MIT Museum

MIT Museum

MIT Museum, founded in 1971, is the museum of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It hosts collections of holography, artificial intelligence, robotics, maritime history, and the history of MIT. Its holography collection of 1800 pieces is the largest in the world, though not all of it is exhibited. Currently, works of Harold Edgerton and Arthur Ganson are the two largest displays ongoing for a long time. Occasionally, there are various special exhibitions, often on the intersections of art and technology.

Since 2005 the official mission of the MIT Museum has been, "to engage the wider community with MIT’s science, technology and other areas of scholarship in ways that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century."

For a number of years, the Museum used to house the "Hall of Hacks" showcasing some of the famous MIT hacks, but the section was closed in 2001.^[1] This was done to free up gallery space for other exhibits; the artifacts and documentation have been retained for future historical research and exhibition. A few selected larger relics of past hacks are now on semi-permanent display inside the MIT Stata Center, including a "fire hose" drinking fountain, and full-size replicas of a cow and a police car which had been placed atop the Great Dome (but not at the same time).

In January 2011, the Museum reopened its upper galleries after an extensive renovation, to showcase "The MIT 150 Exhibition" in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of MIT's founding charter on April 10, 1861. The special exhibit consists of 150 objects, documents, and other artifacts illustrating the history of people, places, and ideas related to MIT. An extensive website was set up in tandem^[2] , with much supplemental information, including nominations from the MIT community for exhibition items, and an online timeline of history. Also, a sizable number of video interviews specially created for the exhibition are available for viewing.

Notes

1. ^ "Museum’s Hall of Hacks Concludes Ten-Year Run". The Tech. The Tech staff. http://tech.mit.edu/V121/N10/10hacks.10n.html. Retrieved 2011-04-22. 
2. ^ "MIT 150 Exhibition". MIT Museum. http://museum.mit.edu/150/. Retrieved 2011-04-22. 

External links

• Museum website
• MIT 150 Exhibition website

Coordinates: 42°21′46″N 71°5′57″W / 42.36278°N 71.09917°W / 42.36278; -71.09917