities, and in particularmedical schools, also maintained study collections of specimens for their students. Scientists and collectors displayed their finds in privatecabinets of curiosities. Such collections were the predecessors of modern natural history museums.
In 1683, the first purpose-built museum coveringnatural philosophy, theoriginal Ashmolean museum (now called the Museum of the History of Science) inOxford, England, was opened, although its scope was mixed.[clarification needed][1]
This was followed in 1752 by the first dedicated science museum, theMuseo de Ciencias Naturales, inMadrid, which almost did not surviveFrancoist Spain. Today, the museum works closely with theSpanish National Research Council (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas).[2]
The Utrecht University Museum, established in 1836, and the Netherlands' foremost research museum, displays an extensive collection of 18th-century animal and human "rarities" in its original setting.[3]
More science museums developed during theIndustrial Revolution, when great national exhibitions showcased the triumphs of both science and industry. An example is theGreat Exhibition in 1851 atThe Crystal Palace, London, England, surplus items from which contributed to theScience Museum, London, founded in 1857.
In the United States of America, various natural history Societies established collections in the early 19th century. These later evolved into museums. A notable example is the New England Museum of Natural History (now theMuseum of Science) which opened inBoston in 1864. Another was theAcademy of Science, St. Louis, founded in 1856, the first scientific organisation west of the Mississippi. Although the organisation managed scientific collections for several decades, a formal museum was not created until the mid-20th century.
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The modern interactive science museum appears to have been pioneered by Munich'sDeutsches Museum (German Museum of Masterpieces of Science and Technology) in the early 20th century. This museum had moving exhibits where visitors were encouraged to push buttons and work levers. The concept was taken to the United States byJulius Rosenwald, chairman ofSears, Roebuck and Company, who visited the Deutsches Museum with his young son in 1911. He was so captivated by the experience that he decided to build a similar museum in his home town.[4] TheAmpère Museum, close to Lyon, was created in 1931 and is the first interactive scientific museum in France. Chicago'sMuseum of Science and Industry opened in phases between 1933 and 1940.
In 1959, the Museum of Science and Natural History (now theSaint Louis Science Center) was formally created by the Academy of Science of Saint Louis, featuring many interactive science and history exhibits, and in August 1969,Frank Oppenheimer dedicated his newExploratorium inSan Francisco almost completely to interactive science exhibits, building on the experience by publishing "Cookbooks" that explain how to construct versions of the Exploratorium's exhibits.[5]
TheOntario Science Centre, which opened in September 1969, continued the trend of featuring interactive exhibits rather than static displays.
In 1973, the firstOmnimax cinema opened at theReuben H. Fleet Space Theater and Science Center in San Diego's Balboa Park. The tilted-dome Space Theater doubled as aplanetarium. The Science Centre was an exploratorium-style museum included as a small part of the complex. This combination of interactive science museum, planetarium and Omnimax theater pioneered a configuration that many major science museums now follow.
Also in 1973, theAssociation of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC) was founded as an international organisation to provide a collective voice, professional support, and programming opportunities for science centres, museums and related institutions.
The massiveCité des Sciences et de l'Industrie (City of Science and Industry) opened in Paris in 1986, and national centres soon followed in Denmark (Experimentarium),[6] Sweden (Tom Tits Experiment), Finland (Heureka), and Spain (Museu de les Ciencies Principe Felipe). In the United Kingdom, the first interactive centres also opened in 1986 on a modest scale, with further developments more than a decade later, funded by theNational Lottery for projects to celebrate theMillennium.
Since the 1990s, science museums and centres have been created or greatly expanded in Asia. Examples areThailand'sNational Science Museum andJapan's Minato Science Museum[7].
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Museums that brand themselves asscience centres emphasise a hands-on approach, featuring interactive exhibits that encourage visitors to experiment and explore.
Recently, there has been a push for science museums to be more involved in science communication and educating the public about the scientific process. Microbiologist and science communicatorNatalia Pasternak Taschner stated, "I believe that science museums can promote critical thinking, especially in teenagers and young adults, by teaching them about the scientific method and the process of science, and how by using this to develop knowledge and technology, we can be less wrong."[8]
Urania was a science centre founded inBerlin in 1888. Most of its exhibits were destroyed during World War II, as were those of a range of German technical museums.[9] The Academy of Science of Saint Louis (founded in 1856) created the Saint Louis Museum of Science and Natural History in 1959 (Saint Louis Science Center), but generally science centres are a product of the 1960s and later. In theUnited Kingdom, many were founded asMillennium projects, with funding from theNational Lotteries Fund.
The first "science centre" in the United States was theScience Center of Pinellas County, founded in 1959. ThePacific Science Center (one of the first large organisations to call itself a "science centre" rather than a museum), opened in aSeattle World's Fair building in 1962.
In 1969,Oppenheimer'sExploratorium opened inSan Francisco,California, and the Ontario Science Centre opened nearToronto,Ontario, Canada. By the early 1970s,COSI Columbus, then known as the Center of Science and Industry inColumbus, Ohio, had run its first "camp-in".
In 1983, theSmithsonian Institution invited visitors to the Discovery Room in the newly openedNational Museum of Natural HistoryMuseum Support Center inSuitland, Maryland, where they could touch and handle formerly off-limits specimens.[10]
The new-style museums banded together for mutual support. In 1971, 16 museum directors gathered to discuss the possibility of starting a new association; one more specifically tailored to their needs than the existing American Association of Museums (now theAmerican Alliance of Museums). As a result of this, theAssociation of Science-Technology Centers was formally established in 1973, headquartered in Washington DC, but with an international organisational membership.
The corresponding European organisation is Ecsite[11], and in the United Kingdom, the Association of Science and Discovery Centres represents the interests of over 60 major science engagement organisations.[12] TheAsia Pacific Network of Science and Technology Centres (ASPAC) is an association initiated in 1997 with over 50 members from 20 countries across Asia and Australia (2022). Their regional sister organisations are the Network for the Popularization of Science and Technology in Latin America and The Caribbean (RedPOP), the North Africa and Middle East science centres (NAMES), and the Southern African Association of Science and Technology Centres (SAASTEC). In India, theNational Council of Science Museums runs science centres at several places includingDelhi,Bhopal,Nagpur andRanchi. There are also a number of private Science Centres, including theBirla Science Museum and The Science Garage in Hyderabad.[13]
