New York Hall of Science
Original building, constructed for the 1964 New York World's Fair
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| Established | 1964 |
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| Location | 47-01 111th Street Corona, New York |
| Coordinates | 40°44′50″N 73°51′06″W / 40.7472°N 73.8517°WCoordinates: 40°44′50″N 73°51′06″W / 40.7472°N 73.8517°W |
| Type | Science-technology museum |
| Accreditation | ASTC |
| President | Margaret Honey |
| Curator | Lee Livney |
| Public transit access |
 train to 111th StreetQ23, Q58 at 108th Street Q48 at Roosevelt Avenue |
| Nearest car park | On-site ($10 fee) |
| Website | nysci |
The New York Hall of Science, also known as NYSCI, is a science museum located in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in the New York City borough of Queens, in the section of the park that is in Corona. It occupies one of the few remaining structures from the 1964 New York World's Fair, and is New York City's only hands-on science and technology center. The more than 400 hands-on exhibits focus on biology, chemistry, and physics.
The museum was established in 1964 as part of the 1964 World's Fair in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, and at the time was one of only a few science museums in existence. Unlike many other institutions, which were closed immediately or soon after the Fair, the Hall remained open after the fair, and served as a resource for students. Its exhibits at the time were somewhat limited but included plans for the world's first atomarium open to the public.
The Hall remained open for 15 years, but in 1979 it was closed for major renovations, not to reopen until 1983 at the earliest. By May 1982, according to a New York Daily News article at the time, the condition of the museum had deteriorated to such a state that there were "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". At the time, even though renovations were completed in 1983, city funding for the museum was severed because only $40,000 out of $8,000,000 of promised funding had been raised.
In 1984, New York City hired physicist Alan Friedman to help with the museum's transition from a focus on science fiction to relevance to everyday lives of ordinary citizens. At the time Friedman was appointed, the museum was basically an empty shell, having "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”, but renovations continued. After it reopened in 1986, giving New York City a science museum for the first time since it had closed seven years earlier, plans for the display of an atom were realized with a $40,000 exhibit for a quantum atom that was a part of a $400,000 expansion and renovation at the museum. The museum's growth and ability to draw crowds was unexpected and led to the city's pursuit of further funds and expansion.
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