Science Museum

A science museum and a science center is a museum devoted primarily to science. Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays objects related to natural history, paleontology, geology, industry and industrial machinery, etc. Modern trends in museology have broadened the range of issues and introduced many interactive exhibits. Many, if not most modern science museums - which is increasingly referred to themselves as "scientific centers" or "discovery centers" - that is also a lot of weight to technology. One of the main aspects of science are ignored in most museums is the history of the discipline. The pursuit of knowledge is full of trials and errors, but the science museums hardly ever recognize that human frailty and mistakes that go along with a story that lasts for centuries.

"... The public museum as understood today is a collection of specimens and other items of interest to the scholar, the man of science, and the most casual visitor, arranged and presented in accordance with the scientific method. In its original sense, "museum", the term meant a spot dedicated to the Muses - "a place where the mind of man could achieve a mood of aloofness above everyday affairs. '"- Technology Museum Jurassic, Introduction & History,

Since the Renaissance, many aristocrats collected curiosities for display to their friends. Universities and especially medical schools also maintained study collections of specimens for their students. Scientists and collectors appear finds in private offices of curiosities. Such collections were the predecessors of modern natural history museums. The Utrecht University Museum, among others, continues to display an extensive collection of 18th-century animals and humans "rare" in its original setting.

The first science museum was the Museo de Ciencias Naturales, Madrid, Spain. Opened in 1752, virtually disappeared during the regime of Franco, but then recovered and now works closely with the CSIC.

Another line in the genealogy of science museums came during the Industrial Revolution, with great national exhibits designed to highlight the triumphs of science and industry. For example, heavy exposure to Crystal Palace (1851) eventually led to the Science Museum in London.

In America, several of Natural History Societies was founded collections in the early 19th century, which became a museum. Notable was the first New England Museum of Natural History (now the Science Museum), opened in Boston in 1864. The Academy of Science of Saint Louis was founded in 1856 as the first scientific organization west of the Mississippi (although the organization for the management of scientific collections for decades an official museum is not created until the mid-20th century).

The modern interactive science museum seems to be pioneered by Deutsches Museum in Munich in the early 20th century. This museum had moving exhibits where visitors were encouraged to push buttons and levers work. The concept was taken to the U.S. from July Rosenwald, chairman of Sears, Roebuck and Company, who visited the Museum Deutsches Museum with young son in 1911. It was so-charmed by the experience that he decided to build a similar museum in the city of Chicago. Chicago Museum of Science and Industry opened in phases between 1933 and 1940.

In 1959 the Science Museum and Natural History (now the Saint Louis Science Center) was established officially by the Academy of Science of Saint Louis has many interactive exhibits of science and history.

In the mid-20th century, Frank Oppenheimer includes interactive exhibits on science Exploratorium in San Francisco. The Exploratorium disclosed details of their exhibits, published in "Cookbooks» that served as inspiration to other museums.

Opened in 1967, the Ontario Science Centre has continued the trend of featuring interactive exhibits, rather than just static displays. Most science centers have emulated it since then.

Four years after the Exploratorium opened its first OMNIMAX Theatre opened the Reuben H. Fleet theater and Science Center in San Diego's Balboa Park. The slope-Dome Theater Space doubled as a planetarium. The Science Center was an Exploratorium-style museum included as a small part of the complex. This combination of interactive science museum, planetarium and OMNIMAX theater, the standard that many major science museums follow today.

Since the taste of interactivity crossed the Atlantic Ocean, a massive Cite des Sciences et de l'Industrie in Paris opened in 1986, and smaller but no less influential national centers soon followed by Spain, Finland and Denmark. Their model is emulated around the world. However, the experimental nature of the time Oppenheimer has long since shifted to a standard view of science, favoring experimental models as a primary exempla. In the United Kingdom, the first interactive centers and opened in 1986 on a small scale, but the real boom of science centers has been fueled by its Lottery funding for projects to commemorate the millennium.

The mission of science centers and museums, modern range. But we are all united in positions that make science accessible and encourage the enthusiasm of discovery. An integral and dynamic part of the learning environment, promote research by the first "Eureka!" Moment for cutting edge research of today. However, the negative effects of science and technology, or the uneven development of different sectors are generally not explored.