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34-563: The Woolrich Electrical Generator , now in Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museum , England, is the earliest electrical generator used in an industrial process. Built in February 1844 at the Magneto Works of Thomas Prime and Son, Birmingham, to a design by John Stephen Woolrich (1820–1850), it was used by the firm of Elkingtons for commercial electroplating . The generator stood for some time in

68-693: A European Space Agency training camp as part of a British Association of Planetaria conference. The Planetarium can be noticed if you look closely in the Minibrum Area. The museum shares the Millennium Point building with Birmingham City University , and is situated in the Eastside district. It lies near Aston University and the Gun Quarter – which was for many years the centre of world's gun-manufacturing industry. Immediately opposite are The Woodman ,

102-423: A World War I memorial event. Aside from projecting stars, digital planetariums can fill the dome with 360˚ of sound and video, and are therefore also known as immersive cinemas or ' fulldome ' theatres. The planetarium displays films about space and the night sky, the human body and undersea exploration , as well as music and light shows. In September 2014 it was used to provide a live link with Tim Peake at

136-948: A planetarium . The Science Centre was an exploratorium-style museum included as a small part of the complex. This combination of interactive science museum, planetarium and Omnimax theater pioneered a configuration that many major science museums now follow. Also in 1973, the Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC) was founded as an international organisation to provide a collective voice, professional support, and programming opportunities for science centres, museums and related institutions. The massive Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie (City of Science and Industry) opened in Paris in 1986, and national centres soon followed in Denmark (Experimentarium), Sweden ( Tom Tits Experiment ), Finland ( Heureka ), and Spain ( Museu de les Ciencies Principe Felipe ). In

170-461: A hands-on approach, featuring interactive exhibits that encourage visitors to experiment and explore. Recently, there has been a push for science museums to be more involved in science communication and educating the public about the scientific process. Microbiologist and science communicator Natalia Pasternak Taschner stated, "I believe that science museums can promote critical thinking, especially in teenagers and young adults, by teaching them about

204-465: A magneto-electrical machine (instead of batteries ) in electroplating, and the use of gold sulphite and silver sulphite as electrolytes. He offered to sell the rights to Elkingtons for the enormous sum of £15,000; they declined, and after some heated correspondence eventually, in May 1845, agreed to pay Woolrich £100 initially and then £400 annually for the rest of the term of the patent. Woolrich later relicensed

238-615: A new building. The former museum closed in 1997, and Thinktank opened on 29 September 2001 as part of the £114-million Millennium Point complex. It was funded by Birmingham City Council, supported by the Millennium Commission . The area adjacent to the building is designated Eastside City Park . While many objects were put on display at Thinktank, others were stored at the Birmingham Museum Collection Centre , and some were brought out of storage. Although

272-816: A product of the 1960s and later. In the United Kingdom , many were founded as Millennium projects , with funding from the National Lotteries Fund . The first 'science centre' in the United States was the Science Center of Pinellas County, founded in 1959. The Pacific Science Center (one of the first large organisations to call itself a 'science centre' rather than a museum), opened in a Seattle World's Fair building in 1962. In 1969, Oppenheimer 's Exploratorium opened in San Francisco , California , and

306-423: A public house, and Curzon Street railway station - both listed buildings. Science museum While the mission statements of science centres and modern museums may vary, they are commonly places that make science accessible and encourage the excitement of discovery. The public museum as understood today is a collection of specimens and other objects of interest to the scholar, the man of science as well as

340-566: A theme, in general going from the past, in The Past (Level 0), through The Balcony (Level 1) and The Present (Level 2), to the future, in The Future gallery (Level 3). It has lost its theme as new items have been added. It is used to display stars as they would appear from on Earth at any point in time, and to simulate travel to the stars. On 4 August 2014 it was used to project the night sky as it would have appeared on 3 August 1914, as part of

374-762: Is Ecsite , and in the United Kingdom, the Association of Science and Discovery Centres represents the interests of over 60 major science engagement organisations. The Asia Pacific Network of Science and Technology Centres (ASPAC) is an association initiated in 1997 with over 50 members from 20 countries across Asia and Australia (2022). Their regional sister organisations are the Network for the Popularization of Science and Technology in Latin America and The Caribbean (RedPOP),

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408-649: Is listed in the United Kingdom Census 1841 as a "Chemist", and at the time of his death on 20 April 1843 was a lecturer in chemistry at the Royal School of Medicine and Surgery in Birmingham. He had a particular interest in electrochemistry , and in February 1819 wrote a letter entitled On Galvanic Shocks to the Annals of Philosophy , pointing out an error in the editor Thomas Thomson 's book System of Chemistry . He

442-476: Is part of Birmingham Museums Trust and is located within the Millennium Point complex on Curzon Street, Digbeth . The Birmingham Collection of Science & Industry was started in the mid-19th century, initially consisting of collections of weapons from the gun trade and the Birmingham Proof House . The Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery opened in 1885, including science collections. In 1951,

476-583: Is the forerunner of all the magnificent dynamo machines that have since been invented. Professor Faraday, on the occasion of the meeting of the British Association in Birmingham, paid a visit, together with some of his scientific friends, to Messrs. Prime & Son's Works, purposely to see the application of this great discovery in practical operation, and expressed his intense delight at witnessing his discovery so early and extensively applied and so successfully carried into practical use. To Birmingham belongs

510-685: The Museum of Science ) which opened in Boston in 1864. Another was the Academy of Science, St. Louis , founded in 1856, the first scientific organisation west of the Mississippi. (Although the organisation managed scientific collections for several decades, a formal museum was not created until the mid-20th century.) The modern interactive science museum appears to have been pioneered by Munich's Deutsches Museum (German Museum of Masterpieces of Science and Technology) in

544-427: The Museum of Science and Industry opened at Elkington Silver Electroplating Works , Newhall Street. Over the following years, the museum acquired individual artefacts, as well as entire collections, that were related to local industry and the history of science and technology. Birmingham City Council decided in 1995 to relocate the museum when it was given an opportunity by the Millennium Commission to construct

578-901: The Ontario Science Centre opened near Toronto , Ontario , Canada. By the early 1970s, COSI Columbus , then known as the Center of Science and Industry in Columbus, Ohio , had run its first 'camp-in'. In 1983, the Smithsonian Institution invited visitors to the Discovery Room in the newly opened National Museum of Natural History Museum Support Center in Suitland, Maryland , where they could touch and handle formerly off-limits specimens. The new-style museums banded together for mutual support. In 1971, 16 museum directors gathered to discuss

612-621: The United Kingdom, the first interactive centres also opened in 1986 on a modest scale, with further developments more than a decade later, funded by the National Lottery for projects to celebrate the Millennium . Since the 1990s, science museums and centres have been created or greatly expanded in Asia. Examples are Thailand 's National Science Museum and Japan 's Minato Science Museum . Museums that brand themselves as science centres emphasise

646-516: The chapel of Aston Hall , accompanied by a plaque bearing the following inscription: This machine, founded upon Faraday's great discovery of Induction, was invented by the late John Stephen Woolrich of Birmingham. It was constructed by Messrs. Prime & Son in 1844, and was worked by them for many years, until superseded by machines of improved construction and greater power. It is the FIRST magnetic machine that ever deposited silver, gold or copper, and it

680-513: The displayed aircraft to their production, locally. Among the new exhibits are a leather flying helmet previously belonging to Helen Kerly , one of only two British civilian women commended for flying during the Second World War . Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museum has a big collection of stationary steam engines. The following are some examples of them: Thinktank has four floors of over 200 hands-on exhibits and artefacts. Each floor has

714-483: The early 20th century. This museum had moving exhibits where visitors were encouraged to push buttons and work levers. The concept was taken to the United States by Julius Rosenwald , chairman of Sears, Roebuck and Company , who visited the Deutsches Museum with his young son in 1911. He was so captivated by the experience that he decided to build a similar museum in his home town. The Ampère Museum , close to Lyon,

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748-641: The experience by publishing 'Cookbooks' that explain how to construct versions of the Exploratorium's exhibits. The Ontario Science Centre , which opened in September 1969, continued the trend of featuring interactive exhibits rather than static displays. In 1973, the first Omnimax cinema opened at the Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater and Science Center in San Diego's Balboa Park. The tilted-dome Space Theater doubled as

782-573: The honour not only of introducing electro-plate, the use of which has been extended to every civilised nation, but also the honour of first adopting Faraday's great discovery of obtaining electricity from magnetism, — a discovery that has influenced science and art to an enormous extent. The generator in its surviving form consists of eight axial bobbins with a magnetic field applied by four iron horseshoe magnets. The rectangular, wood frame measures 5 feet 4 inches (1.63 m) tall, 6 feet (1.8 m) wide, and 2 feet (61 cm) long. The generator

816-701: The more casual visitor, arranged and displayed in accordance with the scientific method. In its original sense, the term 'museum' meant a spot dedicated to the muses - 'a place where man's mind could attain a mood of aloofness above everyday affairs'. Museum of Jurassic Technology , Introduction & Background, p. 2. As early as the Renaissance period, aristocrats collected curiosities for display. Universities, and in particular medical schools , also maintained study collections of specimens for their students. Scientists and collectors displayed their finds in private cabinets of curiosities . Such collections were

850-628: The museum works closely with the Spanish National Research Council (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas). The Utrecht University Museum, established in 1836, and the Netherlands' foremost research museum, displays an extensive collection of 18th-century animal and human "rarities" in its original setting. More science museums developed during the Industrial Revolution , when great national exhibitions showcased

884-527: The patent himself to use in his own Magneto-Plating and Gilding Works in Great Charles Street, Birmingham, and in 1849 was listed as a "chemist & magneto-plater & gilder", residing at 12 James Street, just off St Paul's Square in the Jewellery Quarter . He died at the age of 29 in early 1850, and was buried at St Bartholomew's Church, Edgbaston on 4 March 1850. The elder John Woolrich

918-529: The possibility of starting a new association; one more specifically tailored to their needs than the existing American Association of Museums (now the American Alliance of Museums ). As a result of this, the Association of Science-Technology Centers was formally established in 1973, headquartered in Washington DC, but with an international organisational membership. The corresponding European organisation

952-684: The predecessors of modern natural history museums. In 1683, the first purpose-built museum covering natural philosophy , the original Ashmolean museum (now called the Museum of the History of Science) in Oxford , England, was opened, although its scope was mixed. This was followed in 1752 by the first dedicated science museum, the Museo de Ciencias Naturales , in Madrid , which almost did not survive Francoist Spain . Today,

986-427: The previous science museum was free to enter, Thinktank charges an entrance fee. In 2005 the museum underwent a £2 million upgrade, including the installation of a planetarium. By 2007 it had received over 1 million visitors. In April 2012, Birmingham Museums Trust took over governance and management responsibility for Thinktank, along with eight other sites. In March 2015, a new "Spitfire gallery" opened, relating

1020-606: The scientific method and the process of science, and how by using this to develop knowledge and technology, we can be less wrong." Urania was a science centre founded in Berlin in 1888. Most of its exhibits were destroyed during World War II, as were those of a range of German technical museums. The Academy of Science of Saint Louis (founded in 1856) created the Saint Louis Museum of Science and Natural History in 1959 ( Saint Louis Science Center ), but generally science centres are

1054-613: The triumphs of both science and industry. An example is the Great Exhibition in 1851 at The Crystal Palace , London, England, surplus items from which contributed to the Science Museum, London , founded in 1857. In the United States of America, various natural history Societies established collections in the early 19th century. These later evolved into museums. A notable example is the New England Museum of Natural History (now

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1088-744: Was created in 1931 and is the first interactive scientific museum in France. Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry opened in phases between 1933 and 1940. In 1959, the Museum of Science and Natural History (now the Saint Louis Science Center ) was formally created by the Academy of Science of Saint Louis, featuring many interactive science and history exhibits, and in August 1969, Frank Oppenheimer dedicated his new Exploratorium in San Francisco almost completely to interactive science exhibits, building on

1122-452: Was fitted with a commutator , as electroplating requires direct current. The generator's designer, John Stephen Woolrich, was born in Lichfield , England in late 1820. The second son of John Woolrich (c.1791–1843) and his wife Mary Woolrich (formerly Egginton), he was baptised at St Mary's Church, Lichfield on 6 November 1820. In August 1842 he was granted patent number 9431 for the use of

1156-476: Was granted a number of patents for chemical processes, including one in 1836 for an improved method of producing "carbonate of baryta" ( barium carbonate ) and another in 1839 for producing " carbonate of lead , commonly called white lead". Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museum Thinktank, Birmingham (formerly known as simply Thinktank ) is a science museum in Birmingham , England . Opened in 2001, it

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