Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago

5700 S Lake Shore Dr, Chicago, IL 60637, USA

Address:	5700 S Lake Shore Dr, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
Phone:	+1 773-684-1414
Site:	msichicago.org
Rating:	4.5
Working:	9:30AM–4PM 9:30AM–4PM 9:30AM–4PM 9:30AM–4PM 9:30AM–4PM 9:30AM–4PM 9:30AM–4PM

Location

Photos 100

Reviews 5

Zach Stuckmann

You will not have an underwhelming experience at MSI. It truly takes a couple of days to explore and experience every exhibit, but even if you are zipping through, you will find yourself in awe anyways as many of the artifacts are strangely intriguing and experiences sublime and humbling. Its hard not to leave feeling inspired if not by a single exhibit then by the sheer quantity (and innovation) of what humans have achieved as a whole. This is absolutely a museum for any age group and is very hands-on, but will tend to lean towards the education of our future scientists and innovators in specific exhibits (can appear more kid-friendly when there are dozens of school groups in attendance). There is a fresh blend of the old, the new, and the future at MSI. Highlights include the massive U-505 German Submarine, a two-story swirling tornado vortex and giant working Tesla coil spewing out shockingly large bolts of electricity every couple of hours. There is also the brand new mirror maze in Number and Nature, the immersive Omnimax Theater, and unique temporary exhibits (which are featured on the website). Youll also find genetics, robotics, space exploration, transportation, medicine, communication, rides and more. While this building is gigantic, it can fill up during the holidays and on free days so prepare for the amplified noise of excited children and over-stimulation of fellow museum goers weaving in and out of each other if you are sensitive to that. There is a Cafe and a Food Court for caffeine and lunch, as well as an ice cream parlor. Parking is underground on the West side of the building. Bring what you need with you and leave behind what you dont because it can be a trip getting back to your car. Also accessible by public transit (CTA [buses] & Metra). Close walk to the lake on the East and a variety of food for the evening on the West.

A Private User

More Science Outside the Museum than Inside. After visiting the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry I feel like the science museum has become less "hands-on science" and more "touch screen." The Live Demos they have at certain times on topics like magnetism and angular momentum or even making putty from glue & borax are nice, but they last only 10 minutes or so. Foucaults pendulum and the pinball machine are the other highlights. A lot of the "interactive" exhibits are really just computer - games or items with buttons that light up (if they work). In many cases the kids are pushing buttons and watching what happens - not "doing the experiment." About the fairy castle - I had no idea why it was there. Except for the exhibit on cloning, the "industry" exhibits failed to raise or even point out that there are social, economic, or ecological questions about the industry but rather celebrated techniques like industrial dairy farming (actually said that cows like it!) or the combine harvester. Very few things like the whispering gallery seemed like really engaging the child in observing and wondering. And this is something we dont normally encounter unless we happen to be under a dome. After spending $22 there I felt like, we can get more hands-on science outside or even just at home. I wonder if the science museum sees its mission as "turning kids on" to science by adding a lot of sound and light effects. For a kid who is already turned on, I think the world offers much more than the science museum. We just have to take advantage of it even though it has no entry fee.

Christopher Young

One of the biggest museums in Chicago, the Museum of Science and Industry has numerous attractions and fairly comprehensive exhibits. I thought the weather and electricity exhibits were top notch, with interactive elements and some really interesting displays. The Tesla coil that fires every 30 minutes was really awesome. As we made our way around the Museum however, the displays/exhibits got less and less arresting. The human body section had some generally cool stuff but ended up abruptly. The industry part of the Museum was equally disappointing - it seemed more like a long ad for the Museum sponsors as opposed to any real interesting displays. What dropped the Museum score down to 3 stars for me was all the additional paid exhibits. After paying 18 dollars a person for my group and 22 dollars for parking, I was very disappointed that Museum wanted even more money for other displays. We went through the entire submarine exhibit, marveled at the submarine but then we were disappointed that there was an additional fee to view the sub. I would rather pay an increased gate fee to have full reign of the Museum. These additional transactions at various stages (there was others besides the submarine) seemed unwarranted, especially when they wanted money right when the exhibit got good. Id recommend visiting if you havent been before. There truly is some awe inspiring displays here. That said, be prepared to spend some serious money to see everything.

Floyd Nash

I used to love going here. I remember taking my kids there when they were tiny little thing and not even able to remember it. They liked a lot of the exhibits that were geared more towards kids, and even some that werent as much, like the 727 or 747 (cant remember what model it is) you can go in and explore. Thats been a few years. I remember the prices being a bit high, but not unreasonable then too. Fast forward to today, and thats not the case. The prices have gone WAY up and the experience has gone WAY down. There are so many things that dont work any more at this place. The train has stuff that always seems broken, there are signs of decay all over the place, dust everywhere, paint gone, peeling, or cracking... and the place is just generally looking run down pretty badly. I took my daughters and a friend there this past summer and none of us were very impressed. My youngest daughter had just turned 11 and even she wasnt impressed. We still had fun, but it was overshadowed by the generally run down appearance of everything. If you are in the Chicago area, there are too many other places you can go and have more fun. Go to the Field Museum or Shedd Aquarium and youll have much more fun. For right now, if you can get a good deal or your kids can go as part of a school trip, its worth it, otherwise, it isnt really worth the trip any more. Thats sad too, because this was one of my absolute favorite places at one time.

Vincent Sartor

This place is HUGE . . . it is pretty hard to find a full-size submarine INSIDE a museum, but they have a video showing you how they did it! They also have most of a 737 up on the top floor, and they make a 3-story vortex in the weather section. My son most enjoyed the interactive exhibits where you could touch things, and surprisingly he rarely had to wait more than a couple minutes for a turn. There were thousands of people here, but it is so big that most of the time it was not too crowded. The "Animal Inside Out" exhibit could be a little creepy, it looks very real. We had a great time. You can easily spend all day exploring this place, more than a day if you stop and see every exhibit! This place is great, but I cannot give it 5 stars. First of all many of the interactive exhibits were no functioning, and some of the broke down during the day. I understand that it is a challenge to keep things working with hundreds of people playing with them everyday, but still it is disappointing when you want to try something and it does nothing. The other problem is that many of the exhibits are showing their age. Science and Industry are moving forward at an incredible pace these days, and it is obvious that many of these exhibits are stuck in the past. Most of them are still worth seeing, but more as curiosities of the past.