Science museum

The public museum as understood today is a collection of specimens and other objects of interest to the scholar, the man of science as well as the more casual visitor, arranged and displayed in accordance with the scientific method.

In its original sense, the term 'museum' meant a spot dedicated to the muses - 'a place where man's mind could attain a mood of aloofness above everyday affairs'.

[clarification needed][1] This was followed in 1752 by the first dedicated science museum, the Museo de Ciencias Naturales, in Madrid, which almost did not survive Francoist Spain.

Today, the museum works closely with the Spanish National Research Council (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas).

The concept was taken to the United States by Julius Rosenwald, chairman of Sears, Roebuck and Company, who visited the Deutsches Museum with his young son in 1911.

[5] The Ontario Science Centre, which opened in September 1969, continued the trend of featuring interactive exhibits rather than static displays.

In 1973, the first Omnimax cinema opened at the Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater and Science Center in San Diego's Balboa Park.

Also in 1973, the Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC) was founded as an international organisation to provide a collective voice, professional support, and programming opportunities for science centres, museums and related institutions.

In the United Kingdom, the first interactive centres also opened in 1986 on a modest scale, with further developments more than a decade later, funded by the National Lottery for projects to celebrate the Millennium.

Museums that brand themselves as science centres emphasise a hands-on approach, featuring interactive exhibits that encourage visitors to experiment and explore.

The Pacific Science Center (one of the first large organisations to call itself a 'science centre' rather than a museum), opened in a Seattle World's Fair building in 1962.

As a result of this, the Association of Science-Technology Centers was formally established in 1973, headquartered in Washington DC, but with an international organisational membership.