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WASHINGTON, DC—The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) will unveil the “Marian Koshland Science Museum of the National Academy of Sciences on April 23. The museum's aim is to present and explore the oftentimes-controversial science underpinning public policy by displaying exhibits based on the themes of past NAS reports. The museum is funded primarily through a $25 million gift from former Science editor Daniel Koshland, a professor of cell biology at the University of California, Berkeley. An heir to the Levi-Strauss fortune, Koshland made the gift to memorialize his wife Marian, an immunologist and active academy member who died in 1997. Koshland opted for a science museum. “I've always been interested in the public understanding of science,” he told The Scientist.The museum, whose 6000 square feet is modest compared with the nearby Smithsonian Air and Space and Natural History museums, at 161,000 and 197,000 square feet, respectively. “I tell people it's a cocktail party rather than a meal,” said Koshland. “This is not an artifact-based museum,” Peter Schultz, the museum's exhibits and public programs director, told The Scientist. “It's focused on how science can better inform decision making.” The permanent exhibits include a video on the discovery of the double helix and stories of other scientific achievements, including the discovery of the microbe and the development of the telescope and plastics. Initial temporary installments include an exhibit on global warming and one on DNA sequence, paying particular attention to forensics, emerging infectious diseases, inherited diseases, and genetically modified crops.In an exhibit titled “Consider the Alternative,” museum patrons are asked to consider different climatic dilemmas and then to choose how to address them. For every presumptive solution, there are tradeoffs and sacrifices. For example, the exhibit's computer panel display explains that planting new trees and enforcing stricter energy efficiency standards will help reduce carbon dioxide levels. Planting trees costs less, but takes considerably more time. Respondents are told how much money their household would have to contribute based on the regulation recommendations entered. Users' responses will be recorded and tallied, and the data analyzed by a research group at Penn State University.Another exhibit, meant to illustrate the carbon cycle, consists of a large, water-filled glass sphere—never to be opened, according to Schultz—containing only algae and brine shrimp. Emulating the earth's carbon cycle, no outside air, water, nutrients, or other matter can enter the sphere. All work in concert as part of a short-term carbon cycle.The temporary exhibits will be on display 2 to 3 years and will then travel to science museums. Future exhibits have not yet been determined, according to Erika Shugart, the museum's online media and education director. Online versions of both temporary exhibits as well as educational materials for science teachers will eventually be posted on the museum's Web site.NAS members were consulted for their input on the exhibits, which Koshland found quite valuable. But they often wanted more content than could reasonably be presented to the layperson in a museum. “They had to be restrained in their enthusiasm,” Koshland told The Scientist.Koshland's gift will provide for the museum's endowment. Admission costs ($5 for adults and $3 for students) will support educational programs and other activities. Such events may include mock NAS meetings. According to Shugart, other activities may include a wine tasting that compares wines from the same grapes and same vineyards but from different years and therefore different climatic conditions, or wines made from “modern” grapes to their ancestral cousins, determined based on a DNA analysis.Koshland is certain that the exhibits are accurate; he's more concerned about their presentation. “I'm always apprehensive about the theater,” he said. “I think it's lots of fun. But we'll have to see if the public feels the same way.”Editor's Note: For more on science museums, see The Scientist's March 29, 2004 issue.

Koshland museum set to open

Exhibits in Washington, DC, will be based on NAS reports underpinning public policy

Mar 24, 2004

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