National Electronics Museum

The National Electronics Museum located in Linthicum, Maryland, displays the history of the United States defense electronics. ^[1]

About

The National Electronics Museum houses assortments of telegraphs, radios, radars and satellites exhibits. Admission is $3 for adults, $1 for seniors and students, and children under 5 years of age are free. Located near the Baltimore Washington International Airport and rail station, the museum displays hands-on electronics. The library serves as a research center open to the public. Hours are Monday through Friday 09:00am - 3:00pm. and Saturday 10:00am - 2:00pm.^[2] In addition, an amateur radio station is broadcasted live from the museum each week. K3NEM/W3GR includes both antique and updated communication equipment. ^{[3][4] [5]}

Galleries

The National Electronics Museum is organized into twelve related exhibit galleries^[6]

• Fundamentals Gallery
• Communications Gallery
• Early Radar Gallery
• Cold War Radar Gallery
• Modern Radar Gallery
• Countermeasures Gallery
• Under Seas Gallery
• Electro-optical Gallery
• Space Sensor Gallery
• Past Gallery
• Web Gallery
• WWII Radar Kiosk

Events

• RobotFest - held at the museum annually ^[7]
• Pioneer Camp - held at the museum each summer ^[8]
• Lecture Series -held in Pioneer Hall at the NEM throughout the year on a variety of topics ^[9]

History of the Museum

The National Electronics museum emerged from Westinghouse employees. Robert L. Dwight jump-started the current collection in 1973. Dwight worked for the Westinghouse Defense and Electronics Systems Center located in Baltimore, MD. Family Day was his way of displaying his colleagues work while involving their families. Three exhibits: “Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow”, showed examples of Westinghouse work while presenting the progress through the eras.

Dwight decided to increase radar and other electronics for viewing. His first mission was to recruit the help of Jack Sun, a former U.S. Air Force officer and Westinghouse employee. Both men tried to acquire the BOMARC missile radar from the Department of Defense. This missile housed the first air borne pulse-doppler radar, AN/DPN-53. However, in order to gain access to the radar they had to be classified as a non-profit museum.

After gaining advice and paperwork from Westinghouse lawyer, Butch Gregory, they created the National Electronics Museum in 1980.

Finances and storage space was handled by Westinghouse and in 1983 a 190 m² (2,000sq-ft) portion of space was devoted to the museum at the Airport Square III. Then in 1986 it extended to 370 m² (4,000sq-ft). Formerly run by volunteers, the first museum employee was hired in 1992 when the it was relocated to Friendship square.

In 1996, Northrop Grumman bought Westinghouse and continued support for museum efforts. The museum closed its doors temporarily in 1999 and reopened with over 2000 m² (22,000sq-ft) of space. This space included a conference room, event hall, gallery, and a climate-controlled warehouse.

The museum offers education programs such as YESS (Young Engineers and Scientists)^[10] and the annual Robot Fest all well as the Robert L. Dwight scholarship. Donations and grants are accepted from foundations and engineering societies. Robotfest occurs on the last weekend of April annually. Board members include former Westinghouse employees and Northrop Grumman associates. Other public foundations such as Anne Arundel County Public Schools, Camegie Institute, American Association of Museums, the University of Maryland - Baltimore County, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab, Allied Signal, and Hertzbach & Company support the museum. Over 30 volunteers donate over 5,000 hours of their time each year. ^{[11] [12]}

References

1. ^ Graham-Cumming, J. The Geek Atlas: 128 Places Where Science and Technology Come Alive (Cambridge: O'Reilly, 2009)
2. ^ http://www.mtt.org/society-history.html
3. ^ http://www.k3nem.org/
4. ^ http://www.baltimoremuseums.org/visit/museums/electronics.shtml
5. ^ http://www.todaysengineer.org/2009/Dec/electronics-museum.asp
6. ^ http://www.nationalelectronicsmuseum.org/
7. ^ http://www.robotfest.com/
8. ^ http://www.engineeringedu.com/camps/md.html
9. ^ http://www.nationalelectronicsmuseum.org/additional-programs.shtml
10. ^ http://www.yessnem.org/
11. ^ http://www.northropgrumman.com/
12. ^ National Electronics Museum Website. Mike Simons. http://www.nationalelectronicsmuseum.org

External links

• The National Electronics Museum
• Amateur Radio Club of the National Electronics Museum
• http://www.homeandabroad.com/c/66/Site/97458_Historical_Electronics_Museum_visit.html
• http://www.aam-us.org/
• http://www.smallmuseum.org/museums.htm
• http://www.baltimorefunguide.com/index.cfm?method=calendar.venue&attraction_id=4054
• http://www.hellowashingtondc.com/commons/pages/articles/attraction/national_electronics_museum_radars_sensors_defense_products/203812/

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