5700 S. Lake Shore Drive
Chicago IL, 60637
Phone: 773.684.1414 Visit Website
The Museum of Science and Industry is the Midwest's second most popular tourist attraction. Built with a love and reverence for science and technology, it places special emphasis on hands-on, Interactive exhibits and was created to "captivate, compel and provide real experiences to inspire the inventive genius in everyone."
More Info
General Info
Specialty: Educational, Family fun Location: Hyde Park Attire: Casual Reservations: Not required Hours: Monday - Saturday: 9:30 am to 4:00 pm
Sunday - 11:00 am to 5:00 pm
Prices: General Admission - $11.00 (non - residents) $10.00 (residents)
Children (3-11 years old) - $7.00 (non - residents) $6.25 (residents)
Senior's - $9.50 ( non - residents) $8.75 (residents) See website for special attraction costs not covered by general admission
The Museum of Science and Industry, once called the Palace of Fine Arts, was built as a tribute to classic Greek architecture for the 1893 World’s Colombian Exposition. The building is considered one of the most regal structures in the Midwest. More than two-thousand exciting and intriguing displays are housed in seventy-five major exhibition halls. Best loved exhibits include the dark and labyrinthine coal mine, the chick hatchery where you can actually watch baby chicks being born, a yesteryear tour of State Street showing the way it looked a hundred years ago and the simulated lift-off of a NASA Space Shuttle.
The Omni-Max Theater, located in the Henry Crown Space Theater, has the most sophisticated film and sound system in the world; an audience is literally surrounded by a giant screen five stories tall that wraps viewers in a visual experience so powerful they feel as if they are actually walking on the moon, or climbing the pyramids or helping a family of beavers build a home in the middle of a river bed. In addition, you can walk through the heart of a human being twenty-eight stories tall or wind your way through a World War Two German submarine.
The museum lies along the edge of Chicago's Hyde Park community near Lake Michigan. Here you will be able to view some of the city's oldest historic homes and tour a Frank Loyd Wright House located only a few blocks from the University of Chicago campus.
Events Calendar
Smart Home: Green + Wired From: May 03 2008 To: January 04 2009 During its 75th Anniversary year, the Museum of Science and Industry will be building a functioning, three-story modular and sustainable “green” home in its own backyard to show case the ways, big and small, that people can make eco-friendly living a part of their lives—and to highlight unique home technologies for the 21st century.
The Glass Experience From: March 17 2008 To: September 01 2008 The Glass Experience explores how glass has shattered the paradigms of our world’s civilizations. The often overlooked material is all around us in many functional and decorative forms. Discoveries such as air-locked vessels and vacuum tubes have lead to preserved foods, electric lights, television and radio.
Dale Chihuly's Macchia Forest From: March 17 2008 To: September 01 2008 More than 20 large, hand-blown colored glass sculptures have been constructed for the exhibit by renowned glass artist Dale Chihuly. Each organically-shaped sculpture is placed on a pedestal of a varying height, filling the air with speckled, brilliantly colored pieces—giving the illusion of a glass forest. This 2,000-square-foot Macchia Forest will be accompanied by a short film that explains the scientific process that is involved with the external coloring of a glass object.
Coal Mine From: February 16 2008 To: February 16 2009 Permanent Exhibition Genetics: Decoding Life From: February 16 2008 To: February 16 2009 Permanent Exhibition
Exhibition examines the role that genes and genetic technology play in our daily lives and the future potential of genetic science. This 7,000 square feet exhibit will feature a variety of interactives for visitors to discover the excitement of cutting edge genetic science and to learn about the complex interplay between their genes and environmental cues that goes into developing new life.
The Great Train Story From: February 16 2008 To: February 16 2009 Permanent Exhibition:
Model railroad exhibit boasts a 3500 square foot layout, which depicts a winding journey between Chicago and Seattle.
The Farm From: February 16 2008 To: February 16 2009 Permanent Exhibition:
This exhibit introduces visitors to the technology behind the farming industry.
Idea Factory and Imagination Station From: February 16 2008 To: February 16 2009 As the centerpiece of the Museum’s Imagination Station, The Idea Factory is a learning-through-play exhibit that gives young children the opportunity to explore scientific principles through interactive activities. Using four basic objects - a cube, sphere, tetrahedron and cylinder - children experiment and test their own theories about the fundamentals of construction, simple machines, light, color, magnetism, balance, air and water. In the Water Spectacle children can build and navigate their own boats to learn how water moves objects. With Construction Crane, children utilize hand-eye coordination skills to retrieve and move objects through the use of an electromagnetic crane.
The Great Train Story From: December 24 2007 To: December 24 2008 The Great Train Story replaces the Museum’s 60-year-old model railroad exhibit and boasts a 3,500 square foot layout, which depicts the railroad’s winding journey between Chicago and Seattle, passing through the Midwest, the Plains States, the Rockies, the Cascades, and into the Pacific Northwest. Along the way, trains are involved in industries as diverse as grain commodities, raw materials for manufacturing, consumer goods for import and export, lumber, apples, and tourism.
Smart Home: Green + Wired
The Glass Experience
Dale Chihuly's Macchia Forest
Coal Mine
Genetics: Decoding Life
The Great Train Story
Permanent Exhibition: 
The Farm
