Molecularium

The Molecularium Project is an informal science education project of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The Molecularium Project introduces young audiences to the world of atoms and molecules using character driven stories, immersive animation, interactive games and activities, and state of the art molecular visualizations. Rensselaer's three principal Scientist / Educators behind the project are Dr. Linda S. Schadler, Dr. Richard W. Siegel, and Dr. Shekhar Garde. The Molecularium Project began as an outreach project of Rensselaer's Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center. To realize the productions, the scientists employed the creative team Nanotoon Entertainment, led by writer/director V. Owen Bush, and writer/producer Kurt Przybilla. The Molecularium Project is funded by Rensselaer, the National Science Foundation, and New York State.

In 2002, Dr. Schadler and Dr. Garde produced a seven-minute pilot show for the local planetarium called “Molecularium” for the Digistar II Planetarium system. It introduces children to the concepts of atoms and molecules from small molecules like H2O to larger molecules like polymers.

In early 2004, Schadler, Garde, and Siegel were awarded a U.S. National Science Foundation grant to make a new Molecularium show exclusively for the fulldome medum. They recruited the filmmaker and experience designer V. Owen Bush to bring the idea to life. Bush founded the production company Nanotoon Entertainment with writer/producer Kurt Przybilla to realize the new project. 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.

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