Eureka! 8 great science museums for the whole family

I’m a science junkie. Since I was a toddler I’ve loved visiting science museums, especially “hands-on” ones. I still relish visiting them and learning about the world around me.

Part of that comes from my dad, a top-notch chemical engineer (I’m one too). Even as a tot, my dad took me to the Franklin Institute. I know I didn’t understand much of the science at the time, but I couldn’t wait for a return trip.

I’ve taken my own kids to many happy visits there. They’re adults now, but we still go there, and other science museums too, while traveling. Here are some my science museum favorites for you and your family.

• Exploratorium (San Francisco) — This is probably the top science museum in the world. It has tremendous exhibits and much is “hands on.” It takes science and puts it in human terms. You can take an interactive excursion through the “Tactile Dome,” in total darkness with only your sense of touch to guide you, or see what stem cells, fruit flies, and zebrafish look like under a microscope at the “Microscope Imaging Station” to explore life through the lens, and so much more.

• Museum of Science and Industry (Chicago) — There’s always something new at this museum. The “Technology at Sea” exhibit showcases the science and technology used by our “high-tech” US Navy. In “Networld” you can use your avatar, with the help of interactive walls, to immerse yourself in the world of the Internet. And you can’t forget one of the most amazing train transportation exhibits anywhere.

• California Science Center (Los Angeles) — This museum has all kinds of “hands-on” wonders for young scientists and engineers. The communications exhibits including virtual games, digital jam sessions and whisper dishes are fabulous. You can’t leave the Center without visiting the World of Life BodyWorks were Tess teaches how our body keeps itself in balance, in a state called homeostasis, and there’s a lot more too for everyone.

• Smithsonian Air & Space Museum (Washington) — The museum, located on the National Mall has hundreds of original, historic aerospace artifacts on display, including the Wright Brothers 1903 Flyer, Charles Lindberg’s Spirit of St. Louis, and the Apollo 11 command module Columbia, which took Armstrong and Aldrin to the moon, and even a Lunar rock sample which visitors can touch. The history which is within this museum’s walls is phenominal, as is what we can learn from it.

• Smithsonian Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center (Chantilly, Va.) — In the giant hangar which is the main museum, visitors can walk among real aircraft and and other objects, including engines, helicopters, a Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, the Boeing B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay which dropped the world’s first atomic bomb, and the deHavilland Chipmunk aerobatic airplane, and don’t forget the Space Shuttle, Enterprise.

• Center of Science and Industry (Columbus, Ohio) — One of the best aspects of this museum is the lengths they go to help you customize your visit based on childrens’ age and maturity, and they have some wonderful exhibits for everyone. For ages 6–10, for example, they have the High Wire Unicycle, an ocean exhibit where you enter a research habitat, a space exhibit to test your skills as an “armchair” astronaut, or a gadgets café where every kid, even adult aged ones, can take toys apart to see how things work. And there’s so much more.

• The Franklin Institute (Philadelphia) — Sorry for the pun, but since 1954, the “heart” of the Franklin Institute has been the giant walk-through heart with its audible beat. Millions of kids have walked through the “Heart.” In the beginning it was really a novelty, but now it’s part of one of the most extensive heart anatomy and physiology, blood, diagnostics and treatment exhibit in the western world. From the EKG machine which each visitor can use to measure themselves, to a full size recreation of a surgical theater, complete with actual open-heart surgery being performed via video effects this exhibit wows visitors. While you’re there you can’t forget the incredible high-tech Fels Planetarium or the museum’s steam locomotive.

• Finally there is a small gem which is possibly the most interesting overlooked science museum in the US, The Mütter Museum (Philadelphia)  — The Museum, founded in 1858 to educate future doctors about anatomy and human medical anomalies, now serves to educate the public. It’s collection contains more than 20,000 unforgettable objects, including anatomical and pathological specimens, medical instruments and apparati, memorabilia of famous scientists and physicians, the plaster cast of the torso of world-famous Siamese Twins, Chang & Eng, and their conjoined livers, a cancerous growth removed from President Grover Cleveland and the tallest skeleton on display in North America.