The Museum of Science

The Museum of Science is a Boston, Massachusetts landmark, located in Science Park, just a T
stop before Lechmere, where the Green Line stops.
The Museum began as the Boston Society of Natural History in 1830, founded by a collection of
men who wished to share scientific interests. In essence, the museum began as a place where
these men could store and display skins and other trophies of their travels to Africa and Asia.
Today, a number of taxidermed specimens remain on display, much as they do at the American
Museum of Natural History in New York, as well as many other museums, teaching children
about the animals of New England and of the world. In 1864, after the Society had gone through
several temporary facilities, a building was purchased in the Back Bay area of the city and
dubbed the "New England Museum of Natural History." There it remained through World War II,
presumably growing and changing over the decades into more of a science museum and less of a
gentleman's club for safari trophies.
After the war, this building was sold, and the museum was reestablished under the name "Boston
Museum of Science". Under the leadership of Bradford Washburn, the Society negotiated with
the Metropolitan District Commission for a 99-year lease of the land now known as Science
Park. The Museum pays $1 a year to the state for use of the land. Construction and development
began in 1948, and the Museum opened in 1951, arguably the first all-encompassing science
museum in the country. In these first few years, the Museum developed a traveling planetarium,
a version of which is still brought to many elementary schools in the Greater Boston area every
year. They also obtained during these early years "Spooky," a great horned owl who became a
symbol or mascot of the Museum; he lived to age 38, the longest any great horned owl is known
to have lived.

Although most of the "The Computer Museum" was moved to Silicon Valley and forms the
current Computer History Museum, some exhibits and objects were transferred to the Boston
Museum of Science where two new computing and technology exhibits were created. One, The
Computing Revolution, relates the history of computing through a variety of hands-on interactive
exhibits, while the other, Cahners Computer Place, houses displays ranging from educational
video games to an interactive AIBO ERS-7 robotic dog.
The Museum of Science has also the possibility to be visited online using Facebook, Flickr and
Youtube, even if it would be better to visit it because has so many things to offer that a science
lover would probably go crazy.
One of the reasons that makes this place really interesting in my opinion is that, as a science
student, I had found in the museum one of the world's largest Van de Graaff generators, which is
a kind of lighting/thunder generator, and is amazing! Another reason is that everything offered in
the spirit that learning is exciting and fun, using for example shows and exhibits about many
subjects: geography (planetarium and 3d film about grand canyon), space(3d film about moon),
prehistory, new technologies (usually I.T.) or live presentations regarding alternative sources of

power or the origins of the universe.

Go and enjoy it!

Nicola Laurora 7B