A New Heart For The Museum Of Science And Industry

By Staff in Miscellaneous on Aug 26, 2009 9:30PM

The famous walk-through heart at The Museum of Science and Industry has gotten a much needed upgrade. This week, technicians put the finishing touches on its replacement: a new, three-dimensional animated heart that stands 14-feet-tall. Occupying the balcony of the museum’s North Court, the new heart not only shows the inner and outer workings of the organ through full-color animated projections, but it also matches the pulses of visitors through a pair of hand grips in front of the exhibit, and then displays their heartbeat.

The new heart is set to be the main fixture of the museum’s 15,000-square-foot permanent exhibit, “You! The Experience,” which opens on Oct. 8 and is designed to help visitors make informed decisions about personal healthcare. A popular attraction since 1954, the old heart was recently disassembled and pieces of it were sent to several families of workers who had built it and requested souvenirs of the structure.

In an interview with the Chicago Tribune, Patricia Ward, the museum’s director of science and technology, commented on the old and new heart. “[The old heart] was very popular for many decades," Ward said, “but it was static, and we have so many new technologies now to make something like that come alive. We are aware of the nostalgia of the old heart, and we hope that will help people connect with this new exhibit.”

Post by Anna Deem