MIT Museum facts for kids
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Entrance to the MIT Museum at its new site in June 2024
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| Established | 1971 |
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| Location | Cambridge, Massachusetts |
| Type | Science museum |
| Accreditation | AAM, ASTC |
| Collection size | 1,500,000 |
| Visitors | 150,000 (in 2017) |
| Owner | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) |
| Public transit access | Kendall/MIT MBTA Red Line station |
The MIT Museum is a cool place in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that's part of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). It started in 1971.
It has amazing collections about holography (3D images), art made with technology, artificial intelligence (AI), architecture, robotics, and the story of MIT itself. The museum has the world's largest collection of holograms, with 1800 pieces. Only a few of these are usually on display.
For a long time, the museum showed many works by the artist Arthur Ganson, who makes art that moves. In 2024, a new art display took their place, but some of Ganson's works were moved to other parts of the museum. The museum also often has special exhibits that show how art and technology connect.
The main goal of the MIT Museum is to "turn MIT inside out." This means they want to show the world what amazing things MIT does and make it easy for everyone to understand. The museum also has many programs for students and adults. The popular annual Cambridge Science Festival was started and is still run by the museum.
In October 2022, the MIT Museum opened in a new, bigger building in the Kendall Square area.
Contents
Discovering the Museum's Past
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The museum began in 1971. It was first called the MIT Historical Collections. Its job was to gather and save old items and papers from all over MIT. In 1980, it was renamed the MIT Museum. That's when it started creating exhibits and learning programs for everyone.
Since 2005, the museum's mission has been to share MIT's science, technology, and other studies with the world. This helps people understand how MIT's work can benefit everyone.
Michael John Gorman is the current director of the museum. He also teaches at MIT. The museum is part of MIT's arts department.
Exploring the New Museum Building
For many years, the MIT Museum was in older buildings on Massachusetts Avenue. In 2020, like many museums, it had to close because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the next two years, the museum moved to a new, much larger space. This new home is 56,000 square feet (5,200 m2) big and is located in Kendall Square. The museum officially reopened to the public on October 2, 2022.
The new museum building was designed by Weiss/Manfredi. The inside spaces of the museum were designed by Höweler+Yoon. The museum shares its ground floor with the MIT Museum Store and the MIT Press Bookstore. All three are right next to the Kendall/MIT subway station.
The museum's public areas are set up like a "spiral" path. You go up through the three floors of the museum. The exhibits start with Essential MIT, which shows you what research and people are like at MIT. Then you see a bigger picture of MIT's role in the world, including spaces for special temporary exhibits. Finally, you get a closer look at MIT's historical items, culture, and past.
There are cool stairs that are also like big seats, connecting the floors. A large elevator is also available for visitors. The lower seating area is used for performances. These events can also be seen from the park outside. The upper seating area, called The Exchange, has a huge screen for talks and presentations. Besides the main exhibits, there are hands-on areas called the Maker Hub and Learning Labs. There's also a Collection Workshop where you can look closely at museum objects.
MIT Collects is a long-term exhibit on the third floor. It shows hundreds of historical MIT objects in clear display cases on the wall. Bigger items are on display on the floor. These include a mechanical mouse built by Claude Shannon. This mouse is thought to be one of the first experiments in machine learning. Other historical exhibits show items from famous student pranks, called hacks, and the history of different groups at MIT.
Exciting Programs and Events
The MIT Museum offers many activities for middle and high school students. These include group tours and special events like workshops, art studios, contests, and performances.
The museum also has programs for college students and adults. These often include talks by MIT researchers, artists, and historians. These events usually focus on new ideas and important topics in science, technology, and art. Some evening events are just for adults.
Cambridge Science Festival
The Cambridge Science Festival is an annual event. It was started in 2007 by John Durant, who was the director of the MIT Museum at the time. This was the first festival of its kind in the United States. It has inspired similar events in other cities. MIT, Harvard University, the City of Cambridge, and the Museum of Science, Boston were the first sponsors.
All Festival events are open to everyone, from young children to older adults. Most events are free, but some special performances or workshops might have a small fee. You can find information and schedules online.
The Festival usually takes place in late September or early October. More than 50,000 people visit the Festival each year.
Friday After Thanksgiving (F.A.T.) Competition
From around 1997, the MIT Museum held an annual "Friday After Thanksgiving" (F.A.T.) chain reaction event. Teams would build amazing Rube Goldberg style machines. These machines would be linked together. When the first part was started, it would set off a chain reaction through all the machines. The whole event was filmed and shown on big screens for the audience. Prizes were given out in different categories.
The last F.A.T. Chain Reaction event happened on November 29, 2019. It was the final one after more than 20 years.
Past and Current Exhibits
Photography Exhibits
The Kurtz Gallery for Photography is on the third floor of the new building. It shows temporary photography exhibits about art, science, and technology. These often include works connected to MIT. For example, there was an exhibit of Berenice Abbott's photos. She took pictures that showed basic physics ideas, like her famous photo Bouncing ball in diminishing arcs. The museum has also shown the amazing high-speed photos taken by MIT professor Doc Edgerton.
Other exhibits have included old research photos, early camera designs, and art from Edwin H. Land and the Polaroid Corporation. The works of modern scientific photographer Felice Frankel have also been shown. The gallery also displays old architectural and engineering drawings.
Slide Rules and Calculators
The MIT Museum has a collection of hundreds of slide rules, nomograms, and old mechanical calculators. Many of these came from the Keuffel and Esser Company, a famous slide rule maker. Some of these items are usually on display at the museum.
Kinetic Art Displays
One of the most popular galleries used to feature about a dozen works of kinetic art by Arthur Ganson. Kinetic art is art that moves. In November 2013, the museum opened 5000 Moving Parts. This was a bigger exhibit of kinetic art, showing works by Ganson and other artists. Ganson's moving artworks have always been very popular. They were in a special gallery in the new Kendall Square museum building for a while. In 2024, a different art exhibit took their place, but some of Ganson's artworks were moved to other spots in the museum. You can also see one of his artworks in the MIT Welcome Center.
Holography Collection
In 1993, the MIT Museum received the entire collection from the Museum of Holography (MOH). This made the MIT Museum's collection the largest and most complete collection of holograms in the world. It has many holograms that are important for history, science, and art. Only a small part of the collection can be shown to the public at any time. The MIT Museum also hosts international meetings about holography every few years. You can search for items in the collection using an online database.
MIT 150 Exhibit
In January 2011, the museum reopened some of its galleries after a big update. The first exhibit in the new space was The MIT 150 Exhibition. This celebrated MIT's 150th anniversary, which was on April 10, 1861. The special exhibit showed 150 objects, documents, and other items that told the story of MIT's people, places, and ideas. There was also a website with more information and a timeline. Videos made for the exhibit could be watched at the museum and online.
Student Showcase
The Inventions: student showcase displayed inventions and kinetic art made by MIT students. Some of these projects were built at the MIT Museum Studio, a special workshop for students. Others were created in different classes and labs at MIT. The MIT Museum Studio also has a glass display area to show student projects related to art, how we see things, and technology.
