Perot Museum of Nature and Science

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Perot Museum of Nature and Science
Perot museum logo.png
Perot Museum of Nature and Science
Established2006 (2006)
Location Dallas, Texas, United States
Coordinates 32°47′13″N96°48′24″W / 32.78689°N 96.80665°W / 32.78689; -96.80665
Type Science museum, natural history museum
Visitors1,000,000+ [1]
CEODr. Linda Abraham-Silver [2]
Public transit accessAiga railtransportation 25.svg DART/TRE : Victory station, BSicon BRILL.svg M-Line : St Paul & McKinney
Website perotmuseum.org/


The Perot Museum of Nature and Science (shortened to Perot Museum) is a natural history and science museum in Dallas, Texas in Victory Park. The museum was named in honor of Margot and Ross Perot. [3] The current chief executive officer of the museum is Dr. Linda Abraham-Silver. [4]

Contents

Background

Victory Park building in February 2013. Perot Museum of Nature and Science pano 02.jpg
Victory Park building in February 2013.

History

On June 6, 1936, the Dallas Museum of Natural History opened to the public as part of the 1936 Texas Centennial Exhibition. On September 20, 1946, the Dallas Health Museum was founded by a group chartered as the Dallas Academy of Medicine. It was renamed the Dallas Health and Science Museum in 1958. The name was changed yet again to the Science Place in 1981. In 1995, the Dallas Children's Museum was founded elsewhere.

An exterior view of the museum's main staircase Perot Museum of Nature and Science exterior of Escalator.jpg
An exterior view of the museum's main staircase

In 2006, Perot Museum CEO Nicole Small oversaw the uniting of the Dallas Museum of Natural History, the Science Place, and the Dallas Children's Museum at Fair Park. Following the merger, the museum was in three buildings there, featuring an IMAX-style theater, a planetarium, an extensive exhibit hall, and its own paleontology lab. [5] [6] The museum moved on December 1, 2012, to a new facility in Victory Park.

On June 1, 2014, CEO Small was replaced by Colleen Walker. [7]

Walker resigned as CEO in 2017, and was replaced in 2017 by Linda Abraham-Silver. [8]

Donation and endowment

The Victory Park campus museum was named in honor of Margot and Ross Perot as the result of a $50,000,000 gift made by their adult children Ross Perot, Jr., Nancy Perot Mulford, Suzanne Perot McGee, Carolyn Perot Rathjen, and Katherine Perot Reeves. The $185,000,000 fundraising goal, slated to provide for the site acquisition, exhibition planning and design, construction of the new building, education programs and an endowment, was achieved by November 2011, more than a year before the museum's scheduled opening in December 2012. The donated funds enabled the museum to be built, incurring no debt or public funding. [6] [9]

Victory Park campus

Cast skeleton of Tyrannosaurus rex in Life Then and Now hall T-rex.JPG
Cast skeleton of Tyrannosaurus rex in Life Then and Now hall
Journey Through The Solar System exhibit at the Expanding Universe hall Solar System Tour.JPG
Journey Through The Solar System exhibit at the Expanding Universe hall

The 180,000-square-foot (17,000 m2) facility has six floors and stands about 14 stories high. Five of the floors are accessible to the public and house 11 permanent exhibit halls as well as 6 learning labs. [10] The top floor houses the museum's administration offices. The Victory Park campus opened its doors to the public on December 1, 2012. Approximately 6,000 visitors came to the museum on its first day of operation. [11]

Building design

Designed by Thom Mayne of Morphosis Architects, the building was conceived as a large cube floating over a landscaped plinth (or base).

The stone roof, which features a landscape of drought-tolerant greenery, was inspired by Dallas surroundings. The plinth was landscaped with a 1-acre (0.40 ha) rolling green roof comprising rock and native drought-resistant grasses that reflects Texas' indigenous landscape and demonstrate a living system that will evolve naturally. [12] Building on the museum's commitment to resource conservation, the new building has a rainwater collection system that captures run-off water from the roof and parking lot, satisfying 74% of the museum's non-potable water needs and 100% of its irrigation needs. [13]

The building is characterized by a continuous flow escalator, measuring 54 feet (16 m) in length and housed within a 150-foot (46 m) glass casing that extends diagonally outside the building cube. The building also prioritizes sustainability by utilizing LED lighting, off-grid energy generation technology, and solar-powered water heating. To enhance energy efficiency, the atrium and other spaces within the building benefit from natural sunlight via strategically placed skylights. [9] [14]

The building has secured the highest possible 4 Green Globes from the Green Building Initiative. It got a rating of an overall 85% on the Green Globes rating scale and 100% for its design and its sustainable performance measures. [15] [16] Green Globes is a nationally recognized green building guidance and assessment program in the United States. [14]

Permanent exhibit halls

Exhibit hallLevelFeature Highlights [10] [17]
Moody Family Children's MuseumLower Level
SportsLower Level
Discovering Life2
Being Human2
  • Use motion capture to learn how the human body moves by mimicking instructors in hip-hop dance, basketball or tai chi as a visitor's body is projected next to theirs
  • View cross sections of real human bodies
  • Test out a prosthetic hand
  • Review human tissue samples
  • Record your own heartbeat
  • Toss a ping-pong ball with your mind
  • Get in the Bio Lab to extract DNA from wheat germ (8+), examine your own cheek cells (8+), dissect a fruit fly larva to see its giant chromosome (13+) or test antimicrobial agents (10+)
Texas Instruments Engineering and Innovation2
  • Create music in a sound studio
  • Build a robot to learn how machines follow programmed instructions
  • Create a model skyscraper that can withstand an earthquake
The Rees-Jones Foundation Dynamic Earth3
  • Simulated earthquake experience through the shake table simulator
  • Footage of real Texas tornadoes and hurricanes
  • The tornado simulator model
Lyda Hill Gems and Minerals3
  • The world's third largest gold nugget (23.26 kg / 62.33 troy lbs) known as the Ausrox Gold Nugget that was discovered by three prospectors with a hand-held metal detector in April 2010 in the Eastern Goldfields, Australia. [19] [20] The nugget is irregular-shaped and has a surface that alternates between smooth, crystalline, and square. The nugget has been displayed at the Western Australia Museum at Kalgoorlie-Boulder and the Houston Museum of Natural Science. [19] After its Perot Museum stop, it will be exhibited in Munich, Germany as part of a world tour [21] [22]
  • 1.5 ton geode called the Grape Jelly geode
Tom Hunt Energy3
  • Virtually travel through 9,000 feet (2,700 m) of gas well in the Shale Voyager motion-based theater to experience natural gas fracking. Visitors will experience being shrunk down to travel into a well shaft less than 1 foot (0.30 m) wide in the Texas Barnett Shale
  • Learn the difference between onshore and offshore oil drilling
  • Learn about traditional and alternative fuels
  • Giant drill bit and gas turbine engine
T. Boone Pickens Life Then and Now4Follow the evolution of life on Earth over 4 billion years, the Beringia land bridge where people migrated from Siberia to Alaska across a land bridge that spanned the current day Bering Strait and life in prehistoric Alaska. Soundscape for this exhibit was designed by students from the University of Texas at Dallas. [23]
Expanding Universe4
Rose Hall of Birds4 Mezzanine
  • Build your own bird by selecting wings, songs, diets, tails, feet and feathers to construct it and then put on 3D glasses and fly it

Temporary exhibit halls

Exhibit hallLevelExhibit NameDateDescription
Jan and Trevor Rees-Jones Exhibition HallLower LevelBuilding the BuildingDecember 1, 2012– May 12, 2013Showcases the stories of the more than 2,500 people it took to create and design the Victory Park campus building and exhibits. Includes interviews with museum leaders, architect Thom Mayne, exhibit designers, landscape designer Coy Talley, Balfour Beatty construction team members, local educators from school districts and universities. Also includes the remnants of a Ford Model T discovered as the site was prepared for construction. [24]
Jan and Trevor Rees-Jones Exhibition HallLower LevelRecycle ReefJune 17, 2013– August 25, 2013Visitors will participate in building the exhibit from the ground up by using recyclable materials to transform them into creative works of art. The exhibit will be dynamic and ever-changing as it develops with each newly contributed art work. The entire exhibit will be recycled after the exhibit closes.
Jan and Trevor Rees-Jones Exhibition HallLower LevelAnimal Inside OutSeptember 22, 2013– February 23, 2014
Jan and Trevor Rees-Jones Exhibition HallLower LevelBuild It! GarageJune 21, 2014– August 17, 2014
Jan and Trevor Rees-Jones Exhibition HallLower LevelWorld's Largest DinosaurApril 6, 2014– September 1, 2014
Jan and Trevor Rees-Jones Exhibition HallLower Level2theXtreme: MathAlive!September 27, 2014– January 1, 2015
Jan and Trevor Rees-Jones Exhibition HallLower LevelThe International Exhibition of Sherlock Holmes February 14, 2015– May 10, 2015
Jan and Trevor Rees-Jones Exhibition HallLower LevelBuild It! NatureJune 19, 2015– August 6, 2015
Jan and Trevor Rees-Jones Exhibition HallLower LevelAmazing Animals: Built to SurviveJune 13, 2015– September 7, 2015
Jan and Trevor Rees-Jones Exhibition HallLower LevelCreatures of Light: Nature's BioluminescenceOctober 31, 2015– February 21, 2016
Jan and Trevor Rees-Jones Exhibition HallLower LevelEye of the CollectorApril 16, 2016– September 5, 2016Nine exhibits displaying historical and fashionable objects of 10 people displaying their recollections of items they have gathered during their lives. [25]
Jan and Trevor Rees-Jones Exhibition HallLower LevelBirds of ParadiseOctober 8, 2016– January 8, 2017Exhibits display video footage, photographs, artifacts, and interactive experiences to create a science exhibition, art show, and natural history display from a comprehensive study of all 39 known species of birds-of-paradise. [26]
Lyda Hill Gems and Minerals3rd FloorGiant Gems of the SmithsonianSeptember 9, 2016– January 17, 2017Exhibit displays a close up view of the National Museum of Natural History's National Gem Collection. [27]
Jan and Trevor Rees-Jones Exhibition HallLower LevelMaya: Hidden Worlds RevealedFebruary 11, 2017– September 4, 2017Exhibit allowing guests to explore an underworld cave, excavate an ancient burial site, and encounter the richness of Maya culture through hands-on explorations such as building arches, deciphering hieroglyphs and translating the Maya calendar. [28]
Jan and Trevor Rees-Jones Exhibition HallLower LevelUltimate Dinosaurs
Lyda Hill Gems and Minerals3rd FloorMineral Art of China
Jan and Trevor Rees-Jones Exhibition HallLower LevelThe Art of the Brick
Jan and Trevor Rees-Jones Exhibition HallLower LevelThe Science of Guinness World RecordsMarch 6, 2021– September 6, 2021

The Hoglund Foundation Theater A National Geographic Experience

The 297-seat Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant theater has a 2D, 3D 4K digital projection and sound system. The theater features a variety of films, from educational features and documentaries to experimental independent films. [29]

Educational outreach

The museum creates a Teacher's Guide, which is a booklet and online publication that is distributed to North Texas educators. The guide outlines programming designed for children pre-K to 12th grade in earth and space sciences, life and natural sciences, chemistry, physical sciences and engineering. Programming reinforces Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) objectives. [30] [31]

There are four educational outreach opportunities: field trips to the museum, onsite programming at schools (in the classroom and after school), Community Engagement through the Museum's TECH Truck and The Whynauts virtual, bilingual video series.

Field trips

Students can explore 11 permanent exhibit halls, experience educational films in their theater, and take advantage of TEKS-aligned onsite classroom or auditorium programming. Further learning, available through program extensions, is held in the learning labs and auditorium of the museum's Lower Level. The museum also features educational films, offered in partnership with National Geographic.

Onsite programming at schools

Museum educators offer 26 programs that can be taught in schools’ classrooms, presented to large groups in auditoriums, or showcased as part of after-school programming.

Community Engagement

The TECH Truck brings hands-on discovery directly to community centers programs, libraries, parks, public events, out-of-school programs and more — providing science-based experiences for the public.

The Whynauts

Bring the wonders of the Perot Museum to your classroom through an interactive, bilingual, STEM educational series.

See also

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References

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