After two or three failed attempts, Joe and I finally made it to the London Science Museum today for two big checkmarks on our list: Hidden Universe in IMAX and Collider, a limited time exhibit dedicated to CERN. (If you already think this is a nerdy post, read no further.)
We have wanted to see Hidden Universe for months; we missed out on a showing at the Tycho Brahe Planetarium in Copenhagen when we were there in September, so we were excited to see it advertised in the Tube stations when we arrived in London. Although little of the information in the film was new to Joe and only some was new to me, this is the one time I will say that seeing something in 3D made a big difference. The film helps the audiences visualize universal structures like nebulas, galaxies, and supernovas, but rather than seeing these systems as flat images, they are projected in incredibly detailed and accurate three dimensions. As a person who has always struggled with spacial intelligence, this was a profound experience; whenever Joe shows me images of the cosmos, I tend to see them as single-layered rather than recognizing the depth and distance they represent. IMAX 3D allowed me to see the levels.
The film also introduced the world's most powerful telescopes and talked about the Very Large Telescope and ALMA in the Atacama Desert in Chile and the James Webb Space Telescope, which will be the successor to Hubble very soon. One of the most interesting details about these telescopes is how they use lasers to pinpoint a guide star and use that to correct for any misinformation that could be caused by heat and cold when trying to focus on elements in deep space.
If this film is playing anywhere near you, we would definitely recommend it to everyone (including children). Right now the only California location is San Jose, but I'd keep checking as it's bound to come to San Diego and LA, too.
~~~~~
Besides the film, we took advantage of Collider, an exhibition that mimics life as a CERN scientist. CERN is the European Council for Nuclear Research; at their underground facility in Switzerland, these partical physicists and engineers use accelerators and detectors to study and discover the fundamental particles that make up the structure of the universe. Using the Large Hadron Collider, they recently made history by confirming the existence of the Higgs particle.
The exhibit is basically a life-sized model of parts of the CERN laboratory and each visitor is made to feel like a team member working to solve the mystery of the Higgs Boson. While neither Joe nor I liked the overt sentimentality in the video introduction, walking through the exhibit does feel like stepping into a working experiment. It's only on in London until May 5, but if you're here and you have a chance, it's worth checking out.
~~~~~~
Besides these two special exhibits, I was really impressed by the quality of the museums permanent collection. Every room is filled with huge models, replicas, and sometimes even original artifacts covering a vast array of topics from energy production to agriculture to 3D printing. There are areas dedicated to space travel and time pieces, DNA and inventors. The museum was detailed and broad but easy to navigate and incredibly informative. It would be easy to spend an entire day reading all of the different panels in the various sections.
 |
| Joe looking at a map of the Louisiana Purchase in the 18th Century Science room |
 |
| This program allows visitors to click on any object and get an explanation of what it is, plus links to themed descriptions of scientists, inventors, and movements within a given field |
 |
| The miniaturized dioramas in the agriculture exhibit were the most detailed and accurate I've ever seen. This may look like a flat image, but the farm was a 3D recreation that melded into the painted background so seamlessly that it's almost impossible to tell where they meet. |
 |
| A close-up of one of the dioramas; so realistic that it just seems like a photo of the actual scene |
We have much more left to see in London, of course, but the Science Museum is a big checkmark for us. We had a great day!
 |
| Who doesn't want an Albert Einstein plushie? |
No comments:
Post a Comment