The California Museum of Science and Industry will create a 3,000 square foot permanent exhibition of hands-on participatory exhibits on chemistry and chemical phenomena that will allow visitors to manipulate the variables of chemical systems. Forty exhibit units will be organized in clusters in that represent the basic concepts of properties of atoms and molecules, molecular structure and chemical reactions, stability of molecules and rates of reactions, forces between atoms and molecules and energy of atoms and molecules. The exhibition will use state-of-the-art technology to present chemical experiments previously left to the lab bench or the demonstration table. Interactive computers and videodiscs will be used where danger or complexity prevents the visitor from using "the real thing." Exhibit content will be proved in prototype form and tested on museum staff, visitors, and school groups prior to final design and construction. NSF support will be used in the design and prototype phases, and an "exhibit cookbook" of exhibit technologies for use by other museums will be created. The project has already attracted more than $175,000 of matching funds towards a total of $800,000 in non-NSF matching funds to support its $1,100,000 budget.
The Educational Film Center, in collaboration with Dr. Roald Hoffmann, Nobel Laureate and John A. Newman, Professor of Physical Science at Cornell University, will produce THE MOLECULAR WORLD, a series of three one-hour specials for Public Television. The specials will outline this "century of synthesis," the historical contribution of chemistry to our everyday lives. They will further highlight the future impact of chemistry on new materials for transportation and communication, and ont he rational design of effective medicines. The programs respond to the need for public awareness about the molecular and chemical make-up of the natural world around us and within us. The public also needs to appreciate better the continuing role of chemistry in producing the new molecules which change our world. THE MOLECULAR WORLD is designed for a national television audience complementing the recently completed college telecourse "The World of Chemistry" and its High School adaptations. The National Science Foundation award constitutes 15% of the total cost of the project.