The New York Hall of Science, frequently known as NYSCI, is a science museum in the Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens, New York City, in the park in Corona. It is among the few remaining structures from 1964’s New York World’s Fair and is the only interactive center for science and technology. Over 400 interactive exhibits focus on biology, chemistry, and Physics.
This Queens museum was created in 1964 in conjunction with the 1964 World’s Fair in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. At the time, it was time, among only a few operating science museums. Unlike other museums that closed shortly after the Fair, The Hall was still accessible and served as a source for children. The exhibits in the Hall were not as extensive, but they did include plans to construct the first aquarium accessible to the public.
The Hall has been in operation for fifteen years. In 1979, the Hall was shut down for major repairs. It was not expected to reopen for another 15 years, at most. It was in the month of May 1982. As reported in an article published in the New York Daily News article at the time, the condition of the museum was declining to the point at which “paint peels from the Saturn V and Apollo hulls, and graffiti adorn the walls around the space park; chipped cement and scattered stones fill the moat beneath the hall.” Despite renovating in 1983, funds from City Hall to the museum were cut by only $40,000 of the promised $8 million funds.
The museum was founded at the end of 1984. Queens, NYC hired scientist Alan J. Friedman to help transform from a focus on science fiction exhibits that forecasted the future to a focus on everyday life. When Friedman was appointed curator, the museum was empty and “an inch of water on the floor. All the exhibits had been given away. Even the light fixtures had been yanked out of the wall” The work on renovations was not stopped.
Exhibits
The Hall is focused on teaching children ranging from 1 to 17 years old. Most of its viewers are urban kids whose experience with science is distinct. The museum has a permanent, huge collection and various traveling exhibitions. Although it didn’t go as I had hoped, the museum was among the first museums to allow kids to evaluate its exhibits, and I was thrilled to hear their opinions to aid in preparing for its opening in 1986.
Exhibits
- Connections: The Nature of Networks
- Feedback
- Gingerbread Lane
- Hidden Kingdoms: The World of Microbes
- Mathematica: A World of Numbers… and Beyond
- Marvelous Molecules- The Secret of Life
- Preschool Place
- Realm of the Atom
- Rocket Park Science Playground
- Science Technology Library
- The Search for Life Beyond the Earth
- Seeing the Light
- Sound Sensations: The Inside Story of Audio
- The Sports Challenge
- Technology Gallery
- Amateur Radio Station.
Check out other attractions like Museum of Moving Image