When I proposed to the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Bonn earlier this year to undertake a study of how European science museums portray environmental issues to their audiences, I had envisioned a relatively straightforward approach that included selecting a dozen of the most well-known museums and arranging a fact-finding visit to each, starting from a base at the Deutsches Museum in Munich and taking 3 big loops over 3 months.
Selecting the museums for my proposal was fairly simple – I went to the online ASTC museum membership roster and picked a dozen museums I thought I could reasonable get to in 3 months.
But as is usually the case, it wasn’t that simple. Many science museums in Europe are not ASTC members, and many European museums doing good work on environmental topics are not “science centers.”
Several individuals have been extremely helpful in making sense of the European museum landscape. Walter Staveloz at ASTC in Washington, Ulrich Kernbach at the Deutsches Museum in Munich, Erik Jacquemyn of Technopolis in Belgium, plus many others, have collectively helped me learn more about European science-technology museums. Thanks to each of you!
I'm am eager to learn more about which European museums are doing the best work in public education on the topic of sustainability and climate change. Your comments are welcome – please send me email: cTrautmann@sciencenter.org
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Please make a list of the good museums that you get to visit or hear about in Europe so it is easier for people like me to visit them. Thank you
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