Birla Science Museum

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Birla Science Museum
Birla Science Museum Hyd.jpg
Birla Science Museum
Established1985
Location Hyderabad, India

B. M. Birla Science Museum is an Indian science museum located in Hyderabad, India. Constructed by civil engineer P. A. Singaravelu, it comprises a planetarium, museum, science centre, art gallery as well as a dinosaurium. [1] The museum itself was the second phase of the science centre when it opened in 1990. [2] The centre also houses India's first private Space Museum. The museum is a unique facility which is dedicated to history of the space program of India. The space museum was inaugurated in July 2019 and was curated by Pranav Sharma. [3] [4] [5]

Contents

Planetarium

The Birla Planetarium is a wing of the Science Centre. The planetarium was inaugurated by N. T. Rama Rao, on 8 September 1985 and is one of three Birla Planetariums in India. The others are the M.P. Birla Planetarium in Kolkata and B.M. Birla Planetarium in Chennai.

Space Museum

The museum brings to light various contributions of ISRO to public awareness through images, illustrations and words. More than forty three people contributed to the narration and which were taken out after some several thousand pages of information and data collected over the span of almost two years by the curator Pranav Sharma. Satyajit Tuljapurkar was the architect of the place and digital artwork was done by Arjun Kota. Ankur Chhabra and Smyan Thota worked as curation assistants and outreach team leads.

There are more than twenty exhibits including the models of PSLV, GSLV, GSLV-MkIII (which recently successfully carried Chandryaan 2 in the outer space). The legacy series of satellites such as Aryabhata, Bhaskara, Rohini, APPLE and SROSS are also exhibited. A model of International Space Station has been set up amidst Communication Satellites.

Dinosaurium

The Dinosaurium is the newest addition to the planetarium and science center and opened in 2000. [6] Its exhibits include a 160-million-year-old mounted Kotasaurus yamanpalliensis, [7] excavated in the Adilabad district in Telangana and presented to the Science Museum by the Geological Survey of India. The Dinosaurium has a collection of smaller fossils of dinosaur eggs, marine shells and fossilised tree trunks.

See also

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pranav Sharma</span>

Pranav Sharma is an astronomer and science historian known for his work on the history of the Indian Space Program. He has curated Space Museum at the B. M. Birla Science Centre. He was the in-charge of the history of the Indo-French scientific partnership project supported by the Embassy of France in India. He is a national award-winning science communicator and has extensively worked in the popularization of astronomy education in India. He is the Co-Lead on the History of Data-Driven Astronomy Project. He also serves as the Policy and Diplomacy Advisor to United Nations International Computation Centre, Advisor to the France India Foundation, Scientific Advisor to Arc Ventures, Science Diplomacy Consultant to Indian National Science Academy and Member Secretary for G20-Science20. He has co-authored the book Essential Astrophysics: Interstellar Medium to Stellar Remnants, CRC Press, 2019.

Brij Mohan Birla was one of the scions of Birla family and a noted Industrialist and philanthropist. He was the youngest and 4th son of Baldeo Das Birla. He served as Chairman of Hindustan Motors, Ruby General Insurance, India Exchange Ltd, NBC Bearing and was on board of several other Birla companies. He founded Hindustan Motors in 1942 and NBC Bearings in 1946. CK Birla Group is successor to his branch of Birla family. He served as president of Indian Chamber of Commerce in 1936 and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry for year 1954.

References

  1. Let's Go India and Nepal, 8th Ed. 2003. p. 113. ISBN   0-312-32006-X.
  2. "Science Museum". Archived from the original on 12 January 2012.
  3. "A space traveller's tale". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 6 May 2020.
  4. "Birla Science Centre's Pranav Sharma gets REX Karmaveer Award". The Hindu. 6 December 2019. ISSN   0971-751X . Retrieved 6 May 2020.
  5. Thatipalli, Mallik (24 February 2020). "Science as a way of life". The Hindu. ISSN   0971-751X . Retrieved 6 May 2020.
  6. "Dinosaurium". Archived from the original on 14 January 2012.
  7. Darpan, Pratiyogita (October 2000). "Competition Science Vision" . Retrieved 12 January 2012.

17°24′12.05″N78°28′14.33″E / 17.4033472°N 78.4706472°E / 17.4033472; 78.4706472