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INDIA is credited worldwide for creating the fi rst full-fl edged outdoor

science exposition called ‘Children’s Science Park’ in 1979, during the International Year of the Child, at Nehru Science Centre in Mumbai. Between 1979 and 2014, India has set up 40 science parks as visitors’ facility offered by most of the science museums, science centres and science cities. The majority of the exhibits of these parks explain basic principles of

physics through interactive or hands-on exhibits.

It is possibly not known to many that the fi rst set of physics based exhibits suitable for outdoor exposition, with visitors as part of the interaction, were created in the United States of America at The Exploratorium in San Francisco in 1977. India too produced physics playground exhibits, not exactly similar to The Exploratorium exhibits, a year later in 1978 at the Nehru Science Centre.

Science Museums with Hands-on ExhibitsFrom the middle of the 1960s, museums of science and technology in North America prominently started evolving as science teaching centres, with no resemblance to conventional science museums like the Science Museum (1857) in London, the Deutsches Museum in Munich (1903), or the Museum of History and Technology (1964) at Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC. Examples of such new

JAYANTA STHANAPATI

The fi rst physics-based exhibits suitable for outdoor exposition, with visitors as part of the interaction, were created in the United States of America in 1977. India followed soon after producing physics playground exhibits a year later in 1978.

TTThe fi rst physics-based exhibits suitable for oiti ith i it t f th i t

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generation centres are The Exploratorium (1969) in San Francisco, USA, Ontario Science Centre (1969) in Toronto, Canada and the Lawrence Hall of Science (1968) in Berkeley, USA. The exhibits they displayed required manual operation, control and adjustment by visitors and thus provided opportunities for better understanding of a subject.

Singapore Science Centre, the fi rst hands-on science museum in Asia, was opened in 1977. Meanwhile, the National Council of Science Museums in India took a decision to set up the country’s fi rst hands-on science museum in Mumbai on an 11-acre (44,515 square metres) plot of land and name it as the Nehru Science Centre (NSC), after the fi rst Prime Minister of India. Dr. Saroj Ghose was appointed as Project Offi cer of NSC. The centre was dedicated to the nation by Shri Rajiv Gandhi, Prime Minister of India on 11 November 1985.

Frank Oppenheimer and the ExploratoriumDr. Frank Oppenheimer (1912-1985), the founder director of The Exploratorium, was an eminent physicist and educator. During the Second World War, he worked at the University of California Radiation Laboratory in Berkeley on separation of uranium isotope project as its team leader. With time, he got involved in the top-secret Manhattan Project of the Allies to produce the atomic bomb.

From 1957 onwards he focussed his attention towards science education. Initially he taught physics, chemistry and biology at Pagosa Springs High School in Colorado. Two years later, while teaching at the University of Colorado, he

developed a ‘Library of Experiments’ to help students to conduct experiments for in-depth study.

While still in the University of Colorado, Oppenheimer cherished a keen desire to set up a science museum with hands-on exhibits. A few years later he started his dream project at the ‘Palace of Fine Arts’ in San Francisco with an initial funding of USD 50,000 from the San Francisco Foundation. The palace was originally built in 1915 to hold the ‘Panama Pacifi c Exhibition’ to celebrate completion of the Panama Canal.

A cavernous hall of approximately 8000 sq meters fl oor area (305 m long, 37 m wide and 12 m high) in the palace was considered an ideal space by Oppenheimer to build his science museum. That began his toil in creating the fantastic museum of interactive exhibits. In order to avoid the passive undertone of the word ‘museum’ he named it ‘The Exploratorium’.

His dream project was opened to the public in September 1969 and was very much liked by the visitors. Most of the exhibits of The Exploratorium were fabricated in-house; some were gifted by industries, government agencies, artists, scientists, students and also by staff members of the centre. Gradually, the number of exhibits grew to nearly 200 pieces by 1972.

Exhibits at the ExploratoriumThat is not the end of the story, however, and the epilogue to this wonderful journey of Frank Oppenheimer was recently unearthed by the present author in the form of a document which reveals another glorious creation of his.

Under his guidance the physics playground exhibits were fi rst developed in The Exploratorium in San Francisco in 1977. The efforts started yielding fruits when in 1977 The Exploratorium had used a grant of USD 5,500 from the Association for Science-Technology Centres (ASTC), Washington DC for developing ideas, designs and full-scale prototype exhibits for a physics playground. Oppenheimer took joy in advising and sometimes helping with prototyping.

They developed prototypes of four unusual swings and a slide race and installed those temporarily in The Exploratorium. The pieces were called Coupled Pendulum, Compound Pendulum, Moon Swing, Variable Length Swing, and the Slide Race. They further proposed concepts of fi ve more exhibits for the playground. These were Water Cannon, Balancing Rail, Black Sand, Sound Mirrors, Momentum Machine, and a Momentum Transfer Contest.

Unfortunately, The Exploratorium could not pursue their plans to set up a Physics Playground on the grounds of the Palace of Fine Arts, because it was denied by San Francisco’s Recreation and Park Department due to their budget constraint, and issues concerning maintenance and aesthetics of the area.

But as they say, a good thing never loses its value, which is why the prototypes developed and the concepts suggested by The Exploratorium drew attention of many countries including India and similar exhibits were fabricated by them from 1982 onwards. But no centre has ever acknowledged the infl uence of The Exploratorium’s prototypes on their work.

The Exploratorium – the birthplace of physics playground exhibits

As they say, a good thing never loses its value, which is why the prototypes developed and the concepts suggested by The Exploratorium drew attention of many countries including India and similar exhibits were fabricated by them from 1982 onwards.

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First Exhibits at Nehru Science CentreIt was in 1978 that Dr. Saroj Ghose realized that it would take at least fi ve years to construct and set up the Nehru Science Centre. But there was a need to show something developed quickly at the site to satisfy the fi nancers of the project. So he planned that the open stretch of land, about 6 acres (24,281 sq. m.), in front of the proposed building could be developed as a beautiful park with exhibits which have relevance to science and technology.

The work began in 1978 and it becomes evident from the Annual Report of the NSC that a set of six interactive outdoor exhibits based on basic principles of physics were developed and installed during that year, namely, Sundial, World Minus Colours, Musical Pipes, Cycloid Path, Loop the Loop, and Off-centred See-Saws.

The graphics printed on the cover of the said Annual Report showed a few more exhibits, such as Wind Mill, Semaphore Tower, Water Wheels, Archimedes Spiral, Anemometer, and Wind Vane. NSC’s target was, however, to set up a full-fl edged ‘Outdoor Science Expo’ by the year 1979, as that was declared as ‘International Year of the Child’ by the United Nations.

Children’s Science Park Opens in Nehru Science CentreA full-fl edged science park, the fi rst of its kind in the world, was created over an area of 24,281 sq metres at the Nehru Science Centre by Dr Saroj Ghose as Project Offi cer and his team of offi cials, namely, Dr Arun Ghosh, Curator

(Physics); A.K. Date, Technical Offi cer (Mechanical); R.P. Ghosh, Exhibition Offi cer (Art & Display); A.R. Mahanty, Curator (Electronics); M. Parvathinathan, Curator (Physics); fi fteen Technicians and some supporting staff from other fi elds.

The much awaited function was held on 22 December 1979 and till now remains a favourite hunting ground for kids.

The exhibits of the science park were divided into subheads like, Motion (7), Kinematics (7), Light (7), Work (6), Sound (3), Time Keeping (3), Water (2), Energy (1), Life Science (7), Weather Forecasting

(6) and Artefacts & Models (11). It is to be noted that none of the outdoor physics exhibits developed by NSC Mumbai during 1978-1979 was similar to The Exploratorium’s physics playground exhibits, but a few had utilized similar principles of physics.

Science Park at Saint Louis Science CentreThe fi rst science park in America was opened at St. Louis Science Centre in 1988 under the leadership of Dr. Jeffrey P. Bonner. During 1979-80,

‘Coupled Pendulum’ in action at the Exploratorium (1977)

‘Slide Race’ exhibit under test at the Exploratorium (1977)

Science Park of the Nehru Science Centre (1979)

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Bonner, as a Fulbright scholar was in India in connection with his research in anthropology. At that time he visited the Nehru Science Centre and closely examined its exhibits in the newly built science park.

He went back and fi ve years later in 1985, while serving at St. Louis Science Centre, Missouri as Director of Exhibits and Programs, he planned to set up a Science Education Playground, like the Indian Science Park. His dreams were fuelled, when in 1986, St. Louis Science Center received a substantial sum of money from the National Science Foundation to create an outdoor science education playground in two years’ time. Hence, without delay, Bonner once again travelled to India in 1986 to review outdoor science park exhibits which had grown in number and quality by that time.

Back in St. Louis, Bonner initiated his project. While he was responsible for the general coordination and supervision of the project, he was assisted by a team of professionals from the science center like exhibit designers, graphic designers, text writers and an engineering consultant. Further, Dr. Alan Friedman, Director of New York Hall of Science, who had already visited the Science Park in Mumbai, was the primary exhibit design review consultant. So the fabulous quotient regarding this centre to be built was very high without a doubt!

The location for the project was a 2,100 sq meter plaza surrounding the St Louis Science Centre. The science park consisted of 24 physics playground type exhibits demonstrating the basic scientifi c principles of light, sound, energy, motion, and so on. Prior to inauguration of the facility, Dr. Saroj Ghose visited the science

park at St Louis in 1988 and remarked he had no idea that the concept would catch on internationally.

Indian and American infl uenceSince the early 1980s many science museum professionals from various parts of the world visited the Nehru Science Centre and appreciated the science park. Some of them even reported later that the Indian work had infl uenced them to establish similar facilities on their home grounds.

But we should not forget the contribution of The Exploratorium, which not only introduced the concept of outdoor playground exhibits and created the fi rst set of such exhibits in the world, but also provided inspiration to science museums all over the world, including India, to suitably modify its indoor hands-on exhibits for outdoor display in their science parks or science playgrounds. It feels pretty amazing to be someone’s inspiration but it is much more honouring to respect the true creator’s hard work and talent.

Acknowledgement: The author thanks Ms Megan Bury, Head of Media Archiving and Permissions, The Exploratorium and also Ms Kristina Hampton, Collections and Special Projects Manager, Saint Louis Science Center for providing unpublished project documents in respect of Physics Playground and Scientifi c Playground respectively.Photo credit: © Exploratroium, San Francisco, www.exploratorium.edu ; Saint Louis Science Center, St. Louis; and Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai.

Dr Jayanta Sthanapati is currently engaged as Project Investigator to study the ‘History of Science Museums and Planetariums in India’, a research project sponsored by the Indian National Science Academy. Address: 4, K. K. Majumdar Road, Santoshpur, Kolkata-700075. Email: dr.jayanta.sthanapati@gmail.com

Off-centred see-saws in operation at Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai (1978)

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Exhibit on ‘Gears’ at the Science Park of Saint Louis Science Center, St. Louis (1988)

The fi rst science park in America was opened at St. Louis Science Centre in 1988 under the leadership of Dr. Jeffrey P. Bonner.