Houston Museum of Natural Science
Encyclopedia
The Houston Museum of Natural Science is a science museum
located on the northern border of Hermann Park
in Houston, Texas
, USA. 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. Museum attendance totals over two million visitors each year. The museum complex consists of a central facility with four floors of natural science halls and exhibits, Burke Baker Planetarium, Cockrell Butterfly Center and the Wortham IMAX
Theater. The museum is one of the most popular in the United States
and ranks just below New York City
's American Museum of Natural History
and Metropolitan Museum of Art
, and the M. H. de Young Memorial Museum
in San Francisco, in most attendance amongst non-Smithsonian museums. Much of the museum's popularity is attributed to its large number of special or guest exhibits.
in 1929. The museum's primary collection was acquired between 1914 and 1930. The museum's now extensive education programs began back in 1947, and by its second year, it was already hosting 12,000 children a year.
The current facility in Hermann Park
was constructed in 1969. In 1988, the Challenger Center was opened in memory of the space mission; the simulator's aim is to teach visitors about space flight. The Wortham IMAX Theater and the George Observatory (offsite) were opened in 1989. The museum's high attendance levels have allowed the museum to begin plans to expand and more than double its floor space in the next few years. The new exhibits are most likely to focus on dinosaur
s and astronomy
.
Also new for the museum are the openings of satellite locations. In March 2007, HMNS opened the HMNS Woodlands X-ploration Station, located in the Woodlands Mall. The facility is home to an interactive Dig Pit, where children can excavate a triceratops
, a variety of living exhibits, dinos, and minerals [- the Woodlands location has permanently closed].
HMNS celebrated its 100th year in 2009. During the year, they offered a multitude of family programs, lectures, free events, and kids' classes as part of the Fun Hundred Celebration.
On October 3, 2009 HMNS opened a satellite museum in Telfair
, Sugar Land, Texas.
Opening in 1964, the Burke Baker Planetarium presents a range of science and astronomy shows. The planetarium
is equipped with the SkySkan DigitalSky starfield projector that can simulate stars, planets, comets, nebulous objects and other special effects. in 1998, it was upgraded to fullview, making it the first in the U.S. (and third in the world) to have multiple projector digital image capability. That allows it to show fulldome
movies about space science and also on earth science, life science and other topics, many of which were created by HMNS staff, featuring music by Shai Fishman, recorded and produced at Fish-i Studios - http://www.fish-i.com. A digital stereo sound system also enhances planetarium's special effects. Its outreach program "Discovery Dome" takes the planetarium experience on the road, reaching over 40,000 students per year in classrooms and special events in portable digital domes.
Cockrell Butterfly Center, a butterfly zoo
located in museum complex. Opening in 1994, the center is housed in a three-story glass building filled with tropical plants and butterflies. The center exhibits a large range of live butterflies
, including the migratory monarchs
and their tropical cousins. The CBC was reopened in May 2007 after being overhauled to make the exhibit more interactive; there are now games for children and a live insect zoo in the Brown Hall of Entomology
.
Wortham IMAX Theatre, a 396-seat theater presenting various films photographed in the IMAX
format. The HMNS IMAX has been upgraded to play 3D
films on its 60x80 foot screen.
George Observatory
, an astronomy
observatory
equipped with three domed telescopes, including a 36 inches (914.4 mm) Gueymard Research Telescope
and a solar telescope
. The facility is located south of Sugar Land, Texas
at Brazos Bend State Park
. The observatory also houses the Challenger Learning Center for Space Science Education.
Science museum
A science museum or a science centre is a museum devoted primarily to science. Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays of objects related to natural history, paleontology, geology, industry and industrial machinery, etc. Modern trends in museology have broadened the range of...
located on the northern border of Hermann Park
Hermann Park
Hermann Park is one of Houston's most-visited public parks. Situated between Fannin Street and Cambridge Street, it is within walking distance from the Texas Medical Center, Rice University, and the Museum District, and within a few miles of the Third Ward, the historic Astrodome and Reliant Stadium...
in Houston, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, USA. 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. Museum attendance totals over two million visitors each year. The museum complex consists of a central facility with four floors of natural science halls and exhibits, Burke Baker Planetarium, Cockrell Butterfly Center and the Wortham IMAX
IMAX
IMAX is a motion picture film format and a set of proprietary cinema projection standards created by the Canadian company IMAX Corporation. IMAX has the capacity to record and display images of far greater size and resolution than conventional film systems...
Theater. The museum is one of the most popular in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and ranks just below New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
's American Museum of Natural History
American Museum of Natural History
The American Museum of Natural History , located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States, is one of the largest and most celebrated museums in the world...
and Metropolitan Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...
, and the M. H. de Young Memorial Museum
M. H. de Young Memorial Museum
The M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, commonly called simply the de Young Museum, is a fine arts museum located in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. It is named for early San Francisco newspaperman M. H...
in San Francisco, in most attendance amongst non-Smithsonian museums. Much of the museum's popularity is attributed to its large number of special or guest exhibits.
History
The initial museum organization was called the Houston Museum and Scientific Society, Inc., and was created in 1909. Originally located in the City Auditorium building in downtown, the museum moved to a building within Houston ZooHouston Zoo
The Houston Zoo is a zoological park located within Hermann Park in Houston, Texas, United States. Housing over 6,000 animals belonging to over 900 species, the zoo receives 1.6 million visitors each year and is the seventh most visited zoo in the nation...
in 1929. The museum's primary collection was acquired between 1914 and 1930. The museum's now extensive education programs began back in 1947, and by its second year, it was already hosting 12,000 children a year.
The current facility in Hermann Park
Hermann Park
Hermann Park is one of Houston's most-visited public parks. Situated between Fannin Street and Cambridge Street, it is within walking distance from the Texas Medical Center, Rice University, and the Museum District, and within a few miles of the Third Ward, the historic Astrodome and Reliant Stadium...
was constructed in 1969. In 1988, the Challenger Center was opened in memory of the space mission; the simulator's aim is to teach visitors about space flight. The Wortham IMAX Theater and the George Observatory (offsite) were opened in 1989. The museum's high attendance levels have allowed the museum to begin plans to expand and more than double its floor space in the next few years. The new exhibits are most likely to focus on dinosaur
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
s and astronomy
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
.
Also new for the museum are the openings of satellite locations. In March 2007, HMNS opened the HMNS Woodlands X-ploration Station, located in the Woodlands Mall. The facility is home to an interactive Dig Pit, where children can excavate a triceratops
Triceratops
Triceratops is a genus of herbivorous ceratopsid dinosaur which lived during the late Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous Period, around 68 to 65 million years ago in what is now North America. It was one of the last dinosaur genera to appear before the great Cretaceous–Paleogene...
, a variety of living exhibits, dinos, and minerals [- the Woodlands location has permanently closed].
HMNS celebrated its 100th year in 2009. During the year, they offered a multitude of family programs, lectures, free events, and kids' classes as part of the Fun Hundred Celebration.
On October 3, 2009 HMNS opened a satellite museum in Telfair
Telfair, Sugar Land
Telfair is a master planned community located in Sugar Land, Texas. It consists of former property of the Central Prison Unit.-History:In 2002 the State of Texas sold a parcel of land from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Central Prison Unit to Newland Communities, a developer from San...
, Sugar Land, Texas.
Permanent Exhibits
- The Foucault pendulumFoucault pendulumThe Foucault pendulum , or Foucault's pendulum, named after the French physicist Léon Foucault, is a simple device conceived as an experiment to demonstrate the rotation of the Earth. While it had long been known that the Earth rotated, the introduction of the Foucault pendulum in 1851 was the...
, demonstrating the Earth rotation. The length of the pendulum's cable is over 60 feet (18.3 m) long. - Cullen Hall of Gems & Minerals, featuring a large exhibit of over 750 crystallized mineralMineralA mineral is a naturally occurring solid chemical substance formed through biogeochemical processes, having characteristic chemical composition, highly ordered atomic structure, and specific physical properties. By comparison, a rock is an aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids and does not...
specimens and rare gemstoneGemstoneA gemstone or gem is a piece of mineral, which, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or other adornments...
s. - Lester and Sue Smith Gem Vault, showcasing some of the most exquisite finely cut gems in jewelry.
- Farish Hall of Texas Wildlife exhibits animals and wildlife native to TexasTexasTexas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
. The hall contains a video wall that displays the plants, animals and topography of the seven bioticBiotic componentBiotic components are the living things that shape an ecosystem. A biotic factor is any living component that affects another organism, including animals that consume the organism in question, and the living food that the organism consumes. Each biotic factor needs energy to do work and food for...
regions of the state. - Evelyn and Herbert Frensley Hall of African Wildlife, a display of taxidermiedTaxidermyTaxidermy is the act of mounting or reproducing dead animals for display or for other sources of study. Taxidermy can be done on all vertebrate species of animals, including mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians...
animals, including one of only two forest giraffes exhibited in North America. Opening in 1969, the hall allows visitors to explore the seven biomes of the continent of Africa. Over 120 specimens, including 42 species of birds and 28 species of mammals are on display. - Strake Hall of Malacology, with many specimens of mollusks.
- Alfred C. Glassell Jr. Hall of Paleontology, showing many fossilFossilFossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...
s, including an 85 feet (25.9 m) long DiplodocusDiplodocusDiplodocus , or )is a genus of diplodocid sauropod dinosaur whose fossils were first discovered in 1877 by S. W. Williston. The generic name, coined by Othniel Charles Marsh in 1878, is a Neo-Latin term derived from Greek "double" and "beam", in reference to its double-beamed chevron bones...
skeleton, the only mounted Diplodocus hayi in the world. The hall contains over 450 fossils and fossil replicas. Robert Bakker serves as Visiting Curator of Paleontology. - John P. McGovern Hall of the Americas, showing more than 50 cultures worth of pre-ColumbianPre-ColumbianThe pre-Columbian era incorporates all period subdivisions in the history and prehistory of the Americas before the appearance of significant European influences on the American continents, spanning the time of the original settlement in the Upper Paleolithic period to European colonization during...
archaeologicalArchaeologyArchaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
artifacts. - Welch Chemistry Hall, with interactive chemistry related displays and a periodic table of elements with a sample of each element.
- Weiss Energy Hall, with displays themed around energeticsEnergeticsEnergetics is the study of energy under transformation. Because energy flows at all scales, from the quantum level to the biosphere and cosmos, energetics is a very broad discipline, encompassing for example thermodynamics, chemistry, biological energetics, biochemistry and ecological energetics...
, petroleum geologyPetroleum geologyPetroleum geology refers to the specific set of geological disciplines that are applied to the search for hydrocarbons .-Sedimentary basin analysis:...
, and oil explorationOil explorationHydrocarbon exploration is the search by petroleum geologists and geophysicists for hydrocarbon deposits beneath the Earth's surface, such as oil and natural gas...
. The hall consists of 12 sections which include the Energy Explorations Theater, the Geovator (which takes visitors on a simulated trip to the bottom of a 7285 ft (2,220.5 m). well), the Energy Excursions Theater and the Alternative Energy Sources exhibit. - Isaac Arnold Hall of Space Science contains exhibits and artifacts of the manned and unmanned space programs. The ChallengerSpace Shuttle ChallengerSpace Shuttle Challenger was NASA's second Space Shuttle orbiter to be put into service, Columbia having been the first. The shuttle was built by Rockwell International's Space Transportation Systems Division in Downey, California...
Learning Center, which offers a realistic mock-up of Mission Control, is adjacent to the hall. - Fondren Discovery Place is an exhibit designed to allow children to investigate science in action. Children are encouraged to touch all exhibits which includes a working replica of the Corliss Steam EngineCorliss Steam EngineA Corliss steam engine is a steam engine, fitted with rotary valves and with variable valve timing patented in 1849, invented by and named after the American engineer George Henry Corliss in Providence, Rhode Island....
and a simulated broadcast weather studio. This area also contains a replica of the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamen. - Cockrell SundialSundialA sundial is a device that measures time by the position of the Sun. In common designs such as the horizontal sundial, the sun casts a shadow from its style onto a surface marked with lines indicating the hours of the day. The style is the time-telling edge of the gnomon, often a thin rod or a...
, which opened in 1989, is one of the world's largest (right side of image above). It includes lenses on a special chrome ball on top of the gnomonGnomonThe gnomon is the part of a sundial that casts the shadow. Gnomon is an ancient Greek word meaning "indicator", "one who discerns," or "that which reveals."It has come to be used for a variety of purposes in mathematics and other fields....
so that at solar noon on the equinoxEquinoxAn equinox occurs twice a year, when the tilt of the Earth's axis is inclined neither away from nor towards the Sun, the center of the Sun being in the same plane as the Earth's equator...
es and solsticeSolsticeA solstice is an astronomical event that happens twice each year when the Sun's apparent position in the sky, as viewed from Earth, reaches its northernmost or southernmost extremes...
s, sunlight shines though and casts an image of the Sun. Large sunspots can be seen by holding a white card in the beam and moving until it is focus. - Earth Forum, which opened in 2002, is a computer-aided and hands-on exhibit teaching about Earth and its processes. The "Earth Update" software was developed by Rice UniversityRice UniversityWilliam Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University or Rice, is a private research university located on a heavily wooded campus in Houston, Texas, United States...
with NASANASAThe National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
funding.
Facilities
Planetarium
A planetarium is a theatre built primarily for presenting educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navigation...
is equipped with the SkySkan DigitalSky starfield projector that can simulate stars, planets, comets, nebulous objects and other special effects. in 1998, it was upgraded to fullview, making it the first in the U.S. (and third in the world) to have multiple projector digital image capability. That allows it to show fulldome
Fulldome
Fulldome refers to immersive dome-based video projection environments. The dome, horizontal or tilted, is filled with real-time or pre-rendered computer animations, live capture images, or composited environments....
movies about space science and also on earth science, life science and other topics, many of which were created by HMNS staff, featuring music by Shai Fishman, recorded and produced at Fish-i Studios - http://www.fish-i.com. A digital stereo sound system also enhances planetarium's special effects. Its outreach program "Discovery Dome" takes the planetarium experience on the road, reaching over 40,000 students per year in classrooms and special events in portable digital domes.
Cockrell Butterfly Center, a butterfly zoo
Butterfly zoo
A butterfly zoo, or butterfly house, is a zoo which is specifically intended for the breeding and display of butterflies. Some butterfly houses also feature other insects, spiders, scorpions, etc.- History :...
located in museum complex. Opening in 1994, the center is housed in a three-story glass building filled with tropical plants and butterflies. The center exhibits a large range of live butterflies
Butterfly
A butterfly is a mainly day-flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, which includes the butterflies and moths. Like other holometabolous insects, the butterfly's life cycle consists of four parts: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Most species are diurnal. Butterflies have large, often brightly coloured...
, including the migratory monarchs
Monarch butterfly
The Monarch butterfly is a milkweed butterfly , in the family Nymphalidae. It is perhaps the best known of all North American butterflies. Since the 19th century, it has been found in New Zealand, and in Australia since 1871 where it is called the Wanderer...
and their tropical cousins. The CBC was reopened in May 2007 after being overhauled to make the exhibit more interactive; there are now games for children and a live insect zoo in the Brown Hall of Entomology
Entomology
Entomology is the scientific study of insects, a branch of arthropodology...
.
Wortham IMAX Theatre, a 396-seat theater presenting various films photographed in the IMAX
IMAX
IMAX is a motion picture film format and a set of proprietary cinema projection standards created by the Canadian company IMAX Corporation. IMAX has the capacity to record and display images of far greater size and resolution than conventional film systems...
format. The HMNS IMAX has been upgraded to play 3D
3-D film
A 3-D film or S3D film is a motion picture that enhances the illusion of depth perception...
films on its 60x80 foot screen.
George Observatory
Brazos Bend State Park
Brazos Bend State Park is a state park along the Brazos River in Needville, Texas, run by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. The park is a haven for a diverse mix of native wildlife and plants covering an equally diverse range of ecosystems...
, an astronomy
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
observatory
Observatory
An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geology, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed...
equipped with three domed telescopes, including a 36 inches (914.4 mm) Gueymard Research Telescope
Telescope
A telescope is an instrument that aids in the observation of remote objects by collecting electromagnetic radiation . The first known practical telescopes were invented in the Netherlands at the beginning of the 1600s , using glass lenses...
and a solar telescope
Solar telescope
A solar telescope is a special purpose telescope used to observe the Sun. Solar telescopes usually detect light with wavelengths in, or not far outside, the visible spectrum.-Professional solar telescopes:...
. The facility is located south of Sugar Land, Texas
Sugar Land, Texas
Sugar Land is a city in the U.S. state of Texas within the metropolitan area and Fort Bend County. Sugar Land is one of the most affluent and fastest-growing cities in Texas, having grown more than 158 percent in the last decade. In the time period of 2000–2007, Sugar Land also enjoyed a...
at Brazos Bend State Park
Brazos Bend State Park
Brazos Bend State Park is a state park along the Brazos River in Needville, Texas, run by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. The park is a haven for a diverse mix of native wildlife and plants covering an equally diverse range of ecosystems...
. The observatory also houses the Challenger Learning Center for Space Science Education.