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| Established | 1970 |
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| Location | 2500 West Broad Street, Richmond, Virginia |
| Coordinates | 37°33′40″N77°27′57″W / 37.56111°N 77.46583°W |
| Type | Science museum |
| Website | http://www.smv.org/ |
The Science Museum of Virginia is a science museum located in Richmond, Virginia. Established in 1970, it is an agency of the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is housed in the former Broad Street Station, built in 1917.
In 1906, the Virginia General Assembly approved funds for the construction of a simple "exhibits center" to display mineral and timber exhibits being assembled for the Jamestown Exposition of 1907. After the exposition ended, many of the items were moved to Richmond's Capitol Square. The "State Museum" as it came to be known opened in 1910, adding displays of natural historical specimens from a variety of state agencies to its collection over the years.
In 1942, the General Assembly created a study commission to consider establishing an official State science museum. That commission succeeded in endorsing the creation of a "Virginia Museum of Science" in 1943. The fiscal restraints and pressing concerns of World War II – and the recession which followed it – prevented the General Assembly from taking further action. In 1946, the General Assembly suspended work on a State science museum awaiting appropriate space and funds.
By 1964, the General Assembly resumed the project of a "State Museum". A new study was commissioned, and once again, the establishment of a "museum of science, archaeology, and natural history" was proposed, but this measure died in the committee. Shortly thereafter, the museum's displays and collections in the basement of the state's Financial Building were gradually disassembled and their collections were dispersed to various State universities.
However, the closing of the "State Museum" galvanized the state's scientific community, and between 1965 and 1967, the Virginia Academy of Sciences, led by Dr. Roscoe D. Hughes, vigorously lobbied Virginia's Governor Mills E. Godwin, to sponsor legislation in the General Assembly to finally establish the State Science Museum.
Enabling legislation was drafted and approved by the General Assembly, and on July 1, 1970, [1] the Science Museum of Virginia was established.
Over the next several years, the museum attempted to find an empty storefront, warehouse, or other space which could be used as a temporary home. Friends of the museum pressed the state to allow it to move into part of the old Broad Street Station, which had recently been purchased from the railroad company by the state and was destined for the wrecking ball. Broad Street Station was built by the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad (RF&P) in 1917 in the neoclassical style by the architect John Russell Pope. Although the station also served the trains of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad (ACL), the Norfolk and Western Railway (N&W), and eventually the Seaboard Air Line Railway (SAL), much of the stock of the RF&P was owned by the State of Virginia's Retirement System, dating to a period before the American Civil War when it was a major investment in Virginia's future. Broad Street Station was abandoned shortly after Amtrak started in Richmond in 1971. [2] The museum staff occupied Broad Street Station on January 22, 1976.
On January 6, 1977, Governor Godwin, in his second term, presided over the dedication of the Science Museum's first exhibit gallery, The Discovery Room. The event celebrated the fifty-eighth anniversary and rebirth of Broad Street Station and the culmination of over seventy years of effort to establish the Science Museum of Virginia.
A remodeled and greatly expanded Aquarium opened in 1981. That same year, the world's largest analemmic sundial, located in the museum's parking lot, was dedicated. It would later be listed in the Guinness Book of World Records .
In 1982 the museum introduced Crystal World, the largest and most comprehensive exhibit in the world on the subject of crystallography. Also introduced was the Solar Challenger, the world's first successful solar airplane, which had just completed a world tour to celebrate its first solar-powered flight from Paris to London.
In 1983 the museum dedicated its new Universe Planetarium & Space Theater, now called The Dome. The Theater's Evans & Sutherland Digistar planetarium projector was the world's first computer/video planetarium projection system and the first that could take visitors on simulated trips through both time and space. Its film projection system was only one of a handful around the world capable of showing 70 mm OMNIMAX films. [3] The theaters' sound system featured over one hundred individual speakers and generated enough power to simulate earthquakes and rocket lift-offs. The seventy-six-foot domed screen of the theater itself was then the world's largest. It is still the largest screen in Virginia to this day.
In 2003 the museum unveiled the Grand Kugel, the world's largest kugel ball at a cost of $1.5 million. The Grand Kugel was originally carved from an 86-ton block of South African black granite. It was 8 feet, 8.7 inches in diameter, and it floated on a base of granite. Shortly after installation, the Grand Kugel began to crack. The crack eventually spread through the sphere, rendering it unfloatable. A replacement kugel ball was installed in October 2005. The original kugel is still on display behind the museum. [4]
In the former train loading area which has been redeveloped, large static displays now include:
In 2014 the museum upgraded its five-story theater, The Dome, with a new digital projection system.
In 2016 the museum opened a new permanent exhibition, Speed, with an SR-71 Blackbird suspended from the ceiling. The Blackbird was relocated from the Virginia Aviation Museum near the Richmond International Airport. [5]
In 2017 the ambitious exhibition Da Vinci—Alive the Experience opened to the public. This travelling exhibition of the art and science of Leonardo da Vinci was developed by Grande Exhibitions in Australia, under the auspices of the Commune di Roma, Commune di Firenze and Citta di Venezia, with the assistance of Pascal Cotte of Lumiere Technology, France. [6]
In addition to the Broad Street location, the Danville Science Center in Danville, Virginia is affiliated with the Science Museum of Virginia. [7]
The South Carolina State Museum is a museum dedicated to the history of South Carolina. It has four floors of permanent and changing exhibits, a digital dome planetarium, 4D interactive theater, and an observatory. The State Museum is located along the banks of the Congaree River in downtown Columbia, South Carolina. It is the largest museum in the state, and is a Smithsonian Affiliate and part of the American Alliance of Museums. Positioned on an old shipping canal that dates back to pre-Civil War times, the museum is widely recognized as a resource for South Carolina history and lifestyle. The museum opened on October 29, 1988, and is housed in what it calls its largest artifact the former Columbia Mills Building, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. When the mill opened in 1894, manufacturing cotton duck cloth, it was the first completely electric textile mill in the world. It was also the first major industrial installation for the General Electric corporation. On certain levels of the museum, the original flooring has been kept intact, distinguishable by the textile brads and rings that became embedded in the floor while it was still being used as a mill. The South Carolina Confederate Relic Room & Military Museum is located within the Columbia Mills Building and is the oldest museum exhibit in Columbia.
The Museum of Science (MoS) is a science museum and indoor zoo in Boston, Massachusetts, located in Science Park, a plot of land spanning the Charles River. Along with over 700 interactive exhibits, the museum features a number of live presentations throughout the building every day, along with shows at the Charles Hayden Planetarium and the Mugar Omni Theater, the only domed IMAX screen in New England. The museum is also an accredited member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) and is home to over 100 animals, many of which have been rescued and rehabilitated.
The Carnegie Science Center is one of the four Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is located in the Chateau neighborhood. It is located across the street from Acrisure Stadium.
The Saint Louis Science Center, founded as a planetarium in 1963, is a collection of buildings including a science museum and planetarium in St. Louis, Missouri, on the southeastern corner of Forest Park. With over 750 exhibits in a complex of over 300,000 square feet (28,000 m2), it is among the largest of its type in the United States.
The Hong Kong Space Museum is a public astronomy and space science museum located in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong. Opened on 8 October 1980, it is managed by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department of the Hong Kong Government. The building is notable for its hemispherical shape, which contains a planetarium, the only one in Hong Kong. The main facilities of the museum are located in a building next to the planetarium, showcasing information about the Solar System, cosmology, and spaceflight.
COSI, officially the Center of Science and Industry, is a science museum and research center in Columbus, Ohio. COSI was opened to the public on 29 March 1964 and remained there for 35 years. In 1999, COSI was moved to a 320,000-square-foot (30,000 m2) facility, designed by Japanese architect Arata Isozaki along a bend in the Scioto River in the Franklinton neighborhood. COSI features more than 300 interactive exhibits throughout themed exhibition areas.
The Fleet Science Center is a science museum and planetarium in Balboa Park, located in San Diego, California. It is at the east end of the El Prado Drive walkway, next to the Bea Evenson Fountain and plaza in central Balboa Park.
Broad Street Station was a union railroad station in Richmond, Virginia, United States, across Broad Street from the Fan district. The building is now used by the Science Museum of Virginia.
The Houston Museum of Natural Science is a natural history museum located on the northern border of Hermann Park in Houston, Texas, United States. The museum was established in 1909 by the Houston Museum and Scientific Society, an organization whose goals were to provide a free institution for the people of Houston focusing on education and science. The museum complex consists of a central facility with four floors of natural science halls and exhibits, the Burke Baker Planetarium, the Cockrell Butterfly Center, and the Wortham Giant Screen Theatre. In 2022, the museum received 1,520,000 visitors, making it seventh on the List of most-visited museums in the United States, and was the third most-visited U.S. science museum. Much of the museum's popularity is attributed to its large number of special or guest exhibits.
The Milton J. Rubenstein Museum of Science and Technology is a science and technology museum located in the Armory Square neighborhood of Downtown Syracuse, New York. The Museum includes 35,000 square feet of permanent and traveling exhibits, Science Shop, and several programs and events. The MOST is located in the former Syracuse Armory.
The Evansville Museum of Arts, History & Science is a general-interest museum located on the Ohio riverfront in downtown Evansville, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1904, it is one of Southern Indiana's most established and significant cultural institutions, with comprehensive collections in art, history, anthropology and science. It has a permanent collection of over 30,000 objects including fine arts, decorative arts, historic documents and photographs, and anthropologic and natural history artifacts. Also on the museum's campus is the Evansville Museum Transportation Center, featuring Southern Indiana transportation artifacts from the late 19th through the mid-20th centuries. The museum is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums.
Chabot Space and Science Center, located in Oakland, California, is a center for learning in Earth and space science, which features interactive exhibits, planetariums, a large screen theater, hands-on activities, and three powerful telescopes.
The Rose Center for Earth and Space is a part of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. The Center's complete name is The Frederick Phineas and Sandra Priest Rose Center for Earth and Space. The main entrance is located on the northern side of the museum on 81st Street near Central Park West in Manhattan's Upper West Side. Completed in 2000, it includes the new Hayden Planetarium, the original of which was opened in 1935 and closed in 1997. Neil deGrasse Tyson is its first and, to date, only director.
The New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science is a natural history and science museum in Albuquerque, New Mexico near Old Town Albuquerque. The Museum was founded in 1986. It operates as a public revenue facility of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs.
The Rochester Museum & Science Center (RMSC) is a museum in Rochester, New York, dedicated to community education in science, technology and local history. The museum also operates the Strasenburgh Planetarium, located next to the museum, and the Cumming Nature Center, a 900-acre (3.6 km2) nature preserve near Naples, New York. The museum resides at 657 East Ave. and has a collection of 1.2 million artifacts.
The Bell Museum, formerly known as the James Ford Bell Museum of Natural History, is located at the University of Minnesota. The museum's new location on the St. Paul campus opened in 2018. The Minnesota wildlife dioramas showcase animal specimens from around the world. The museum also houses the 120-seat digital Whitney and Elizabeth MacMillan Planetarium. The museum is part of the university's College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences. The museum's former location in Minneapolis is closed in January 2017.
The Fort Worth Museum of Science and History is located on 1600 Gendy Street, Fort Worth, Texas 76107 in the city's Cultural District. It was opened in 1945 as the Fort Worth Children's Museum and moved to its current location in 1954. In 1968, the museum adopted its current name. Attractions at the museum include the Noble Planetarium, the Omni Theater, and the Star's Café, in addition to both traveling and permanent science and history exhibits.
The Fairbanks Museum & Planetarium is a combination natural science museum, history museum, and planetarium located in St. Johnsbury, Vermont. It was founded in 1890 by businessman, politician, naturalist, and collector Franklin Fairbanks. The museum and its buildings are on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
The RF&P Subdivision is a railroad line operated by CSX Transportation and jointly owned by CSX and Virginia. It runs from Washington, D.C., to Richmond, Virginia, over lines previously owned by the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad. The line's name pays homage to that railroad, which was a predecessor to the CSX.
Science City, Kolkata is a science centre and science park in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. It is the largest science centre in the Indian subcontinent, containing a science museum, science park, and auditoriums. It is managed by the National Council of Science Museums (NCSM) of the Ministry of Culture of the government of India. It is located at the crossing of the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass and J. B. S. Haldane Avenue in East Topsia. Saroj Ghose, the first director general of NCSM, is credited with having conceptualised this centre in 1997.
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