[1] The project introduces young audiences to the world of atoms and molecules using character driven stories, animations, games and activities, and molecular visualizations.
[5] To realize the productions, the scientists collaborated with Nanotoon Entertainment, led by writer and director V. Owen Bush, and writer/producer Kurt Przybilla.
In early 2004, Schadler, Garde, and Siegel were awarded a U.S. National Science Foundation grant to make a new Molecularium show exclusively for an immersive dome based video display environment, also known as a fulldome medium.
Bush and Przybilla proposed an adventure story of personified atoms flying a ship called the Molecularium through nanoscale materials including a snowflake, a penny, a stick of gum and the human body.
In February 2005, the team debuted "Molecularium - Riding Snowflakes"[9][10] a 23-minute digital planetarium show at the Children's Museum of Science and Technology.
[11][12] In 2005, "Molecularium - Riding Snowflakes" won the Domie award at Domefest, a festival for immersive dome films, in Albuquerque New Mexico.
The IMAX version premiered at the Giant Screen Cinema Association International Conference and Trade Show in Indianapolis, Indiana, on September 22, 2009.