The New York Hall of Science often referred to as NYSCI, is a science museum situated in the Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens, New York City, located in the part of the park located in Corona. It is among those few buildings left of 1964’s New York World’s Fair and is the only interactive science and technology center. More than 400 interactive exhibits are focused on chemistry, biology, and physics.
The museum was founded in 1964 as part of the 1964 World’s Fair in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. It was, at its time, among the only a handful of science museums operating. In contrast to other museums, which were shut down shortly following the Fair, the Hall was open and used as a resource for schoolchildren. The Hall’s exhibits were not as extensive but included the plans to build the first aquarium open to the public.
The Hall located in Queens was open for 15 years. However, in 1979, the Hall was closed for major repairs and was not scheduled to be reopened until 1983 at the most. In May 1982, as stated in an article in the New York Daily News article at the time, the state of the museum had declined to the point where “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 renovations being completed in 1983, funding from the city to the space museum had been cut since only $40,000 of the $8 million promised funds was collected.
When the museum was established in 1984, A hired physicist Alan J. Friedman from Queens, NYC assist in the museum’s transformation from the focus of science fiction exhibits that predicted the future to relevance to the life of everyday citizens. When Friedman was hired as museum director, the building was empty, with “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” Renovations continued.
Exhibits
The Hall concentrates on teaching children from ages 1-to 17. Its viewers are mostly urban youngsters for whom the experience of science is different. The museum has a vast collection that is permanent and also a selection of touring exhibitions. While it was not as expected, the museum was one of the first museums to let youngsters evaluate its exhibits, and I was pleased to receive their comments to help prepare for its reopening 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 EZ Bed Bugs Exterminator Queens
- 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.
Look into other neighborhoods, such as Noguchi Museum