Museum of Science and Industry (Chicago)
The south facade of the Museum overlooks a reflecting lagoon in Jackson Park. | |
Former name | Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, Rosenwald Industrial Museum |
|---|---|
| Established | 1933 |
| Location | 5700 South DuSable Lake Shore Drive Chicago, Illinois, 60637 |
| Coordinates | 41°47′26″N 87°34′58″W / 41.79056°N 87.58278°W |
| Type | Science and technology museum |
| Visitors | 1.5 million (2016) |
| Founder | Julius Rosenwald |
| Director | Chevy Humphrey, President and CEO |
| Public transit access | CTA bus routes: 6 10 28 55 Metra Train: 55th/56th/57th Street |
| Website | msichicago.org |
| Designated | November 1, 1995 |
The Museum of Science and Industry (MSI; formally Kenneth C. Griffin Museum of Science and Industry since 2024) is a private, non-profit science museum located in Jackson Park, the Hyde Park neighborhood, Chicago, Illinois. It is adjacent to Lake Michigan and the University of Chicago campus.
The museum is housed in the Palace of Fine Arts from the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. Initially endowed by Sears, Roebuck and Company president and philanthropist Julius Rosenwald and supported by the Commercial Club of Chicago, it opened in 1933 during the Century of Progress Exposition. It was renamed for benefactor and financier Kenneth C. Griffin on May 19, 2024.
Among the museum's most popular exhibits are the actual German submarine U-505 Type IXC captured during World War II; a United Airlines Boeing 727; the Pioneer Zephyr (the first streamlined diesel-powered passenger train in the US); the command module of the Apollo 8 spacecraft; a full-size replica coal mine; and a 3,500-square-foot (330 m2) model railroad. Permanent or special exhibits cover manufacturing, environmental science, chemistry, physics, computers, the brain, mechanics of the human body, and agricultural science, among other subjects.