The Houston Museum of Natural Science (abbreviated as HMNS ) is a natural history museum located on the northern border of Hermann Park in Houston , Texas , United States. The museum was established in 1909 by the Houston Museum and Scientific Society, an organization whose goals were to provide a free institution for the people of Houston focusing on education and science. The museum complex consists of a central facility with four floors of natural science halls and exhibits, the Burke Baker Planetarium, the Cockrell Butterfly Center, and the Wortham Giant Screen Theatre (formerly known as the Wortham IMAX Theatre). In 2022, the museum received 1,520,000 visitors, making it seventh on the List of most-visited museums in the United States , and was the third most-visited U.S. science museum. Much of the museum's popularity is attributed to its large number of special or guest exhibits.
22-556: The initial museum organization was called the Houston Museum and Scientific Society, Inc., and was created in 1909. The museum's primary collection was acquired between 1914 and 1930. This included the purchase of a natural-history collection assembled by Henry Philemon Attwater and a donation from collector John Milsaps, the latter of which formed the core of the museum's gem and mineral collection. First housed in Houston's city auditorium,
44-667: A 36-inch (910 mm) Gueymard Research Telescope and a solar telescope . The facility is located south of Sugar Land, Texas , at Brazos Bend State Park . The observatory also houses a portion of the Challenger Learning Center for Space Science Education. 29°43′18″N 95°23′23″W / 29.7216°N 95.3896°W / 29.7216; -95.3896 Henry Philemon Attwater Henry Philemon Attwater (28 April 1854, in Brighton – 25 September 1931, in Houston )
66-533: A Spitz Space Transit Planetarium, the Planetarium upgraded to an Evans & Sutherland Digistar 1 vector display in 1988, and was the first in the U.S. and third in the world to adopt multiple-projector digital image capability using the Sky-Skan SkyVision system in 1998. That allowed it to show fulldome movies, many of which were created by HMNS staff. Since 2004 its outreach program, "Discovery Dome", takes
88-417: A guide or self-paced. Guided tours may last about fifteen minutes, as the guide points out all the species of butterflies that are in the greenhouse that day. Stocks vary, as new shipments usually arrive weekly. Guides may also show butterfly eggs , caterpillars , and chrysalids and identify specific plants that are favored by each species. Usually, the best time to see butterflies emerging from their pupae
110-500: A satellite museum in Sugar Land , Texas. HMNS celebrated its 100th year in 2009. During that year, the museum offered a multitude of family programs, lectures, free events, and kids' classes as part of the "Fun Hundred" celebration. On October 3, 2009, HMNS opened its satellite museum in Telfair , Sugar Land. The building and surrounding land that became HMNS at Sugar Land was once part of
132-737: A small museum, which proved to be financially unsuccessful and closed in the summer of 1887. In 1889, the family emigrated from Canada to the US, where they lived in Sherman, Texas , and then in San Antonio . During the 1890s, Attwater collected and lectured throughout Texas and wrote on natural history and agricultural subjects. In 1900, he moved from San Antonio to Houston to become the Southern Pacific Railroad 's agricultural and industrial agent. He continued in this position until his retirement in 1913. In
154-575: Is a facility which is specifically intended for the breeding and display of butterflies with an emphasis on education. They may also be used to support local populations through butterfly release. Some butterfly houses also feature other insects and arthropods . Butterfly houses are owned and operated by zoos, museums, universities, non-profit corporations, and private individuals as part of their residence; as well as small businesses that are owner operated. Live butterfly exhibits became popular in England in
176-523: Is between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Butterflies are most active on warm and sunny days with little wind , because they require the heat of the sun to aid in their digestion. On rainy days, they usually hide in the flowers and leaves. There are often many different species in such butterfly houses, with stock including butterflies from Africa, Malaysia , South America, Thailand , Costa Rica , the Philippines , and other places. The vibrant colors and patterns on
198-743: The Central Unit , a Texas Department of Criminal Justice prison that had been unoccupied for several decades. In March 2012, the Wortham IMAX Theatre was converted from 70 mm film to 3D digital and renamed the Wortham Giant Screen Theatre. In June 2012, HMNS opened a new 230,000-square-foot (21,000 m) wing to house its paleontology hall, more than doubling the size of the original museum. Paleoartist , Julius Csotonyi , created fourteen murals based closely on concept drawings by HMNS Curator of Paleontology, Robert Bakker , for
220-726: The 1920s, he sold his natural history collection to the Witte Museum . His three ornithological papers deal with the nesting habits of 50 species of birds in Bexar County, Texas, the occurrence of 242 species of birds in the vicinity of San Antonio, and the deaths of thousands of warblers during a blue norther in March 1892. Attwater also contributed specimens to the Smithsonian Institution , collected birds for George B. Sennett , and provided notes for W. W. Cooke 's Bird Migration in
242-558: The 1980s, the museum's permanent displays included a dinosaur exhibit, a space museum, and exhibits on geology, biology, petroleum science, technology, and geography. In 1988, the Challenger Learning Center was opened in memory of the Space Shuttle Challenger crew members that were lost during the shuttle's tenth mission . The center's aim is to teach visitors about space exploration. The Wortham IMAX Theatre and
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#1733092839643264-636: The Brown Hall of Entomology opened in July 1994. In March 2007, the museum opened the HMNS Woodlands X-ploration Station, located in the Woodlands Mall. The facility was home to an interactive Dig Pit, where children could excavate a mock Triceratops , a variety of living exhibits, fossils, and minerals. The Woodlands location closed on September 7, 2009, less than a month before HMNS opened
286-730: The Mississippi Valley (1888) and the mammal section of Vernon Bailey 's Biological Survey of Texas (1905). Attwater was the director of the National Audubon Society from 1900 to 1910. He worked for the passage of the 1903 Model Game Law and hunting license laws. He also promoted legislation to protect the mourning dove Zenaida macroura . The rodents Peromyscus attwateri ( Texas mouse or Attwater's white-footed mouse) and Geomys attwateri ( Attwater's pocket gopher ) are named in his honor. Butterfly zoo A butterfly house , conservatory , or lepidopterarium
308-588: The collection was subsequently housed in the Central Library for seven years, and then at a site in the Houston Zoo in 1929. The museum's now wide-ranging education programs began in 1947 and, in its second year, hosted 12,000 children. The museum was officially renamed the Houston Museum of Natural Science in 1960. Construction of the current facility in Hermann Park began in 1964 and was completed in 1969. By
330-653: The end of the 1970s, appealing to the British love of greenhouses and natural settings. The tropical world's first live butterfly and insect sanctuary is Penang Butterfly Farm in Penang, Malaysia, established on March 29, 1986. The first butterfly house in the United States, Butterfly World , opened in Coconut Creek, Florida, in 1988. Butterfly houses are typically open to the public. Exploration of such facilities may be with
352-594: The latter part of 1884 and early 1885, Attwater and Gustave Toudouze, a naturalist and taxidermist from Losoya , were hired by the state of Texas to prepare and exhibit the Texas Pavilion's natural history specimens at the New Orleans World's Fair . On New Year's Eve in 1885 in Chatham, Ontario , Attwater married a widow with two children. In 1886 Attwater with his acquired family moved to London, Ontario, where he ran
374-491: The new paleontology hall. The Morian Hall of Paleontology contains more than 60 large skeleton mounts, including three Tyrannosaurus rex and three large Quetzalcoatlus . Burke Baker Planetarium presents a range of science and astronomy shows. As of 2016, the planetarium is equipped with the Digistar 5 fulldome projection system. It is one of the first 8k planetariums in the United States. Originally opened in 1969 with
396-501: The offsite George Observatory were opened in 1989. Museum attendance was more than one million visitors in 1990. HMNS trustees determined that new state-of-the-art facilities, additional space, and renovations to current exhibits were needed because of the increased attendance. Between 1991 and 1994, a number of exhibit halls were renovated and the expansion of the Sterling Hall of Research was completed. The Cockrell Butterfly Center and
418-478: The planetarium experience on the road, reaching over 40,000 students per year in classrooms and special events in portable digital domes. Cockrell Butterfly Center , a butterfly zoo located in museum complex. Opened in 1994, the center is housed in a three-story glass building filled with tropical plants and butterflies. The center exhibits a large range of live butterflies , including the migratory monarchs and their tropical cousins. The Cockrell Butterfly Center
440-421: The wings of the insects have earned them the fanciful nickname "flying flowers". Many species of adult butterflies live only one to two weeks, during which time they must produce a new generation. Some species, such as the familiar monarch butterfly, however, can live as long as six months or even longer in the wild. Schools have butterfly houses for educational purposes. In Puerto Rico, a group of students from
462-520: Was a British-Canadian-American naturalist and conservationist. Educated at St Nicholas Episcopal College in Shoreham , West Sussex , Attwater emigrated in 1873 from England to Ontario , Canada, where he engaged in farming and beekeeping. In 1883, a friend, John A. Morden, and he prepared and exhibited natural history specimens. In 1884, the two Canadians collected specimens in Bexar County, Texas . During
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#1733092839643484-505: Was reopened in May 2007 after being overhauled to make the exhibit more interactive; there are now games for children and a live insect zoo in the Brown Hall of Entomology . Wortham Giant Screen Theatre , a 394-seat theater presenting various educational films in 4K digital with advanced 3D technology on its 60 by 80 feet (18 by 24 m) screen. George Observatory , an astronomy observatory equipped with three domed telescopes, including
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