5 ms·

Ask HN: Mathematics-related Museums?

17 points by questionr 10y ago

Any interesting museums, exhibits, tours or destinations for mathematicians? National Museum of Mathematics @ NYC http://momath.org/ Greece

justjonathan 10y ago
The Boston Museum of science has a A terrific children's exhibit on math as well as nice more adult oriented math exhibit (sponsored by Mathematica as I recall).
- jhbadger 10y ago
  No, no -- "Mathematica: A World of Numbers ... and Beyond" has nothing to do with "Mathematica" the software -- the name coincidence is just because both use the Latin word for "Mathematics". It is a version of the IBM-funded 1961 exhibition that has been shown in various museums such as the California and Chicago museums of science and industry. Its main claim to fame is that it was designed by Charles and Ray Eames (yes, of "Mad Men" era recliner fame, but more relevantly they also did the famous "Powers of Ten" film). It is a somewhat dated exhibit (I doubt a section on famous mathematicians would be titled "Men of Mathematics" today), but still has some interesting pieces, and the Eames influence means it is practically a piece of art in itself.
actuallyalys 10y ago
Gießen, Germany has the Mathematikum (http://www.mathematikum.de/en.html http://www.mathematikum.de/en.html). Its exhibits are probably aimed more at children, but I still enjoyed it.
- brighthero 10y ago
  I was just about to post exactly that for fun. How small the world is...
leephillips 10y ago
The National Cryptologic Museum has something to do with mathematics. https://www.nsa.gov/about/cryptologic-heritage/museum/ https://www.nsa.gov/about/cryptologic-heritage/museum/
oso2k 10y ago
There's also the National Curvebank at CSULA [0]. [0] http://curvebank.calstatela.edu/home/home.htm http://curvebank.calstatela.edu/home/home.htm
wnkrshm 10y ago
The Heinz NixDorf museum in Paderborn, Germany. It's mostly computer science and engineering but it has a numerical background The collection is amazing, from prehistoric cuneiform tablets over Renaissance mechanical computers, Enigma, vacuum tube compuers to modern machines - it is arranged in chronological order. Some of the items have replicas that you can actually touch and operate (e.g. brass multiplication machines from the 18th century).

17 points by questionr 10y ago

Any interesting museums, exhibits, tours or destinations for mathematicians? National Museum of Mathematics @ NYC http://momath.org/ Greece

justjonathan 10y ago

The Boston Museum of science has a A terrific children's exhibit on math as well as nice more adult oriented math exhibit (sponsored by Mathematica as I recall).

jhbadger 10y ago
No, no -- "Mathematica: A World of Numbers ... and Beyond" has nothing to do with "Mathematica" the software -- the name coincidence is just because both use the Latin word for "Mathematics". It is a version of the IBM-funded 1961 exhibition that has been shown in various museums such as the California and Chicago museums of science and industry. Its main claim to fame is that it was designed by Charles and Ray Eames (yes, of "Mad Men" era recliner fame, but more relevantly they also did the famous "Powers of Ten" film). It is a somewhat dated exhibit (I doubt a section on famous mathematicians would be titled "Men of Mathematics" today), but still has some interesting pieces, and the Eames influence means it is practically a piece of art in itself.

actuallyalys 10y ago

Gießen, Germany has the Mathematikum (http://www.mathematikum.de/en.html http://www.mathematikum.de/en.html). Its exhibits are probably aimed more at children, but I still enjoyed it.

brighthero 10y ago
I was just about to post exactly that for fun. How small the world is...

leephillips 10y ago

The National Cryptologic Museum has something to do with mathematics. https://www.nsa.gov/about/cryptologic-heritage/museum/ https://www.nsa.gov/about/cryptologic-heritage/museum/

oso2k 10y ago

There's also the National Curvebank at CSULA [0]. [0] http://curvebank.calstatela.edu/home/home.htm http://curvebank.calstatela.edu/home/home.htm

wnkrshm 10y ago

The Heinz NixDorf museum in Paderborn, Germany. It's mostly computer science and engineering but it has a numerical background The collection is amazing, from prehistoric cuneiform tablets over Renaissance mechanical computers, Enigma, vacuum tube compuers to modern machines - it is arranged in chronological order. Some of the items have replicas that you can actually touch and operate (e.g. brass multiplication machines from the 18th century).