Science centers

A science museum is a museum devoted primarily to science. Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays of objects related to natural history, paleontology, geology, industry and industrial machinery, etc. Modern trends in museology have broadened the range of subject matter and introduced many interactive exhibits. Many if not most modern science museums — which increasingly refer to themselves as science centers or "discovery centers" — also emphasize technology, and are therefore also technology museums.

The mission statements of science centers and modern museums vary, but they are united in being places that make science accessible and encourage the excitement of discovery. They are an integral and dynamic part of the learning environment, promoting exploration from the first "Eureka!" moment to today's cutting-edge research.

As early as the Renaissance, many aristocrats collected curiosities for display to their family. Universities and particularly medical schools also maintained study collections of specimens for their students. Scientists and collectors displayed their finds in private cabinets of curiosities. Such collections were the predecessors of modern natural history museums.

The first purpose-built museum covering natural philosophy and open to the public from 1683 was the original Ashmolean museum (now called the Museum of the History of Science) in Oxford, although its scope was mixed. The first dedicated science museum was the Museo de Ciencias Naturales, in Madrid, Spain. Opened in 1752, it almost disappeared during the Franco regime, but it recovered afterwards and today works closely with the CSIC. The Utrecht University Museum, among others, still displays an extensive collection of 18th-century animal and human "rarities" in its original setting.

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Wikipedia