The New York Hall of Science (branded as NYSCI) is a science museum at 4701 111th Street, within Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, in the Corona neighborhood of Queens in New York City, New York, US. It occupies one of the few remaining structures from the 1964 New York World's Fair, along with two annexes completed in 1996 and 2004. There are more than 400 interactive exhibits, which focus on biology, chemistry, and physics. Wallace Harrison designed the original structure, an curving concrete structure called the Great Hall. It adjoins an entrance rotunda designed by Beyer Blinder Belle; a glass-and-metal north wing designed by Todd H. Schliemann; a science playground; and Rocket Park, which contains a collection of spacecraft.
The museum includes the Hall of Science pavilion and the adjacent Space Park, developed for the 1964 New York World's Fair. The Hall of Science opened as a fair attraction on June 16 and reopened as a museum on September 21, 1966. There was an attempt to renovate the museum in the 1970s. The museum was temporarily shuttered in January 1981 for another renovation, but, due to financial issues, it was abandoned after the renovation was completed in 1983. Alan J. Friedman took over, reopening it in 1986; he also oversaw the development of the two annexes. The original building was renovated between 2009 and 2015. The museum was temporarily closed during the early 2020s due to the COVID-19 pandemic and Hurricane Ida.
The New York Hall of Science mainly focuses on children's education. It includes a large permanent collection and range of traveling exhibitions. It has hosted numerous temporary exhibits over the years, although many of its exhibits in the 1960s and 1970s had only a tangential connection to science. It offers several programs for students, operates the Alan J. Friedman Center for youth education, and holds events such as the seasonal Queens Night Market and Maker Faire.
World's Fair use The current New York Hall of Science museum includes both the Hall of Science pavilion and the adjacent Space Park at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York City, United States. Both structures were originally built for the 1964 New York World's Fair, which US president Dwight D. Eisenhower had approved in 1959.; At the time the Hall of Science was built, New York City lacked an active science-specific museum. There had been a small science museum, the New York Museum of Science and Industry, at Rockefeller Center until the 1940s.
Development
Initial plans US representative Seymour Halpern introduced legislation in 1960 to provide funding for a permanent science museum, library, and auditorium at the fair. Robert Moses, who was the president of the World's Fair Corporation (WFC), also advocated for a large science museum at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park. Moses initially supported the creation of a science museum at the nearby United States Pavilion.; In 1962, City Councilmember Bernard H. Manheimer introduced legislation in the New York City Council to establish a science museum for $15–20 million. At the time, nine sites were under discussion, including the World's Fair site.; Mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr. and City Council president Paul R. Screvane supported a science museum at the World's Fair. The proposed science museum was to be located at 111th Street near the Long Island Rail Road tracks in Corona, on a site that other exhibitors had shunned. To pay for the exhibits, Screvane applied for funding from an unspecified private foundation, which rejected the request as "weak".
A competing organization, the New York Museum of Science and Technology, had received a charter from the New York state government in December 1962. The museum's board preferred erecting a building in Manhattan, saying that the World's Fair building would contain only , cost up to $8.5 million, and could not be ready within a year. There were concerns that the World's Fair site would be too far from Manhattan, even though there was a New York City Subway station nearby at 111th Street. Another institution, the New York Academy of Sciences, wanted to build a 21-story science museum at Lincoln Center in Manhattan. Nonetheless, in April 1963, the Hall of Science at the World's Fair received approval from Wagner, the New York City Planning Commission,; and the City Council. New York governor Nelson Rockefeller authorized the city government to negotiate with nonprofit organizations to operate the Hall of Science.
Design and construction Wallace K. Harrison was hired to design the museum, which was to include of exhibit space on two levels. Initially, the city allocated $3.6 million to the Hall of Science, taking funds that had been earmarked for an incinerator. Work on the Hall of Science began on June 19, 1963. By that October, the museum needed another $1.6 million in funding. To expedite the Hall of Science's construction, Harrison decided to prefabricate the concrete panels for the museum building, rather than pouring the panels on-site. That month, Wagner approved a $5.5 million contract for the construction of the World's Fair museum, and he provided a $474,000 appropriation for the museum. There were also disputes over who would operate the Hall of Science. Moses claimed that the Museum of Science and Technology's board had no control over the museum, and he wished to appoint a new board for the Hall of Science. Moses planned to retain the Hall of Science after the fair, and he wanted to construct two additional structures for the museum when the fair closed.
Concurrently, the WFC had set aside for an "aerospace island" on the western section of the fairground, next to the Ford Motor Company and General Motors pavilions. In March 1964, US governmental officials announced that they would operate the United States Space Park at the fair, with various spacecraft loaned by NASA. The federal government planned to spend $650,000 on the land and $1 million on the exhibits. William Whipple Jr., the engineer overseeing the fair's construction, indicated that the Hall of Science would not be completed in time for the fair's planned opening on April 22, 1964. By mid-1964, the Hall of Science's cost had increased to $7,587,432, more than twice the original estimate.
Operation
The Hall of Science's basement exhibits opened on June 16, 1964, but the building was not officially dedicated until September 9, 1964. Originally, the Hall of Science housed 12 exhibits related to science and health, most of which were sponsored by private businesses. Abbott Laboratories, American Cancer Society, Ames Company, Hearing Aid Industry Conference, Office of Civil Defense, American Chemical Society, Dow Corning, General Aniline & Film, International Telephone & Telegraph, United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), and Upjohn Company sponsored exhibits in the pavilion. The biological and chemical exhibits included models of the brain, molecular biology, the human digestive system, and hearing aids. There were also exhibits about cancer detection, ocean life, and nuclear-war survival. The pavilion also included a screening of Frank Capra's 1964 film Rendezvous in Space, three space vehicles, the Atomsville USA children's exhibit, a "color tree", and a model of a busy airport with an air control tower. In addition, there was a cylindrical laboratory measuring across. Many of these exhibits were to be preserved after the fair.
When the Space Park opened, it included three rockets measuring tall, in addition to the Discoverer 14 satellite and several full-scale models of satellites and rockets. Among the other objects displayed there were a lunar excursion module, Thor and Atlas space launch vehicles, a space capsule from Project Mercury, and an Agena target vehicle. Twenty-one young male "hosts" spent 60 hours memorizing space facts, then answered visitors' questions about the Space Park. Because of its secluded location, the Space Park recorded 6,000 to 7,000 daily visitors by mid-1964, making it among the fair's less popular structures.
The first season of the World's Fair ended on October 18, 1964. That December, the city government and Moses appointed 16 trustees to oversee the Hall of Science's operation. Wagner directed the trustees to devise ideas for converting the pavilion to a museum. The pavilion was to be taken over by a nonprofit museum, and the US government also planned to give the Space Park to the Hall of Science. The second and final season of the fair ran from April 21 to October 17, 1965.; During that season, the Hall of Science hosted science demonstrations. The US government also added exhibits to the Space Park to celebrate notable events in spaceflight; for instance, the spacecraft from the Gemini 4 mission was displayed during mid-1965. The Hall of Science needed at least $5 million to continue operating after the fair. That funding had not been raised by the end of the fair, prompting the pavilion's temporary closure.
Museum use
Conversion to museum The Mayor's Committee on the Future of Flushing Meadow recommended in mid-1965 that the Hall of Science be retained after the fair, though most other fairground structures would be demolished.; The City Council voted in December 1965 to allocate $67,000 to the Hall of Science. By early 1966, the Hall of Science was one of the few remaining structures on the World's Fair site, and the trustees were working to convert the structure into a permanent museum. The Hall of Science's trustees wanted to convert the nearby Ford Rotunda and United States Pavilion into additional space for the Hall of Science, but Moses instead wanted the Ford Rotunda to be demolished. Additionally, the city government considered illuminating the pavilion's facade nightly after the fair ended. William D. Laurence was hired to create a report on the museum. Laurence proposed the construction of two wings known as the Hall of Inventions and Hall of Discovery, to be staffed by "actors playing the parts of great scientists and inventors".
In the meantime, the city spent $6 million to add exhibits to the existing pavilion. The Hall of Science officially opened to the public as a museum on September 21, 1966,; ; and initially did not charge an admission fee. The museum rented the land from the city for a nominal fee. Most of the original exhibits were in the base and included exhibits themed to space and nuclear power. There were also exhibits about subjects such as mathematics and electricity, in addition to a "little red schoolhouse" exhibit for younger children. Many exhibits were holdovers from the World's Fair; for example, the Atomsville USA exhibit was preserved, and the New York Telephone Company's exhibit was split into several exhibits about technology. Other exhibits were modified, such as the basement auditorium, which became an exhibit about power plants. Each exhibit also included a telephone handset or a push-button that provided explanations to visitors. The Great Hall on the upper stories hosted a single exhibit: a space film by the Martin Marietta Company. In total, the original exhibits covered about .
Early years Two thousand children were visiting the museum daily by early 1967, and Emanuel R. Piore was appointed as the Hall of Science's president that November. Francis D. Miller served as the museum's director. The museum accommodated two million visitors within two years of its opening, mainly school classes and families. Exhibits, including a replica of a lunar spacecraft's interior, were added in the late 1960s. A fence and lights were added around the Space Park in 1970 after the Atlas rocket was bombed. Generally, during the late 1960s and 1970s, funding for the museum was diverted to other projects citywide.
Unfinished 1960s expansion