Science, Technology, Natural History Museums? 435
beadfulthings writes "An unexpected windfall has enabled my husband and me to plan a road trip next year. He's expressed a wish to visit some good science, technology, and natural history museums along the way. Of course it's easy to obtain a long list of them via Google, but I'd like some insight and input. What does your area or city in the US or Canada have in the way of science museums? Are they worth traveling to visit? Do you have any particular favorite exhibits or 'must see' recommendations? This man was brought up in Philadelphia and apparently spent most of his boyhood and adolescence at the Franklin Institute and its Fels Planetarium, so I guess that would be his 'gold standard.' I grew up going to the Smithsonian. Any area of science, math, technology, natural history, or even industrial stuff would be fair game. I think we'll probably want to miss out on the 'creation science' stuff."
Indy Children's Museum (Score:4, Interesting)
Yes it's a "Kids" museum, but if you like anything hands on, it's awesome. Even to a 25 year old BSME.
http://www.childrensmuseum.org/ [childrensmuseum.org]
That and the museums in Chicago.
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I was just about to suggest the Adler Planetarium in Chicago.
Bachelors in science and math education, I think.
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I was just about to suggest the Adler Planetarium in Chicago.
That, and the view of the city from Adler Planetarium is one of the two best views of Lake Michigan and Chicago (the other being from the Signature Lounge on the 95th floor of the John Hancock Tower). You can park in the Field's Museum Lot, and then stroll down to Adler Planetarium, where you can literally sit on the perch along Lake Michigan and see the entire coast and skyline of Chicago curving around the horizon. It's really beautiful; plus points for dawn and sunset.
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My guess would be Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering.
If Portland, OR is on the route, you gotta go to OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry).
I like planetariums (planetaria?) too.
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It seems like ALL science museums are children's museums. Go to their websites and look at all the stock art pictures of six-year-olds. There is not much entertaining or educating to a scientifically trained adult except IMAX movies. The only thing I found interesting in the local museum was the sparse actual 'museum' part that had some early prototypes from Edison's lab. Otherwise everything is child-oriented, and not even that scientific, just a kindergarten with bubble wands and blocks, and if you are lu
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I grew up in Indiana and I can wholeheartedly recommend the Indy Children's Museum as well as the Chicago ones (the Field Museum / Adler Planetarium / Shedd Aquarium / Museum of Science and Industry).
Re:Indy Children's Museum (Score:5, Interesting)
The Indianapolis Children's museum is weak for both children and adults compared to either St. Louis or Toronto. Indianapolis is comparable to CoSci in Columbus OH.
My family and I love zoos and museums. Our annual family vacations have included museums/zoos all over North America and the U.K. over 20+ years.
The St. Louis Science Center is free and very good. The Ontario Science Centre in Toronto is the best science museum in the world; it takes 3 days to see everything. I particularly like the perpetual motion machines. They have exhibits of machines that inventors claim exhibit perpetual motion - it's a puzzle for you to figure out the trick to each one... where it gets its energy. I love to listen to the school kids on tours theorize how each machine works and debate with each other. It is great to hear 14 year olds talk about laws of thermodynamics or the Venturi effect. IIRC, one really tricky one works based on the surface tension of soap bubbles, but you eventually have to blow more bubbles ;)
The Air Force museum in Dayton Ohio is bigger and better than the Smithsonian Air & Space museum. At the Smithsonian, the exhibits hang from the ceiling out of reach. At The AF museum, you can touch the airplane that bombed Nagasaki, stick your head in a Gemini capsule that orbited Earth, climb into the bomb bay of a B-29, hand turn a Nazi jet engine prototype, view the Red Baron's medals, kick the tiers of fighter jets, etc.
The Field Museum in Chicago is fairly good, but the Natural History Museum in London U.K. is the best in the world. The London Transport Museum is also great.
St. Louis, Minneapolis/St. paul, and San Diego have the best zoos, but Indianapolis has a nice zoo too. I have recently been to zoos in Cleveland, Columbus, Detroit, Cincinnati, Toronto, Wheeling, and Des Moines. All were nice in their special ways but not great.
I have never seen a planetarium that impressed me, but I'll keep looking.
ASTC (Score:3, Informative)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_of_Science-Technology_Centers [wikipedia.org]
Get a membership at one of the science centers that is part of ASTC (most of them in NA seem to be) and you can get free admission in essentially all of the other ASTC member institutions via their "passport program". The ASTC also lists their members:
http://www.astc.org/members/passlist_about.htm [astc.org]
Re:Indy Children's Museum (Score:5, Funny)
Bi-Sexual Microsoft Expert.
What? I won't tell, promise. Your secret is safe with me. :P
Pirates!! (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Pirates!! (Score:5, Funny)
Chicago. (Score:5, Informative)
Chicago Museum of Science and Industry (Score:5, Informative)
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> The field museum in Chicago has an exhibit on Pirates (the old-fashioned kind). It's arrr-some. Go there.
Fixed that for you.
Air & Space Museum (Score:2, Informative)
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It's probably very different now. I better find out wha
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If you go to DC, head out to the airport -- Air & Space has another branch of the museum with the Enterprise, an F-35, and a half-dozen other prizes that you don't see scattered elsewhere around the country.
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The Henry Ford (Score:5, Informative)
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Miss read that as Henry Jones and was thinking how odd it is that there is a museum made after a fictional character...
Re:The Henry Ford (Score:5, Informative)
Yep, agreed on that recommendation. It's a bit old-fashioned in places: some of it's just big collections of stuff without much explanation. But that can be fun too (and it's not all that way.)
And the adjoining Greenfield Village has tons of technological history. Last time I was there I got a kick out of seeing a Jacquard Loom they were in the process of renovating. (And the guy there with it was knowledgeable and interesting.)
Sounds like you probably already know the Smithsonian, but: I always take people to the National Building Museum. Neat, fun place, and easy for tourists to overlook.
Balboa Park (Score:2)
RandomDude (Score:2, Insightful)
Washington DC: Holocaust Museum, Smithsonian
Cambridge: MIT museum is really interesting. They have a 12 ft slide rule, and some other curiosities
New York: Natural history museum is really good
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I don't think the Holocaust Museum counts as either science, technology, or natural history.
However, to add another to this list which also doesn't strictly fit that requirement, I'd add the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC. Despite the name, it's really more of an anthropology museum, with some fantastic ancient Egyptian and ancient Greek exhibits and artifacts.
I'd also add the Star Trek exhibit in Las Vegas, but they closed that and it's now on tour. :-)
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While you're in Cambridge, hit the Harvard Museum of Natural History, Boston Children's Museum, and Museum of Science.
Boston (Score:3, Informative)
I've always been a fan of the huge Van de Graaf generator in the Boston Science Museum. Also they may have a display of flayed people there - I don't remember.
Kansas (Score:2)
I think we'll probably want to miss out on the 'creation science' stuff
really? i'd think that would be most fun, besides being a wonderful exercise in critical thinking. i'm not an advocate of 'creation science' but to see what their view of the zoological world is would be very interesting.
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You can read all about that crap online, without wasting lots of money, time, and fuel on a physical trip. Slashdot has already had articles on it, showing photos of their stupid exhibits showing humans and dinosaurs living together, etc.
A trip to Roswell, NM, to the UFO Museum would be more fun and interesting, and probably more realistic and probable too.
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Worst case scenario, you get a barrel of laughs.
Re:Kansas (Score:5, Insightful)
to see what their view of the zoological world is would be very interesting.
Answer: God made it.
It's not all that interesting a viewpoint. My grandpa sent me a few books recently on evolution (after I stopped attending church last year), and the ways in which creationists try to use science to prove their points would be hilarious if it weren't so depressing. In a couple of the books people who clearly don't understand the difference between open/closed systems try to use the laws of thermodynamics to disprove evolution. It's pathetic. Life exists and evolves in a kind of battle against entropy sure, but it doesn't defy the laws of thermodynamics because the earth is getting new energy from Sol all the time. They also claim that evolution via random mutation is simply impossible, even though a scientist last year demonstrated that bacteria can evolve new traits from a series of presumably random mutations [newscientist.com]. I hope more people do as I have done and learn to just accept the truth (even if it means admitting a lot of their life thus far was based on a lie) rather than fighting a worthless battle against it.
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I'm not sure if you're trolling, but in case you're one of those people trapped in a religious school that pretends to teach biology (and I'm gonna ignore at least three major factual errors in your biological diatribe, because I wanna talk theology with you anyways.)
The problem with YEC types is that they aren't giving God the benefit of the doubt. And they're ignoring the awe-inspirin
Speaking of Kansas... an excellent museum there (Score:2)
The Geek Atlas (Score:5, Informative)
Check out The Geek Atlas [geekatlas.com] by John Graham-Cumming.
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Also http://engineer.openguides.org/ [openguides.org]
Udvar-Hazy (Score:3, Informative)
American Museum of Natural History (Score:3, Informative)
Smithsonian Udvar-Hazy Center (Score:2)
The Udvar-Hazy Center (Smithsonian Air & Space Annex) is a must see if you're near DC. http://www.nasm.si.edu/UdvarHazy/ [si.edu]
Attractions include a space shuttle, a Concorde, an SR-71 Blackbird and hundreds of other aircraft, spacecraft, missiles, engines and so on. Also has a 6-story IMAX.
SciTrek in Atlanta used to be a winner but I hear they closed.
The U of Hawaii telescope at the top of Mauna Kea in Hawaii is a neat thing to go see, but it is only rarely open to the public so schedule carefully. Plus how m
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If you're into aviation, and on the West Coast, don't miss the Pima Air & Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona. It also sports an SR-71 Blackbird, various fighters and bombers (mostly US, but a few Russian) including the entire "Century Series" (F-100 - F-110 I think), JFK's Air Force One plane, and lots of other unique and interesting airplanes.
You might want to wait until the fall or winter though, because it's mostly an outdoor museum, and it's really hot in AZ right now.
Best museums to see (Score:5, Informative)
Balboa Park [balboapark.org] in San Diego
Museum of Science and Industry [msichicago.org] in Chicago
Kennedy Space Center [kennedyspacecenter.com] in Florida
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I would recommend against going to the Kennedy Space Centre. It was very expensive to get in. The queues tended to be long, and exhibits were disappointing. The bus drivers were interesting to talk to though.
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Kennedy Space Center is a decent museum, but for the money, let me plug The Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center [cosmo.org] in Hutchinson, KS - they have THE best collection of Russian gear outside of Moscow, as well as a great deal of US gear.
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Griffith Observatory (Los Angeles).
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I'm Australian and I second the vote for the Kennedy Space Center. I went in 1998 as part of a coder's boot camp type arrangement after I joined a major consultancy as a graduate. We didn't get much time off. Everyone else in the team went to Epcot, Disney World, and NYC but I am so incredibly glad I took the opportunity to go. For my trouble I got to see a Saturn V rocket on it's side in stages (huge!) and a lunar lander module (tiny!). I don't know if they still have those displays or what it's like since
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The new California Academy of Sciences [calacademy.org] On the other hand, is awesome, my kids love it.
YUP (Score:2)
The Computer History Museum (USA) (Score:5, Informative)
Here is a link to the museum: http://www.computerhistory.org/ [computerhistory.org]
Enjoy your trip!
Todd
Computers, nukes, and pinball! (Score:5, Informative)
I second the Computer History Museum [computerhistory.org], Mountain View, California.
Everything from a working Difference Engine to the Crays and Connection Machines that we kids dreamed about in the 80s. A fully-functional PDP-1; it still plays Slug Russel's "Space War". Within an hour's drive of anywhere in the Bay Area.
I'll see your computers and raise you some nukes. Next time you're in Vegas for some trade show or conference, take a day and see the Atomic Testing Museum [atomictestingmuseum.org], Las Vegas, Nevada.
Thankfully, there's nothing fully-functional here, but there lots of fascinating artifacts nonetheless. Everything from Einstein's letter to Roosevelt, to bits and pieces of a NERVA nuclear rocket prototype, to engineers' notebooks filled with humorous mementos of projects they'd worked on, to Doc Edgerton's impossibly-fast cameras. Within a 10 minute cab ride from the Strip.
Although both museums have material suitable for laypeople and/or children, they're targeted primarily at adults with engineering backgrounds. Expect to spend at least 3 hours at each of 'em.
Nukes are pretty cool, but you can have a lot more fun with a bunch of used pinball machine parts. And everything is fully functional in the Pinball Hall of Fame [pinballmuseum.org]. Hey, you're already in Vegas -- flashing lights and wacky sounds are what it's all about. You won't need a DeLorean to go back in time, and it'll cost a lot less per hour than the blackjack tables.
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If you are into nukes, don't forget the The National Museum of Nuclear Science & History [nuclearmuseum.org]
Classic cars Auburn, Cord, Duesenburg are here. [automobilemuseum.org]
New York Hall of Science (Score:2)
New York Hall of Science
http://www.nyscience.org/exhibitions/explore_exhibitions [nyscience.org]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Hall_of_Science [wikipedia.org]
its on the old world's fair grounds seen in Men in Black. It is one of the few remaining structures from the worlds fair that is still in good repair.
Recomendations for the SE Michigan/Detroit area (Score:2, Informative)
Royal Ontario Museum (Score:2)
Benefit of going to the source (Score:2)
As I am ore interested in technology, I have visited NASA Houston and Cape Canaveral. Though the displays are often very kiddie centered, seeing the original mission control is worth the trip. As long one is in Houston, the Museum of Health is worth a trip, as well as the other 5-10 museums in the area. One of the best is the Me
If you're passing through Minnesota... (Score:3, Informative)
Then go see the Science Museum of Minnesota in Minneapolis [smm.org]. I've been there numerous times ever since I was a kid, all the way through adulthood. Loved it every time.
AMNH & Mutter (Score:2)
My two favorites are the American Museum of Natural History [amnh.org] in NYC and the Mutter Museum [collphyphil.org] in Philadelphia.
The AMNH is enormous; you could easily spend an entire day there, and you'd be hard-pressed to see everything in detail. It has the best dinosaur and primate sections I've ever seen.
The Mutter is just plain cool: a museum devoted to medical oddities, like the skeleton(s) of Cheng & Eng, the 'Siamese twins'. As a PhD-wielding developmental biologist and geneticist I was happy to see some medical infor
Washington D.C, NewYork, San Diego, Baltimore (Score:2)
Washington D.C. = Smithsonian Institution - Natural History Museum
NewYork = Can't remember, but good museums
San Diego = Balboa Park
Baltimore = Baltimore Aquarium
Aviation/Space (Score:2)
Liberty Science Center in Jersey is pretty decent, and has the advantage of being right near the Statue so you can do that too.
If you're aviation/space types, I recommend the Air Force Museum in Ohio.
http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/exhibits/ [af.mil]
There's also the NASA sites - Houston and Canaveral both have extensive places to walk around and see things.
Also in the NY/NJ area... (Score:2)
I would highly recommend the Cradle of Aviation Museum on Long Island. Lots of early aircraft (the museum is on the site of the old Roosevelt Field where Lindbergh took off from), and extensive artifacts from LI aerospace manufacturers, including 2 Apollo lunar modules donated by Grumman.
http://www.cradleofaviation.org/ [cradleofaviation.org]
OMSI (Score:2)
The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry [omsi.org] is incredible. I go there every time I visit Portland. I put it ahead of any technology museums in the surrounding states, including my native California.
Cincinnati's Union Terminal! (Score:2)
Maybe it's because I grew up there, but I've always had a soft spot for Cincinnati's Union Terminal. It's a collection of museums: they have a Children's Museum in the basement (lots of fun with balls, water, and a nice big tree-like playground thingy), a Cincinnati Historical Society Museum (starts with a giant miniature recreation of Cincinnati, lots of WWII history, and includes a full-size recreation of Cincinnati's steamboat days), and a Natural History Museum (some very excellent versions of pretty st
San Antonio and Denver (Score:2)
If you pass San Antonio, visit the Witte Museum. They tend to get the major touring exhibits (the plastinated Human Body exhibits, animatronic dinosaurs, Egyptian artifacts/mummies).
If you pass Denver, stop by their natural history museum (and their zoo too, if you have the time). I was only there for a week on business once, but made it a point to visit both. It was well worth it.
I used to work at the Franklin Institute (Score:2)
Information Age exhibit (Score:2)
I have no idea if its still there, but the American History Museum in DC had an Information Age exhibit that was there for at least 8 years... started with an exhibit where you could speak over the actual wire Bell used for his first phone, through pieces of eniac, other huge bohemoth computers, an Enigma (cipher machine from WWII), A TRS-80 Model 1, An Apple I, through modern computers, and ending ith HDTV exhibit (before HDTV was commonly available). I loved that exhibit.
Technology? (Score:2)
In the Okla. City area there is (Score:2)
Sam Noble Museum of Natural History [ou.edu] in Norman (OU Campus)
The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum [cowboyhalloffame.org]
The Oklahoma City National Memorial [slashdot.org] and museum about bombing
45th Infantry Division Museum [slashdot.org] - lots of good WWII stuff
Oklahoma Railway Museum [slashdot.org] if you like old trains, and
The Red Earth Museum [slashdot.org] with Native American traditional and contemporary culture and arts
There's more, just use google maps!
Come on by! Bring money and spend it!
Museum Crawl tip - Become a member (Score:2)
Many science and technology museums belong to an organization that allows for discounts on admissions for all the museums. Frequently making entry free.
The Franklin Institute isn't what it used to be (Score:2)
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If the Franklin has gone downhill, then either it used to be darned good or maybe it was just recently. I was at the Franklin not too many years ago... well... time does seem to zip by.... I suppose it must have been on the order of 5 years though it still seems recent. I recall being quite impressed by it. Before reading the above post, I was going to post and say that the Franklin sets a pretty high standard.
Lots of good recommendations elsewhere in the thread. All I can do is second some of them, includi
Go to Dayton, Ohio (Score:2)
Also while in Dayton, check out the Wright Brother's Bicycle Shop!
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***Also while in Dayton, check out the Wright Brother's Bicycle Shop!***
There were about six Wright bicycle shops over the years. The final one where they built their aircraft prototypes was moved to Greenfield Village near Detroit sometime in the 1930s.
a book and a recommendation (Score:2)
The Boingboing discussion of "Geek Atlas: 128 nerdy must-sees and an education in science, technology and geek history" [boingboing.net] describes a good reference.
I can recommend the The American Museum of Radio and Electricity [www.amre.us] in Bellingham, Washington. My daughter and I dropped by for an hour and found ourselves staying until closing time.
Deutsches Museum in Munich? (Score:4, Interesting)
You didn't specify continent, so:
http://www.deutsches-museum.de/ [deutsches-museum.de]
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You didn't specify continent, so:
http://www.deutsches-museum.de/ [deutsches-museum.de]
Great choice of museum. Does it have a geography section? If so, try looking up if the specified locations of "US and Canada" might imply a continent in some way.
Oh wait, maybe you mean Munich, North Dakota?
Chicago (Score:3, Informative)
Exposition Park (Score:2)
Can you make it to Hawaii? (Score:2)
If you can find your way to Hilo, on the Big Island of Hawaii, we have:
- 'Imiloa Astronomy Center of Hawaii - first planetarium in the world to have full-dome 3D projection. It's a bit of an unusual place as the exhibit space deals both with astronomy and Hawaiian culture (yes, the signage is bilingual.)
- Mauna Kea Observatories and the Ellison Onizuka Center for International Astronomy's visitor station - rent a 4WD and catch a free tour of something extremely large and shiny. Weekends, it's the 10-meter
Big frikin' lasers! (Score:2)
Define "Along the way" (Score:2)
The submitter didn't tell us what the intended route for the road trip was, so that makes it kind of hard to suggest what might be along the way.
For example, if you are going to go through Idaho, you should see EBR-1 [wikipedia.org], the first breeder reactor and the first reactor to make electrical power.
If you are passing through Oklahoma City, you'd likely want to stop off at the Omniplex [omniplex.org].
If you are passing through Socorro, NM, you'd need to see The Very Large Array [nrao.edu].
How about you give us a bit of an idea of the route yo
In Arizona... (Score:2, Informative)
If you are going to San Fransisco (Score:4, Informative)
wear flowers in your hair, and visit:
Exploratorium. This is the original hands on museum.
The Golden Gate Park: Strybing Arboretum, Beautiful, stunning diversity, reminder of what that giant ball in the sky is for... oh and, ummm.... Biological Studies.
California Academy of Science is nice too, as is the DeYoung.
Over the bridge in Berkley is the Lawrence Hall of Science. I remember spending a little time with Liza there on a Pdp-11!
Chabot Space and Science Observatory is a great little place to study the stars.
Shockly's Semiconductor Labratory is also nearby: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shockley_Semiconductor_Laboratory [wikipedia.org]. Not much to see, but Palo Alto is a mecca of technology.
and of course, the Computer History Museum.
http://www.computerhistory.org/about/ [computerhistory.org]
WPAFB Dayton OH (Score:2)
Wright-Patterson air force base museum in Dayton OH is great!
Growing up we used to visit the museum 2 or 3 times a year. There is lots and lots of information. There is everything from the history of flight to the latest fighters. You can see the planes, read the history, touch and walk around the planes and jets. There are explanations of the technology from the wright brothers through the stealth planes.
Did you know that we refuel helocopters mid flight?! Have you see an atomic bomb? A B-52? A retir
My list (Score:2)
Chicago, IL
Museum of Science and Industry - U505, captured by Dan Gallery's jeep carrier on the high seas in the Atlantic during WWII. A full size Boeing aircraft (727?), coal mine, and more. Plus it's free on Thursdays (or was in 98. A number of Chicago museums have a free day each week) Take time to walk around teh U of C next door - birthplace of the atom bomb, and a few good free museums on campus. Plus the Robie House (Frank Loyd Wright - if you really liek architecture
If you end up in New Mexico... (Score:2)
Plan your drive around the missile test schedule http://www.wsmr.army.mil/wsmr.asp?pg=y&page=202 [army.mil]
The drive out to the VLA is worth it to see the telescopes, though there's not much in the way of a museum there. http://www.vla.nrao.edu/ [nrao.edu]
I've also heard good things about lanl's Bradbury Museum, but I've never been there. http://www.lanl.gov/mu [lanl.gov]
I'm a museum professional... (Score:3, Informative)
...and I've been building exhibits for science museums for the past 25 years. In my experience, the following are the best in the U.S.:
Liberty Science Center, Newark, NJ
Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, IL
Indianapolis Children's Museum, Indianapolis, IN
Science Center of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (don't miss the Museum of Questionable Medical Devices!)
St. Louis Science Center, St. Louis, MO
OMSI, Portland, OR
Reuben H. Fleet Center, San Diego, CA
California ScienCenter, Los Angeles, CA
And when you're in L.A., don't miss the Museum Of Jurassic Technology. Absolutely fascinating.
Museum of Nature, Ottawa, Canada (Score:3, Informative)
After renovating (I kid you not) they've lumped everything together in a horrible assortment of ice age animals, dinosaurs, mammals, etc... in a set of adjoining open ceiling rooms. There's no atmosphere (everything is bright white with phosphorescent lighting) and the science is certainly gone. I've tried to look into what idiot designed the new layout and I was certain I would find some slack-jawed creationist being responsible but no luck.
Anyway, this is just me venting and telling people not to waste their time on this travesty. However, the three museums of war, aviation and civilization in the Ottawa area are fantastic!
Re:Huh? (Score:5, Funny)
They even have a museum of people who used to go to museums. Make sure you're out before closing time.
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Another vote for Deutsches Museum. Awesome place - easily a two day trip by itself.
I have a photo of me standing inside the core of a CRAY-1, and another standing next to the operator console of a System 360.
Check their operating times before going -- if I recall correctly, they tend to close on religious holidays (ehh, Bavaria!)
Chip H.
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Fantastic museum, and almost worth the airfare. I did not get nearly enough time there.
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-Boeing Museum in Seattle http://www.museumofflight.org/ [museumofflight.org]
Fairly small, but has a lot of early pioneer planes hanging there.
What?
The Boeing Factory tour in Everett is the biggest building in the world. It can hold Disneyland and still leave 12 acres for parking.
It is an absolute must-see tour if you have any interest at all in science or technology. They are assembling AIRPLANES in front of you and they are doing it on an assembly line. No stories I have ever seen or heard showed me the raw power of the United States like that tour. (I'm Canadian) I won't spoil it for you, though. You've got to fill in the blanks yourself.
The we
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No, this is Slashdot. I didn't even read your reply, I'm just guessing about what you wrote.
Re:Creation Museum (Petersburg, KY) (Score:4, Insightful)
they have some really good exhibits showing documented evidence which supports the Creationist view.
What? There's evidence that a superbeing created the universe? If that were indeed true, the discover(s) would be a shoe-in for a Nobel Prize.
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they have some really good exhibits showing documented evidence which supports the Creationist view.
Unless you're actually claiming that there's evidence that snakes didn't have venom until a few thousand years ago:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/scalzi/1970009866/in/set-72157603091357751/
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As for me? I expose myself to every input, at every venue I possibly can. Whether I disagree with the source is another matter, but *ignoring* the source is tantamount to saying that "I have made up my mind, and I believe your opinions are of utter disinterest."
It is perfectly ok to make up your mind at some point, and once you realize that creationism is meaningless drivel you really don't need to expose yourself to it again and again and again in the faint hope that it might all somehow make sense one day. Isn't that the definition of madness, doing the same thing over and over again in the hope of a different outcome?
Besides, you go on a roadtrip to have fun, not to be subjected to endless fundamentalist stupidity. I'd say skipping creationism-oriented museums
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That's a ridiculous argument.
In my 43 years I've never believed in a god or gods. (My parents must have raised me properly!) Would my time be better spent going to a museum/science exhibition to learn something or going to churches, synagogues, mosques, cult retreats, etc. to have supernatural woo-woo fed to me?
Going to the religious bits wouldn't make me a "bigger man", it'd make me a "man wasting his time".
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It's from Futurama:
[after being kicked out of a theme park]
Bender: Yeah, well... I'm gonna go build my own theme park, with blackjack and hookers. In fact, forget the park!
[after being kicked out of the lunar lander]
Bender: Oh, no room for Bender, huh? Fine! I'll go build my own lunar lander, with blackjack and hookers. In fact, forget the lunar lander and the blackjack. Ahh, screw the whole thing!
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And as long as you're in Canada, why not head east to the Musée de la Civilisation [mcq.org] in Québec? They have a temporary exhibit (until Sep 27) on extraterrestrials, which starts with movie aliens & robots, then on to odd terran life forms, and finally to a couple of speculative "planets" whose biota has been worked on by sf writers & exobiologists. There's another one (until Apr 4) on mummies that really goes into both the science and the anthropology. Then there are the historical exhibit
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Agreed. I used to hear about the whale, and I was like "great, it's a life-sized model of a blue whale. I get it. It's big. Why is that so exciting?"
Then, of course, I walked into the room, and as soon as I could pick my jaw up off of the ground, I said "holy fuck". I hope I said it quietly enough that the little kids around me couldn't hear, but that was my reaction.
It is a life sized blue whale, and it is bigger than you can possibly imagine.