Museum of Science, Boston, MA, USA

The mission of the Museum of Science, Boston is to stimulate interest in and further understanding of science and technology and their importance for individuals and for society.

The idea behind the Museum goes back to the establishment of the Boston Society of Natural History in 1830 and their opening the New England Museum of Natural History in 1864. After World War II the Museum moved to its current premises in the Science Park and officially opened as the new Museum of Science in 1951.

American Museum of Natural History, New York City, New York, USA

 The American Museum of Natural History was founded in 1869 - a full timeline of its growth and development can be found at their website. The Museum is located at 79th Street and Central Park West and is easily reached by public transportation with car parking also available.

Permanent Galleries

Audubon Gallery – The elegantly restored Audubon Gallery showcases original oil paintings, watercolors, and lithographs from the hand of John James Audubon and sons.

Adventure Science Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA

Established in 1944, the Children’s Museum of Nashville resided on 2nd Avenue South in downtown Nashville. World War II was coming to an end and the nation was beginning to look to the future. Sgt. John Ripley Forbes’ vision for Nashville’s future was focused on children. His enthusiasm for a children’s museum sparked some of the city’s most prominent and influential citizens, including the museum’s first president, Vernon Sharp, Jr. A lease on the old University of Nashville building was signed in November 1944, and on Oct. 30, 1945, the Children’s Museum of Nashville opened its doors to the public.

A.C. Gilbert’s Discovery Village, Salem, Oregon, USA

A.C. Gilbert’s Discovery Village is a different kind of children's museum, one where exploration, experimentation, and learning work hand in hand. Kids and adults alike will enjoy interactive exhibits at a place where playing is essential to learning. We encourage you to visit, explore, and enjoy a day in Riverfront Park at a truly unique museum in Salem, Oregon.

Physics of Toys Introduction:

Why are roller coasters exciting? Why do dominoes fall down? Why is a slinky so fun to watch? The answer is physics!

This curriculum allows both upper elementary and middle school students to conduct experiments with marbles, dominoes, slinkys and tops while exploring such concepts as gravity, inertia, kinetic and potential energy. Each of the ten one-hour lessons (or "Days") in this curriculum explains and demonstrates one or more physics concepts. Enhance your instruction even further by visiting A.C. Gilbert's Discovery Village and exploring in the LaBallatory exhibit, which was the inspiration for this hands-on physics curriculum.

Who Was A.C. Gilbert?

After graduating from Yale with a degree in medicine and earning an Olympic gold medal in the pole vault, A.C. Gilbert created the Erector Set, an engineering toy that enabled a young child to build such items as Ferris wheels and bridges. He later marketed a variety of other educational toys ranging from American Flyer trains to Mysto Magic sets, chemistry and telegraph sets. With his toys, Gilbert hoped to combine fun with an understanding and appreciation of science. Gilbert realized that a child needed playthings that would encourage creative expression and satisfy a natural curiosity about the world.

A.C. Gilbert was born in Salem, OR on February 15th, 1884. Today, his uncle's Victorian home, the A.C. Gilbert House, is one of three structures that house our museum's exhibits. A display of vintage Gilbert toys and inventions along with an exhibit chronicling his exciting life is located in the Parrish House. At the end of his life, A.C. Gilbert held 150 patents for his inventions. This creative genius that believed that "playing is essential to learning," serves as a wonderful inspiration and namesake for our hands-on, interactive museum.

Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum, Chicago, Illinois, USA

The Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum.
Inspiring the Next Generation of Explorers.

Permanent Exhibitions include:

Atwood Sphere, Chicago's oldest planetarium, was constructed in 1913. The sphere is 15 feet in diameter with 692 holes drilled through its metal surface, allowing light to enter and show the positions of the brightest stars in the night sky.

Bringing the Heavens to Earth. Steer by the stars as a Polynesian navigator, plant potatoes by the Pleiades as they do in the Andes, send an Egyptian pharaoh to his celestial destiny and look at the moon and Jupiter to determine your fate as an Assyrian king.

CyberSpace is the future of museum going experiences. It features computer-based interactive exhibits, VisionStations providing realistic immersive experiences of the Universe, a CyberClassroom for up to date information on current Astronomy and a Cyberstudio for interactive video conferencing.

From The Night Sky To The Big Bang. Located in the Pritzker Cosmology Gallery, the exhibit traces the changing views of the cosmos and highlights 1,000 years of astronomical discovery.

The Milky Way Galaxy exhibition introduces visitors to the wonders of our home galaxy and acquaints them with our dynamic and evolving Milky Way Galaxy. Located in the gallery is The Dynamic Gallery Theater.

Shoot for the Moon at the Adler Planetarium! This new permanent exhibition highlights the exciting stories of space exploration and America's bold plans to return to the Moon.

The Doane Observatory at the Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum is home to the largest aperture telescope available to the public in the Chicago area.

Plus the Defini Space Theatre, the Sky Theatre and Universe Theatre provide hours of immersive experiences.

Details on how to get there, opening times, prices and discounts see the Adler Planetarium Plan a Visit page.

The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

The Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia was founded in 1812 "for the encouragement and cultivation of the sciences, and the advancement of useful learning." The Academy opened to the public in 1828 and rapidly expanded until in 1876 it moved to its current premises and became established as a modern museum.

Permanent exhibits include Live Butterflies, Dinosaur Hall, a children's museum and habitats from three continents. The current temporary exhibition is Gregor Mendel, Planting the Seeds of Genetics. See their website for current events and activities. The Academy also has online exhibitions.

Very Large Array, New Mexico, USA

The Very Large Array (VLA) is located near Socorro, south of Albuquerque, New Mexico. The visitor centre is open daily from morning to dusk.

The VLA is one of the world's main astronomical radio telescopes, consisting of 27 antennas in a Y-shaped configuration. The antennas can be moved, so that at their largest extension they simulate one radio telescope with a diameter of 36 km. This allows for maximum magnification. At the other extreme they can be arranged into a 1 km diameter array, which gives a lower magnification but can image a broader field of view of the heavens.

The VLA is obviously mainly used by astronomers, but has also been used to study weather patterns and to track satellites.




Image courtesy of NRAO/AUI

Trinity, New Mexico, USA

This must rank up there as the most bizarre holiday destination in the world.

Trinity is the location of the first nuclear test by the Manhattan Project. The world's first plutonium bomb was detonated there on 16 July 1945 - similar to the one dropped on Nagasaki. The site is now part of the White Sands Missile Range, and unbelievably is open to the public.

Well, almost open to the public! The nuclear tourist can visit Trinity on two days of the year; on the first Saturday in April and October. The next visitor day is thus the 4th October 2008. Note also that these days coincide with guided tours at the Very Large Array nearby.

What will you see? Well, this is New Mexico, so... desert mostly. There is a monument at Ground Zero and visitors have access to McDonald farm where the Gadget (as it was called) was assembled. Apart from that, this is a military zone, so although there are some concessionary food stalls so you don't wilt in the heat, there are not many tourist comforts.

What you won't see is that radiation levels are still 10 times higher than background radiation. This reminds me of Stalker, the novel by Stanislaw Lem and the film by Andrei Tarkovsky.

How to get there? The nearest major airport is Albuquerque, from which you could drive to the entrance known as Stallion Gate. Alternatively, you can have a military escort from the town of Alamogordo (about 200 miles from Albuquerque), which leaves at 8am promptly.

There is a great sign around the site,"The use of eating, drinking, chewing and smoking materials and the application of cosmetics is prohibited within this fenced area."

Actually, alpha and beta emitters can do more damage from inside the body than from outside.

[Copy of my original Xombyte]