The coolest IT museums in the world. Part 2

    This is the second part of a guide to museums and research laboratories that will be interesting to an inquiring IT mind. And you can read the first here . All the museums we are talking about are not the notorious echoing halls with parquet and a caretaker grandmother sitting on a chair upholstered in velvet. These are the interactive crossroads of the past, present and future technologies in which you are involved. And often right at the expositions.



    Blizzard Office


    Where: USA, California , Irvine , 16215 Alton Pkwy, Irvine, CA 92618
    Website: eu.blizzard.com
    Phone: +1 (949) 955-13-80



    Yes, you can go on a tour to the head office of the company. Only the tour is held only once a month and in order to sign up for it, you must first read this , and then write to tours@blizzard.com in English. And then maybe ... Although, most likely it is just an intrigue in style.

    Argonne National Laboratory


    Where: USA, Illinois , Chicago , 9700 South Cass Avenue B109, Lemont, IL 60439
    Website: www.anl.gov
    Phone: +1 (630) 252-55-62


    3rd Generation Synchrotron Source Argonne National Laboratory

    Tour - the same one in which the Mira supercomputer developed by the Blue Gene project was created and is located . Just imagine what they can tell and show on excursions! The term “tour” in such laboratories is a group visit with a guided tour, and not a trip with transfer and accommodation, as you understand. Supercomputer Mira




    Oakridge National Laboratory


    Where: USA, Tennessee , Oak Ridge , Oak Ridge National Laboratory, PO Box 2008, Oak Ridge, TN 37831
    Website: ornl.gov
    Phone: +1 (865) 576-76-58



    Tours of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory - the world leader in the field Advanced Research and Development Materials, US Department of Energy's largest science laboratory. Want to see the most powerful supercomputer Jaguar and its modern version of Titan ? Have you ever seen neutron research facilities? There are at least two of them: High Flux Isotope Reactor and Spallation Neutron Source .


    Spallation Neutron Source (SNS)

    NASA Space Center (NASA)


    Where: USA, Texas , Houston , 1601 Nasa Parkway, Houston, TX 77058
    Website: spacecenter.org
    Phone: +1 (281) 244-21-00



    That's exactly the same NASA. And do not say that space technology does not interest you. Here, friends, there are such attractions that you have never dreamed of! Can you imagine what kind of excursions and lectures are there?



    Museum of Science (MoS)


    Where: USA, Massachusetts , Boston , 1 Science Park, Boston, MA 02114
    Website: mos.org
    Phone: +1 (617) 723-25-00



    The museum has been in the Science Park since 1830. Includes permanent exhibits , half a thousand interactive exhibitions, a Mugar Omni IMAX planetarium and cinema with a domed screen. The main guideline is natural science and the animal world, which, at first glance, does not go well with the interests of the IT specialist. But there is a connection between all sciences, and in this museum it can be traced clearly, like nowhere else.



    Museum of Science


    Where: UK, London , Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London SW7 2DD.
    Website: sciencemuseum.org.uk
    Phone: +44 (870) 870-48-68



    Ultramodern old museum! Exactly. The museum is already a century and a half, and the expositions in it are such that you understand: the 21st century has come, and for a long time. Here you can test interesting engineering systems, create virtual worlds through games, test your brain’s abilities, travel through models of alien spaces, study the history of technology development in a 3D theater with an IMAX screen. Exposures move, make sounds. Actual exhibitions are constantly held: from the history of electronic music to the interactive simulation of the Large Hadron Collider. And sometimes visitors get funny costumes!



    National Media Museum


    Where: United Kingdom, Bradford , Bradford, West Yorkshire, BD1 1NQ
    Website: nationalmediamuseum.org.uk
    Phone: +44 (0844) 856-37-97



    Several levels of this media paradise will attract hipsters, geeks, and grandfather to their networks , and baby. The British are skilled showmen, and here they showed this talent to the fullest. Exciting installations, interactive exhibits, exhibitions on the history of the Internet, photography, television, the film industry. 3 cinemas, vending machines with arcades, a media museum, an interactive television studio, an excellent cafe. The entrance is free.



    SONY Multimedia Museum


    Where: Japan, Tokyo , Mediage 5F 1-7-1 Daiba, Minato-Ku, Tokyo 135-8718 Japan
    Website: sonyexplorascience.jp
    Phone: +81 (355) 31-21-86



    The best interactive sound and light installations in the world - synthesis of science, technology and entertainment. Here, all exhibits can be touched in every way, using them as attractions. A sea of ​​all kinds of gadgets that can also be used as toys.



    National Museum of Advanced Technology and Innovation Miraikan


    Where: Japan, Tokyo , 2-3-6, Aomi, Koto-ku, Tokyo, National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation
    Website: miraikan.jst.go.jp
    Phone: +81 (335) 70-91-51



    Thematic exhibition Halls: genetic engineering, space exploration, advanced robotics technologies. You can observe the Earth from space on a giant spherical Geo-Cosmos display or conduct experiments with superconductivity. ASIMO Android gives views twice a day. The director of the museum is the first Japanese astronaut. Incredible place!



    Akihabara Electronics District


    Where: Japan, Tokyo , Akihabara



    This is a huge market for any electronic equipment and spare parts that exists. The famous Electronic City. Here you can buy branded items with a 10% discount, used electronics for nothing, there are duty-free shops for tourists (for example, Laox Chuo-dori). In addition to the actual electronics and computer games, the area is famous for the pilgrimage of cosplay and, accordingly, role-playing games. Here, even the waitresses at the Maid Cafe do not go out of their role. Fans of anime and manga here just squeak from happiness.



    Samsung Innovation Museum


    Where: South Korea, Suwon , 443-742 Samsung Innovation Museum, Samsung-ro 129, Yeongtong-gu, Suwon-si, Gyeonggi-do
    Website: samsunginnovationmuseum.com
    Phone: + 82 (031) 200-31-13



    Museum dedicated to electronics industry from the market giant. The five-story building of 11 km 2 contains: a hall of the history of electricity, the creation of radio, household appliances; Hall of semiconductors, displays, mobile devices; Hall of modern devices of the company and promising innovations. The whole history of electronics.



    Beijing Science and Technology Museum


    Where: China, Beijing , 100012, Beichen East Road, Chaoyang District,
    Website: cstm.org.cn
    Phone: +86 (10) 00-12



    This Beijing Museum is a hymn to China for achievements in science and technology and its role in civilization. The museum is divided into zones with thematic sections: energy, industry, transport, aviation, high technology. There is an interesting pavilion of ancient Chinese inventions. But the most interesting is 4D cinemas that integrate all the senses, even the taste! There is a science park for children.



    Skyscraper Electronics Market


    Where: China, Shenzhen , 1015 Huaqiang N Rd, Futian, Shenzhen, Guangdong
    Website: seg.com.cn
    Phone: +86 (755) 8368-21-29



    72 floors, 356 meters high, 170,000 m 2 area. SEG Electronics Market itself occupies floors from 1 to 7. Next - offices, hotels, restaurants, a viewing and helipad. New computers, phones and tablets here are sold mainly in bulk - representatives of manufacturing plants trade. But used goods are sold individually.



    CERN


    Where: Switzerland, Geneva ,
    Website: outreach.web.cern.ch
    Phone: +41 (022) 767-76-76



    Tours of CERN ( the CERN ). It is the world's largest high-energy physics laboratory. She is the European Council for Nuclear Research. She is the birthplace of the Large Hadron Collider! Of the same. We pass, do not push.


    Yes it's him

    Computer museum


    Where: Switzerland, Lausanne , Musée Bolo, EPFL - Bâtiment INF, Station 14, 1015 Lausanne
    Website: bolo.ch
    Phone: +41 (078) 748-21-16



    Opened at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne ( EPFL ), but independent of him, since it is administered by the private fund of Yves Bolognini . The museum’s collection consists of several thousand ancient computers, three of which are supercomputers of the 80s, occupying the floor of the room, consuming 195 kW of energy, with 2 Gb RAM and comparable in processing power to a modern iPhone. This is nostalgia for the times of teletypes, punch cards, green screens and giant floppy disks. At the same time, the museum itself is made in the most modern style.



    And here are the first inventions of geniuses from computer science


    In the Paris Museum of Arts and Crafts, you can see as many as 4 arithmetic machines of Pascal , one of which even with the signature of the author for 1652.


    Pascal's Arithmometer

    At the German Technical Museum in Berlin you can see, among other things, anything interesting, the first model of Konrad Zuse's mechanical programmable digital computer - Z1.


    Z1

    And in the German Museum is the Leibniz arithmometer.


    Arithmometer Leibniz

    In conclusion, I want to note that all of the listed museums will be interesting not only for adults, but also for children. As a rule, everywhere there are either separate children's expositions, or the museums themselves are designed for any age. And indeed, IT joys - they are also fun for the child.

    Add your versions of museums and other places of interest to geeks not mentioned in the article in the comments. Let's put it all in one place :)

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