ARTEFACTS XX
SCIENTIFIC HERITAGE AT WORLD EXHIBITIONS AND BEYOND
THE LONG XX CENTURY
20-22 SEPTEMBER 2015
ABSTRACTS
Leonardo Da Vinci and Italian Technology on display:
Chicago 1933 and New York 1940 World’s Fairs
Milano 1939 Leonardo and Italian Inventions Exhibition
Claudio Giorgione Curator, Museo Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnologia, Milano
The years between the two World Wars marked a very important progress for the development of scientific
museology in Italy. Fascist Government promoted many exhibitions related with science and technology.
Two of those are strictly related with the first collections of Artefacts of the Museo Nazionale della Scienza
e della Tecnica in Milano and his founder, Guido Ucelli.
The first collection is related with the Century of Progress World’s Fair, Chicago 1933. The Italian Government participated to the great exhibition organized in the Hall of Science displaying the progress and
supremacy of Italian genius, strongly connected to the politic of Autarchy of Fascism. The Italian exhibition
was prepared by the CNR (National Council of Research), newly founded, and by its president Guglielmo
Marconi. Many Artefacts were created in more copies, mostly models and replicas representing the development of Italian Technology from the Ancient Civilizations to the contemporary Fascist Era. The different
series were intended to be donated, at the end of the Fair, to different Science Museums (Chicago, Munich,
London and Milano) but the copies were never completed and the most of the objects returned back to
Italy and later, at the beginning of the ‘50s, donated to the Science Museum in Milano.
The second collection is linked to the Leonardo Exhibition and Italian Inventions (Mostra di Leonardo e
delle invenzioni italiane), held in Milano in 1939. The exhibition marked the consecration of the Leonardo
da Vinci popular myth and the first very important display of studies of Leonardo da Vinci’s technological
drawings and of their interpretation by means of models. The nationalistic key and the political encouragement with which the event was organized were decisive: with the Fascist era in full swing and just
before the War, Leonardo was utilized to celebrate autarchy and the supremacy of Italian genius, to exhibit
with pride the successes of an Italy that had no need of technological contributions from foreign powers.
This was the reason for displaying beside the chief exhibition of Leonardo the principal novelties of Italian
technology, among which were the first experimental television programs, again in 1939, by the Italian
public broadcasting monopoly EIAR.
In spite of this climate, the exhibition marked a decisive phase in the study and, above all, the divulgation
of Leonardo’s thoughts and works. Great attention was given to reconstruction of historical context, along
with an expert, scenographic use of photography. Within the spacious halls of the Palazzo dell’Arte, some
hundred models also were presented of machines constructed for the occasion from the basis of interpretation of Leonardo’s drawings. Many of the models were realized on a large scale, and nearly all could
be actuated manually or by means of electric motors.
The exhibition of the machine models was so successful that it was repeated in New York during the 1940
Universal Exposition (second edition), at the New York Museum of Science and Industry in the Rockefeller Center. In 1942, while traveling to Tokyo for another exhibition, the models were destroyed when the
ship transporting them was bombed. Fortunately, a large part of the technical drawings realized for construction of the models based on interpretation of Leonardo’s studies survived destruction or dispersion.
In the following years these would constitute precious documents toward being able to materialize the
dream, merely outlined in 1939-40, of developing a permanent museum dedicated to Leonardo da Vinci
and his technical works. This dream will be realized in 1953 with the opening of the National Museum of
Science and Technology Leonardo da Vinci in Milan.
1
Technology and national heroes –
On the interpretation of historical telegraphs in International Electricity Exhibitions
Tina Kubot Curator, Deutsches Museum München
In the last decades of the 19th century telegraphy was one of the most important applications of electricity
and was therefore found on each of the International Electricity Exhibitions. Part of these exhibitions was
a historical section which showed the most important milestones of the shown technologies. For telegraphy, most of the presented telegraphs are part of the Communication Technology Collection of Deutsches Museum like the electrochemical telegraph of Sömmering (1809), the electromagnetic telegraphs
of Schilling von Canstatt (1833), Gauss & Weber (1833), Cooke & Wheatstone (1837) and Morse (1837).
These objects, either an original or a contemporary reproduction, will be the focus of this talk.
The ending 19th century also saw the beginning of the so-called nation building, the development of communities into nations, accompanied by the demand for means of identification with one’s nation. In the
age of enthusiasm for technology, technological superiority was the perfect opportunity to create heroes.
With telephony still an underdeveloped technology, having the leadership in telegraphy was the same
as having the leadership in the whole strategically important sector of communication. Here, a nation’s
technological superiority was not only demonstrated in developing the most recent and advantageous telegraph technology like the Indo-European Telegraph System or the high-speed telegraph of Siemens, it
was also discussed in the origin of telegraphy. Different telegraph concepts and their inventors came into
focus to show that a nation had the most brilliant inventors, partially basing on a quite free interpretation
of (historical) facts.
A prominent example is the electrochemical telegraph concept of Sömmering: Being of no special significance for any kind of telegraphy application it is often depicted as the very first telegraph using electricity
for the transmission of signals. Schilling von Canstatt, who invented the first electromagnetic five needle
telegraph, was a member of the Russian military like his father but had German roots. Each of the nations
claimed him as citizen, his telegraph as the first and therefore the right to be regarded as the cradle of
telegraphy. The first telegram of Morse was manipulated, it was dated two years back so that the honour
of the invention of telegraphy would belong to the United States.
All these early telegraphs of the Collection are on display from their arrival at Deutsches Museum until
today. Their presentation, be it on the International Electricity Exhibitions or in the Museum, was not only,
sometimes even not mainly, depending on their technological significance. While officially the technological significance was regarded as the most important argument, in fact the display of a nation’s innovative
strength in the shape of the brilliance of its inventors was having similar importance. In the case of Deutsches Museum even the ways of acquiring an object were taken into consideration for its presentation.
Particularly regarding the concept of Sömmerings electrochemical telegraph and Schilling von Canstatt
there is evidence that the presented objects were not only chosen for technological but also for sentimental reasons.
2
About generators, transmission lines and light bulbs
Frank Dittmann Curator, Deutsches Museum, München
In 1891 the International Electricity Exhibition in Frankfurt/Main was held. This Exhibition was organized
to decide which technology should be the future: Direct Current (DC) or Alternating Current (AC). The so
called War of Currents should be decided by a professional evaluation, basing on experiments and measurements carried out at the Exhibition under supervision of international experts.
Along with the presentation of the newest developments in AC and DC technology the World’s first
three-phase current transmission line linking the exhibition grounds to a water power station in Lauffen
at the river Necker over a distance of 175 km attracted a lot of attention. In Frankfurt the electricity was
used to power an overwhelming amount of then state of the art incandescent lamps and an artificial waterfall, both being an impressive advertisement for the new form of energy.
During the interwar period with classic historiography of technology being dominated by engineers until
the 1960ies this focus on three-phase current led to the following narrative: In addition to DC and AC
Systems in Frankfurt unexpectedly the three-phase current technology appeared as a third player and
convinced with its advantages immediately. So the Frankfurt Exhibition of 1891 was considered as the obvious starting point of three-phase current, which was the clear winner of the legendary War of Currents.
In the development and distribution of this story, the Deutsches Museum played an important role. In the
Collection there are several parts of the first three-phase current transmission line, which was initiated by
the founder of the Museum, Oskar von Miller. Since 1953 one of the generators is shown in the Electrical
Engineering Exhibition on a prominent place.
In contradiction to the teleological narrative of the linear historiography of technology, the success of the
three-phase current, which is the dominant technology today, cannot be regarded that linear and self-evident. In the years after 1891 only few three-phase current power plants were built but a lot of those
generating AC or mixed AC/DC power. For a long time the well-developed DC technology was continued
to be used, in special applications until today. Although at the Exhibition of 1891 technical solutions for
generation and transmission of three-phase current were shown, solutions for the most important applications like the speed control of electric motors were still missing or insufficient.
For many decades artifacts at the Deutsches Museum illustrated a narrative of a linear progress in electricity transmission technology. One reason was the historiography, which constructed this linear view on
the development of this technology, another was that the availability of this representative object and
the lack of objects illustrating the competing technologies. Presenting only the available object gives the
represented technology and therewith the connected story a significance which can never be corrected
using only texts in the exhibition. The question for the upcoming exhibition is how can we deal with this
situation?
3
The chemical heritage at the Musée centennal of the 1900 Paris World Exhibition
Marco Beretta Università di Bologna
During the Paris World Exhibition of 1900, the young François Carnot, son of Sadi, was charged to organize
a series of shows called Musée centennaux. These shows, devoted to the arts and sciences, revealed an
unprecedented interest in the French scientific heritage. In my paper I shall examine the main features
of the Musée Centennal des arts chimiques et pharmacie. This show displayed for the first time a rich
collection of instruments and documents related to the history of French chemists. Unlike collections of
other scientific domains, chemical heritage had not until then attracted any significant attention and the
effort of the Musée Centennal, endorsed by the political influence of Marcellin Berthelot, engendered a
widespread interest in the history of the chemistry and the need to create permanent shows. This is particularly evident in the case of the showcase of Lavoisier which brought the richness of his collection to
the attention of the public and thus opened a debate on its fate as well as on the fate of other collections
on display.
From “Instruments of Science” to “Instruments of History”:
the First National Exhibition of the History of Science (Florence, 1929)
and the Promotion of the Italian Scientific Heritage.
Francesco Barreca Museo Galileo, Firenze
The First National Exhibition of the History of Science, held in Florence at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni
from May 8 to November 10, 1929, was in many ways a unique event. The result of the steadfast efforts of
Andrea Corsini, Piero Ginori Conti, and Antonio Garbasso, it marked the culmination of two decades’ work
for the protection and promotion of the historical heritage of science, and, at the same time, it was the
crucial starting point for the creation of Italy’s first Institute and Museum of the History of Science. The
exhibition helped create awareness of the problem of protecting the scientific heritage, among the public
and in the Government, and spurred universities, libraries, museums, and other institutions, to comb their
archives for relevant material. The more than eight thousand items on display, coming from eighty cities
and more than two hundred public and private lenders, offered the fullest possible overview of the contribution of Italy to scientific progress, and provided a valuable initial census of Italy’s historical scientific
heritage.
The Adler Planetarium and the Century of Progress fair in Chicago, 1933-34
Pedro M. P. Raposo Curator, Adler Planetarium, Chicago
On May 27, 1933, the Century of Progress fair opened to the public. Originally meant to celebrate the centenary of Chicago´s foundation, the fair showcased the marvels of a brilliant future powered by machines,
under the motto “Science Finds, Industry Applies, Man Conforms”.
On the opening day, the lights of the fair were turned on by light from the star Arcturus converted into
an electric signal. The Adler Planetarium, inaugurated three years before, played an important role in
this stunt. During the fair, the Adler hosted continuous sessions of a sky show entitled ‘The Drama of the
Heavens’. Visitors were also invited to have a glimpse of the Adler´s collection of historical scientific instruments, known as the Mensing Collection. This impressive lot of over 500 items had been purchased in
1929 to confer cultural credibility to the Planetarium and would be augmented in the ensuing years, with
revenues from Century of Progress admission fees.
In this paper I will address the place and role of the Adler Planetarium in the Century of Progress fair,
analyze how the Adler used the latter to promote and develop its historical collection, and discuss how the
fair helped carve an identity for the first modern planetarium in America.
4
The early years of the Palais de la découverte (1937-1952) in a transnational perspective
Andrée Bergeron and Charlotte Bigg Centre Alexandre Koyré, Paris
The Palais de la découverte, initially founded as a part of the 1937 international exhibition in Paris, has
usually been studied from the point of view of its significance within the national context. Created by
renowned scientists close to Léon Blum’s Popular Front government, it played an important role in the
invention of national science policy in France and materialized the desire to present science to “the people
of Paris”. We will suggest that the Palais also expressed the militant scientific and political internationalism of its founders, as shown for instance by a close analysis of the astronomy section – in contrast
with the commercially-motivated internationalization of popular astronomy embodied in the exhibition’s
planetarium.
The Palais de la découverte’s founders aimed at creating an “anti-museum”, deliberately set up without
collections of its own (albeit not without objects). They took most of their inspiration from the World exhibitions of the early twentieth century. The Palais constituted a pioneering project to put on display science-in-the-making and science conceived as an “activity of the mind”. After the Second World War, through
the involvement of its first director André Léveillé in running the periodical Museum and the creation of
the International Council of Museums, it became an active promoter of museums in general (and this kind
of museums in particular), and a major actor of the international organization of science museums and
planetariums.
Science on display at E42: the never realized exhibitions
Elena Canadelli Università di Padova
The E42 in Rome was scheduled to open in 1942. Many exhibitions regarding science, technology, and
inventions were planned. Although the world’s fair was cancelled due to World War II, many drafts and
projects are still preserved in Italian archives such as in the Archivio Centrale dello Stato in Rome and in
the Museo Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnica in Milano. From genetics to astronomy, from biology to
physics, history of science and technology had to play a relevant role in the organizers’ mind.
The talk will take in consideration with a comparative point of view the projects of different exhibitions,
such as the Mostra della scienza (Science Exhibit), the Mostra della civiltà italiana (Italian civilization
Exhibit) and other exhibitions where the history of science was involved: which artefacts or models were
chosen? Were they different in the two main exhibitions dedicated to Science and to the Italian civilization?
Or were they similar? What was the “rethoric” hidden behind these exhibitions?
After Chicago 33 and New York 39, the planning of the E42 involved a great part of the scientific Italian
community. Looking at the new experience of the Palais de la découverte in Paris, the planners wonders
how to display and communicate to the public the history of the major goals achieved by science, imagining new exhibit solutions. One of the main aim was to found a National Science Museum in Rome; a
dream destined to vanish together with the E42.
5
The Televisions of Tomorrow: RCA at the New York World’s Fair
Benjamin Gross Chemical Heritage Foundation, Philadelphia
Ten days before the official opening of the 1939 New York World’s Fair, David Sarnoff—the president of the
Radio Corporation of America (RCA) —traveled to Flushing Meadows Park to deliver the most important
speech of his career. RCA was among the many American companies represented in the Fair’s “Communications and Business Zone,” and Sarnoff was in attendance to open its pavilion: a fantastic edifice
designed to resemble a vacuum tube. Onlookers soon realized that this event was more than a simple
dedication ceremony. Instead, Sarnoff took advantage of the occasion to announce the start of regular
commercial television broadcasting in the United States. “Today we are on the eve of launching a new
industry based on imagination, on scientific research, and accomplishment…,” he explained. “And now we
add radio sight to sound.”
Over the next eighteen months, thousands of fairgoers visited the RCA Exhibit Building to catch a glimpse
of the company’s new televisions. The concept itself was not new. There had been earlier mechanical
and electronic television demonstrations, but for most people the 1939 World’s Fair represented the first
extended opportunity to engage with the technology. Not only could visitors watch a series of over-the-air
programs, but they could see themselves on TV as they filed past row upon row of RCA sets. RCA had many
other technologies on display in 1939, ranging from an early fax machine to a full-sized yacht equipped
with ship-to-shore radio, but at the end of their tour, all that most people remembered was television.
The outbreak of World War II would ultimately postpone the proliferation of American television sets, but
the 1939 World’s Fair would subsequently gain iconic status in the history of broadcasting. This paper will
examine how David Sarnoff and members of RCA’s staff approached the event. Using archival materials
at the Hagley Library and artifacts drawn from the Sarnoff Collection at the College of New Jersey, I will
consider the social and economic factors that prompted RCA to commence regular TV broadcasts in 1939,
as well as the artifacts and design strategies that shaped the construction of the RCA Exhibit Building.
After analyzing RCA’s presence at the 1939 World’s Fair, I will conclude with a discussion of the firm’s
pavilion at the 1964 World’s Fair. A quarter-century after Sarnoff’s fateful speech, television had become a
commonly accepted part of American life, but once again RCA returned to Flushing Meadows to promote
its improved color broadcasting system. The company revived some of the same display strategies it had
utilized in 1939, most notably through its “See Yourself In Color” exhibit, but also took advantage of the
medium’s growth by emphasizing a wider array of programming options, including concerts, animal acts,
and fashion shows. This shift in emphasis from hardware to software reflected a fundamental distinction
between the public’s reactions to black-and-white and color television. The former represented a major
break from existing media technologies, necessitating a greater degree of emphasis upon the physical
apparatus used to send and receive television signals, while the latter was an improvement upon existing
home entertainment systems. Consequently, RCA could devote less time to providing technical explanations of its TV equipment and more highlighting the potential benefits of upgrading to color.
6
The Once and Future Technology Fair: The Rise, Fall and Unlikely Rebirth of the VDNKh
Cathleen S. Lewis Curator, International Space Programs and Spacesuits, Smithsonian Institution, Washington
For over seventy-five years there has a 600 acre shrine in the north end of Moscow to the contemporary
economic and technological drivers of the Soviet and Russian economy. Once considered an artifact of
the Stalinist era, the recent re-christening of the Exhibition of Economic Achievements indicates that the
exposition of material goods and technology have an indelible presences in the Russian psyche. The Vystavka dostizhenii narodnogo khoziaistva [Exhibition for Economic Achievements, VDNKh] in Moscow was
long recognized as a barometer of official Soviet pride in its agricultural, scientific and technical accomplishments. It has existed since the pre-war rule of Stalin and has had various names that represented
the relative emphasis of Soviet and Russian economic and planning achievements that the leadership has
desired to emphasize. Content and emphasis have changed over time, reflecting both policies, successes
and regnant myths of the political systems that have ruled the country.
The exhibition initially opened just prior to the war under Stalin 1939 as the Vsesoiuznaia selsko-khoziastvenaia vystavka [All-Union Agricultural Exhibition, VSKhV], as a celebration of Stalinist collectivization.
After evacuation of the exhibits to the west in Cheliabinsk during World War II, the exhibition reopened in
temporarily in August 1954 and again in 1956, as the Vsesoiuznaia promyshlennaia vystavka (All-Union
Industrial Exhibition, VPV). Another reorganization occurred in the summer of 1959, when the VDNKh
formally combined all exhibitions, including agriculture, construction, science and industry under one
centralized authority. Outside the Mechanization of Agriculture pavilion, which had been Stalin’s piece de
la resistance, a Vostok rocket took the place left empty when the statue of Stalin was removed during the
course of renovations in the latter part of the previous decade. Thus was born the Kosmos Pavilion.
Nuclear power and national prestige: a tale of two models
Alison Boyle Curator, Science Museum, London
In the decades following WW2, British exhibitions about atomic physics tended to concentrate on the peaceful aspects of research, particularly Britain’s role in the development of nuclear reactors. By tracking
the movements of two display models depicting Britain’s first experimental atomic piles, GLEEP and
BEPO, this paper will show how the new technologies were introduced to the public at the 1951 Festival
of Britain, and at museums around the country. I will also follow the models’ travels to national and international industrial fairs, examining the role of displays in promoting British commercial interests in the
international market.
7
After the Festival of Britain: The birth of Birmingham’s science and industry collection;
its growth during industrial decline; and its failing health in today’s new frontiers.
Nazia Ali Curator, Birmingham Museums Trust
Birmingham, described as the ‘city of a thousand trades’ (Upton, 1997), is the birthplace of mass manufacturing. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the city grew in wealth and influence, giving rise
to civic and political institutions. The city, known for its metal-bashing industries was, however, late in
adopting certain cultural accoutrements that other industrial cities in the UK were so proudly enjoying.
One such symbol of cultural prowess was Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, founded in 1885, 34 years
after the Great Exhibition of 1851. On a wave of ‘industry-sponsored’ cultural investment, Birmingham
Museum and its collections were developed by the promulgation and donation of the city’s prominent
industrialists, such as George Cadbury and the Tangye brothers. Fine and applied arts were displayed in
this new museum – a reflection of the city’s wealth and a legacy of the Great Exhibition’s civic inspired
cultural-commercialism, tardily, yet enthusiastically, imbibed by the manufacturing city of Birmingham.
The science and industry collections that are displayed in today’s Science Museum in Birmingham, did
not, however, play any part in these early displays. By the turn of the twentieth century, objects deemed
significant in terms of design and technology were collected piecemeal by the local authority and by individuals with an interest in the preservation of Birmingham’s engineering marvels. The development of
a distinct museum collection of science and industry objects came only in the mid-20th century, and the
inevitable development of Birmingham’s first museum of science and industry also came in 1951. Both
the development of a science collection and of a science museum coincided with the Festival of Britain, a
national exhibition, in the summer of 1951. The Festival of Britain was organised by the government in the
years when the nation was recovering from the trauma of war. Its aim was to promote the British contribution to science, technology, industrial design, architecture and the arts.
This paper will examine the extent to which the Festival of Britain influenced the development of Birmingham’s early science and industry collection.
With a focus on objects such as the Railton Mobil Special; a Chance Bros. lighthouse optic; a Birmingham
tram; a wooden lathe, and a Marconi-Stille tape recorder, the paper will reflect on the way in which science and industry objects began to be viewed as applied art objects, beautified by their design and appearance, and used as examples of predecessors to new technologies. These iconized objects would then have
an impact on the way science & industry collections would be viewed over the next few decades, and it is
in these decades that Birmingham’s industrial and manufacturing sectors rapidly decline. What impact
does this death of industry have upon the way science collections are interpreted and displayed in Birmingham’s museums? Do these objects begin to lose their communicative and representative power? And
does the decline of Birmingham’s industries converge with the promotion and collecting of new science
and new technologies? The paper will conclude by reflecting upon the difficulties that are being faced
by Birmingham Museums in collecting, representing and interpreting the new frontiers of scientific and
technological research, in areas such as the digital industries and the university research sectors in Birmingham today.
8
Interpretation of Objects Significant to the history of Science and Technology:
International Exhibitions vs Museums
Bernard Finn Emeritus Curator, Smithsonian Institution, Washington
This is a work in progress, with the intention to expand research to other fairs. An attempt is made to
determine not just the message the objects supported, but also how they were used--simply as icons, or
as containing their own special kinds of evidence. Alexander Graham Bell demonstrated the first working
models of his telephone invention at the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition in June, 1876. These instruments were later presented to the Smithsonian, where they have appeared in several exhibits. They (or
reproductions of them) have also been displayed in world’s fairs, most particularly in New York (1939-40).
In the fairs the telephones were presented as historical icons in support of messages consistent with a
general theme. In New York, for instance, the overall theme was “Building the World of Tomorrow,” which
corporate sponsors interpreted by showing how they were helping the country emerge from the Great Depression. For AT&T this meant, among other things, describing how it had grown from simple beginnings
(symbolized by the Bell models) to become a major American enterprise (its most popular exhibit included
free long-distance phone calls to anyplace in the US). At the Smithsonian the use of the objects has shifted in reponse to trends in historical interpretation. In exhibits over the first half of the 20th century their
use was hardly different from the fairs—as icons, symbols of American inventiveness (or inventors). In the
second half they ¬¬¬underwent closer examination (including tests of their ability to transmit speech) to
consider questions about simultaneous invention, process of invention, fundamental scientific/technical
principles, and social effects. More recently they have been employed in exhibits with broad social themes, again as icons without reference to any special characteristics other than their relationship to Bell.
Alfred Nobel, Nobel Laureates, World’s Fairs & the Nobel Center opening 2019
Margrit Wettstein Senior Curator, Nobel Museum, Stockholm
Alfred Nobel was an exhibitor at the “Art & Industrial Exhibition in Stockholm 1866”.
During this time he was experimenting with nitroglycerine and kieselgur trying to make the explosives he
worked on and called dynamite “safe”. Did he perform experiments at the Exhibition in Stockholm? Maybe
but we do not know. He attended again at the “Exposition Universelle” in Paris 1878. Dynamite appeared
in an unwanted way at the World’s Fair 1939 in New York and throughout the years Nobel Laureates have
participated and demonstrated their skills at World’s Fairs. There is like a main thread from the World’s
Fairs of the 19th and 20th Centuries to the planed Nobel Center that will be opened in Stockholm 2019.
This paper will explore both Alfred Nobel’s interest in the World’s Fairs of his time as well as how Nobel
Laureates took part in international exhibitions and in what way the great hall at the Nobel Center probably will become the museums most important object and thus will remind us of the grandeur of the
World’s Fairs and Great Exhibitions.
9
North-American World’s Fairs and the the Re-Invention of the Science Museum
in the 1960s
Arne Schirrmacher Deutsches Museum / Scholar-in-Residence (on leave from Humboldt Universität zu Berlin)
When in summer 1967 Frank Oppenheimer wrote his first proposal for a new type of science museum, which later became known as the Exploratorium, he conceived “A museum to demonstrate the ties between
man’s senses, the development of art forms, scientific exploration and technological achievement.” This
text was then published in the Journal The Curator under the title “A rationale for a science museum.”
Today, however, this text is rather seen as the founding document of the science center. As it is known
that Oppenheimer’s concept was largely influenced by European and American science museums he had
studied the years before, the impact of the preceding World’s Fairs in the 1960s in Seattle (1962), New
York (1964/65) and Montreal (1967) have not been considered. Interestingly, Oppenheimer’s initial plans
included the display of spectacular artefacts from the US space program and from particle accelerators
in a way very much akin to the presentations at the Expos, while the reason for the turn away from artefacts to demonstrations only, which we now consider the crucial difference between science museums
and science centers, remains an open question. In my talk I will try link these events with the reinvention
of the science museum by discussing, first, that the very term Science Center has already been employed
for the science exhibit in Seattle, that, second, the New York World’s Fair included a new museum, the
New York Hall of Science (thus replacing the just closed New York Museum of Science and Industry, which
can be seen as a forerunner of the Exploratorium), third, that the Smithsonian’s Museum of History and
Technology opened in 1964 presented a particularly artefactcentered alternative approach, and last, that
Oppenheimer’s turn to perception coincides with a presentation of original interactive exhibits at the 1967
Expo by Hugo Kükelhaus, who was in a way a kind of German Oppenheimer.
10
Module And Model: Modifying The “real” At Expo’70 And the Smithsonian Institution
Teasel Muir Harmony American Institute of Physics, Washington
Lunar Module 2 (LM-­--2), a spider-­--like spacecraft built for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) lunar exploration program Project Apollo, straddles the precarious divide between artifact and model. In the 1960s, NASA contracted Grumman Aircraft to fabricate LM-­--2, along with eleven
other lunar modules. Designed for an unscrewed Earth-­--orbit test flight, LM---2 lost its mission after an
earlier test flight with LM-­--1 in January 1968 proved successful.
A new role came quickly for LM-­--2. NASA used the module for ground testing before the first lunar landing in July 1969, and then shipped the ascent stage of the module off to Japan for exhibition at the 1970
World’s Fair in Osaka.
After the fair, LM---2 returned to the United States to become a permanent fixture at the Smithsonian
Institution in Washington, DC. Smithsonian staff reunited the ascent and descent stages of the module
and modified the craft to look like the Apollo 11 “Eagle” lunar module. Although Grumman built LM-­--2
As a test vehicle for Project Apollo, exhibit designers at both Expo ’70 and the Smithsonian modified the
spacecraft to, as accurately as possible, resemble the Apollo 11 lander in their exhibits.
Can an object be both a historic artifact and a model? This paper argues that in the case of LM-­--2, an
object can take on both roles. To understand how and why LM-­--2 came to close this categorical divide,
this paper looks to the political and cultural objectives of these two national exhibitions. For American Pavilion exhibit designers, the press and the public in 1970, the authenticity of LM-­--2 mattered. “The United
States display is all real,” exclaimed one Japanese magazine writer. The Soviet Union, the writer pointed
out, packed their Expo ’70 pavilion with models.
The “realness” of LM-­--2, along with other artefacts in the American Pavilion, became an instrument for
not only contrasting the Soviet and American pavilions, but also the political systems of the two super
powers. In this Cold War contest or international influence, the idea that LM-­--2 was both a real artifact
as well as a component in an “accurate” diorama of the first lunar landing, was intended to reflect the
openness of the democratic system.
This paper evaluates internal memos, public opinion polls, Japanese newspapers and magazines, and
oral History interviews with exhibit attendees to assess LM-­--2’s role at the World’s Fair. When LM-­--2’s
hulking ascent stage arrived in Washington, after its successful run in Osaka, Smithsonian staff added
flameproof blanketing to the vehicle so that it would more accurately represent the Apollo 11 lander. Two
manikins clothed in bulky white lunar spacesuits, along with an American flag, accompany LM-­--2 in the
Smithsonian exhibit. Like the exhibit in Osaka, LM-­--2’s display in Washington reproduced the first lunar
landing, not the story of LM-­--2’s specific engineering history.
Apollo 11, as the exhibit visually affirms, is the national accomplishment to communicate the objectives of
the institution. The many alterations of the module over its life, and the roles it has played in each national
exhibition, reveals how and why the criteria for an artefact’s “realness” can become modified along with
the material object’s modification.
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Models of Industrial Complex and Maglev:
Japan Pavilion of Expo ’70 in the Context of Technological Innovation
Nobumichi Ariga, Osamu Kamei Curator, Japanese National Museum of Nature and Science
The Japan World Exposition held in Osaka in 1970, commonly called “Osaka Banpaku” in Japan, is arguably the most celebrated fair ever held in that country. By the time of 1970, Japan had experienced
rapid economic growth while people began to feel uneasy about environmental pollution, the population problem, and the depletion of natural resources. Expo ’70 was planned in these circumstances, and
its common theme, “Progress and Harmony for Mankind,” reflected the situation. However, the actual
exhibition had a positive aura, in general, and its brightness gave a lasting impression on the Japanese
public. We may regard some technological objects as representative of this optimistic nature of the exposition.
It is particularly interesting to see what kind of items were selected for the Japan Pavilion, a
national pavilion organized by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry. It consisted of five buildings
connected to each other and exhibited “Japan and Japanese People” as a whole. The contents were (1)
cultural history of Japan, (2) industries of contemporary Japan and modern life of Japanese people, (3)
nature and traditional culture of Japan, (4) contemporary science and technology in Japan, and (5) Japan
in the twenty-first century. Through these exhibits, Japanese government tried to show the “true” images
of the country to the people. From a history of science and technology perspective, the second section
concerning contemporary industry is worth examining. Here, a visitor first faces a gigantic wall of iron (25
meters height). It models a stern of a tanker, representing the shipbuilding industry in which Japan occupied first place. Another giant artifact is a large-scale model of an industrial complex (30 meters length,
on a scale of 1 to 800). It proposed an “ideal” of an industrial city, which contained a residential area and
cultural facilities in it as well as factories of petrochemistry, steel, shipbuilding, and others. These two
objects show an aspect of Japanese technological innovation of the 1960s when industries of heavy and
large products played a central role. While the industrial exhibition of second building was associated
with “present,” the fourth building was intended to show “tomorrow” in terms of Japanese science and
technology. Among the objects on display, apparently the most popular was a model of maglev. There was
a circular railway (diameter of 20 meters) in the hall, and a train was running on it at a speed of 20 kilometers an hour. It was introduced to visitors as a promising high-speed railway in future. Along with other
topics, such as earthquake-proof buildings, electron microscopes, and synthetic fertilizers, the maglev
was intended to show the level of science-based technology in contemporary Japan. It is noteworthy that
there were no exhibits related to “pure” scientific research. We may regard this exhibition as a reaction
to the voice that Japan must develop its own technology in order for further economic development. This
kind of opinion was what one often heard in the 1960s. The industrial and technological items displayed
in Japan Pavilion provide an image of technological innovation, what has been called “Gijutsu-Kakushin”
in Japanese. During the term of 183 days of the exposition, more than 11 millions of people visited the pavilion. The number of objects on display was rather small, and some appealing items were models rather
than real objects, but the exhibition of Japan Pavilion seemingly succeeded in sharing the contemporary
idea of technological innovation. The pavilion had some exhibits concerning its negative aspects, too, but
the dominant atmosphere was the belief in science and technology.
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A 50 State Tour and the Origins of the National Apollo 11 Artifacts Collection
Allan A. Needell curator, National Air & Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington
In July 1969 Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first human beings to set foot on another world.
Their Apollo 11 mission was provisioned with an extraordinary variety of tools, instruments, life support
and personal equipment, food, and personal symbolic items. All of the items were carefully catalogued
and their disposition set forth in detailed stowage and transfer lists. Many of the items were left either
on the lunar surface or in the spacecraft components intentionally jettisoned and destroyed. Items that
remained in the Command Module Columbia complement the spacecraft itself as the material remnant
of that historic mission.
Items were returned to earth for a number of reasons. Some were required (or thought they might be
required in the case of emergency) during the flight back to Earth. Some conveyed scientific or technical
information requested by scientists and engineers. Some, it has turned out, were retained as symbolic
items, as souvenirs, or as personal mementos of the adventure.
During 1970 and 71 NASA orchestrated an exhibition tour of 50 state capitals, allowing 3 ¼ million people
to personally view the returned Command Module and a selection of items that had been inside (including
moon rocks). In the words of NASA’s final report on the 50 state tour, “The keynote during its tour was pride. The Space Agency’s gratification in affording 3 1/4 million Americans a close-up view of Apollo 11 and
its accompanying Moon rock display was more than matched by the pride and enthusiasm of the citizens
welcoming it in each state.”
American pride and a sense that the moon landing accomplishment was an accomplishment of the American people rather than of a selected group of government officials, contractor employees, scientists,
engineers, and astronauts, underlay the decision that artifacts of the program belonged in a “national
collection.”
This presentation will detail how items selected for the 50 state tour, and those not included on the tour
but previously transferred to the Smithsonian, formed a key component of the “space history” collection of
the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. With the recent discovery and offer to the Museum of
an assembly of souvenirs personally collected by Neil Armstrong, that collection has continued to evolve.
Technical and functional considerations have always coexisted with consideration of cultural, symbolic,
and commemorative potential as well as with valuations conditioned by demonstrated and potential private interest in “space collectibles.” As the Apollo program continues to transition from a “current” into
a “historical” event, the relative importance of these considerations are worthy of review and discussion,
especially in the period leading up to the 50th anniversary of the first lunar landing.
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