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National Museum of Natural History

Coordinates: 38°53′29″N 77°01′33″W / 38.8913°N 77.0259°W / 38.8913; -77.0259
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For the museum in Manhattan, see American Museum of Natural History.
For other uses, see the museum in Washington, D.C..
National Museum of Natural History
Map
Established1910
LocationNational Mall in Washington, D.C., United States
TypeNatural History
VisitorsAbout 5.5 million visits annually
Websitewww.mnh.si.edu
Ford Model T parked in front of the National Museum in 1926

The National Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.. Admission is free and the museum is open 364 days a year.

The museum's collections total over 125 million specimens of plants, animals, fossils, minerals, rocks, meteorites, and human cultural artifacts, making it the largest such museum anywhere. It is the second most popular of all of the Smithsonian museums and is also home to about 185 professional natural history scientists — the largest group of scientists dedicated to the study of natural and cultural history in the world.

History

The museum was established in 1910, with its building designed by Hornblower & Marshall.[1] The building, designed in the neoclassical architectural style, was the first constructed on the north side of the National Mall, along Constitution Avenue, as part of the 1901 McMillan Commission plan. In 2000, Kenneth E. Behring donated $80 million to the museum and in 1997 donated $20 million to modernize it.[2]

In addition to exhibits, the museum maintains reference collections such as those of the National Herbarium.

In 2005, The "Butterfly of Peace" gem was first displayed in the U.S.[3] In 2008, an exhibit opened with 5,000 square feet (460 m2) dedicated to soil and its life-sustaining properties.[4]

Features

Hall of Geology, Gems, and Minerals

The National Gem and Mineral Collection is one of the most significant collections of its kind in the world. The collection includes some of the most famous pieces of gems and minerals including the famous Hope Diamond and the Star of Asia Sapphire. There are currently over 15,000 individual gems in the collection, as well as 350,000 minerals and 300,000 samples of rock and ore specimens.[5] Additionally, the Smithsonian's National Gem and Mineral Collection houses approximately 35,000 meteorites, which is considered to be one of the most comprehensive collections of its kind in the world. [5]

The museum as seen from the National Mall, the Old Post Office Building visible in the distance

The Hope Diamond is one of the most popular attractions in the exhibit. It weighs 45.52 carats (9.104 g),[5] and is most well known for the supposed curse that it puts on its owners. Almost all of the previous owners of the diamond have been forced to sell it out of financial strife. The Star of Asia Sapphire is one of the largest sapphires in the world, weighing 330 carats (66 g), it was mined in Sri Lanka.

Part of the collection is displayed in the Janet Annenberg Hooker Hall of Geology, Gems and Minerals, one of the many galleries in the Museum of Natural History. Some of the most important donors are Washington A. Roebling, the man who built the Brooklyn Bridge, who gave 16,000 specimens to the collection, Frederick A. Canfield, who donated 9,000 specimens to the collection, and Dr. Isaac Lea, who donated the base of the museum’s collection of 1312 gems and minerals.

Hall of dinosaurs

The museum has over 570,000 catalogued reptiles from around the world. The National Collection of Amphibians and Reptiles has increased 200% over the past 40 years (190,000 specimen records in 1970 to over 570,000 specimen records in 2008).[6] The Hall of Dinosaurs has fossilized skeletons and cast models, including Tyrannosaurus rex facing off with Triceratops, and the "Triceratops exhibit shows the first accurate dinosaur skeleton in virtual motion, achieved through the use of scanning and digital technology."[7][8] The collection consists of 46 "complete and important specimens" of dinosaurs.[9] The website has a "virtual tour" of the collection.[10]

Hall of mammals

The museum has the largest collection of vertebrate specimens in the world, nearly twice the size of the next largest mammal collections, including historically important collections from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.[11] Its collection was initiated by C. Hart Merriam and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (later the Department of Interior), which expanded it in the 1890s-1930s.[12]

O. Orkin Insect Zoo

The O. Orkin Insect Zoo features live insects and exhibits about insects and entomologists. Different habitats have been created to show the type of insects that live in different environments and how they have adapted to a freshwater pond, house, mangrove swamp, desert, and rain forest. The zoo is sponsored by Orkin, a pest control company.

Sant Ocean Hall

The Sant Ocean Hall opened on September 27th, 2008, and is the largest renovation of the museum since it opened in 1910. The hall includes 674 marine specimens and models drawn from the over 80 million specimens in the museum's total collection, the largest in the world. The hall is named for the Roger Sant family, who donated $15 million to endow the new hall and other related programs.

The hall consists of 23,000 square feet of exhibition space and features a replica of a 45-foot-long North Atlantic Right Whale, a 1,500-gallon aquarium, a 24-foot-long female giant squid, an adult coelacanth, and a Basilosaurus.[13]

Other

The museum has an IMAX Theater for feature-length films, and the Discovery Room, a family- and student-friendly hands-on activity room on the first floor.[14]

The museum also houses an exhibit on the culture and heritage of the Sikh people called Sikhs: Legacy of the Punjab. This exhibition is located between the Mammals Hall and the Baseball Exhibit on the first floor.

In the lower level there is a bird exhibit with all the migratory and native birds to Washington D.C.

  • Underneath the museum rotunda
    Underneath the museum rotunda
  • Hope Diamond
    Hope Diamond
  • Hall of Dinosaurs
    Hall of Dinosaurs
  • Hall of Mammals
    Hall of Mammals
  • Hall of Mammals other side
    Hall of Mammals other side
  • In Fallout 3, one of the museum's sections is home to the ghoul's (Humans mutated by nuclear war) city named Underworld.

References

  1. ^ "About The Museum". National Museum of Natural History. 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-17.
  2. ^ "Smithsonian Receives Gift Of $80 Million". New York Times. September 19, 2000. Retrieved 2008-09-17.
  3. ^ "NYC exhibit of diamonds arranged as butterfly". Staten Island Advance. September 3, 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-17.
  4. ^ "Smithsonian's 'Dig It' exhibit opens with help from UD soil scientists". University of Delaware. September 7, 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-17.
  5. ^ a b c Hevesi, Dennis (2008-04-06). "George Switzer, 92, Dies; Started a Gem Treasury". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-04-09.
  6. ^ "Vertebrate Zoology: Division of Amphibians & Reptiles". National Museum of Natural History. 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-17.
  7. ^ "New and Improved". National Geographic. December 1, 2000. Retrieved 2008-09-17.
  8. ^ "Dinosaur Hall". National Museum of Natural History. 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-17.
  9. ^ "Dinosaur Collections". National Museum of Natural History. 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-17.
  10. ^ "Virtual Tour of the Dinosaur Collections". National Museum of Natural History. 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-17.
  11. ^ "Department of Vertebrate Zoology". National Museum of Natural History. 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-17.
  12. ^ "Vertebrate Zoology: Division of Mammals". National Museum of Natural History. 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-17.
  13. ^ "The New Sant Ocean Hall Opens Sept 27. at the Smithonian's National Museum of Natural History" (PDF). National Museum of Natural History. September 24, 2008. Retrieved 2009-07-28.
  14. ^ "National Museum of Natural History - Smithsonian Institution". Washington Post. 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-17.
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38°53′29″N 77°01′33″W / 38.8913°N 77.0259°W / 38.8913; -77.0259

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