The Molecularium Project is an informal

science education Science education is the teaching and learning of science to school children, college students, or adults within the general public. The field of science education includes work in science content, science process (the scientific method), some ...

project of

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (; RPI) is a private university, private research university in Troy, New York, United States. It is the oldest technological university in the English-speaking world and the Western Hemisphere. It was establishe ...

. The project introduces young audiences to the world of

atoms Atoms are the basic particles of the chemical elements. An atom consists of a nucleus of protons and generally neutrons, surrounded by an electromagnetically bound swarm of electrons. The chemical elements are distinguished from each other ...

and

molecules A molecule is a group of two or more atoms that are held together by attractive forces known as chemical bonds; depending on context, the term may or may not include ions that satisfy this criterion. In quantum physics, organic chemistry ...

using character driven stories, animations, games and activities, and molecular visualizations. Rensselaer's three principal scientist and educators behind the project are Linda Schadler, Richard W. Siegel, and Shekhar Garde. The Molecularium Project began as an outreach project of Rensselaer's Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center. To realize the productions, the scientists collaborated with Nanotoon Entertainment, led by writer and director V. Owen Bush, and writer/producer Kurt Przybilla. The Molecularium Project is funded by Rensselaer, the

National Science Foundation The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...

, and

New York State New York, also called New York State, is a state in the northeastern United States. Bordered by New England to the east, Canada to the north, and Pennsylvania and New Jersey to the south, its territory extends into both the Atlantic Ocean and ...

Productions

Pilot show

In 2002, Schadler and Garde produced a seven-minute pilot show for the local

planetarium A planetarium (: planetariums or planetaria) is a theatre built primarily for presenting educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navigation. A dominant feature of most planetariums is ...

called “Molecularium” for the

Digistar II Digistar is the first computer graphics-based planetarium projection and content system. It was designed by Evans & Sutherland and released in 1983. The technology originally focused on accurate and high quality display of stars, including for the ...

Planetarium system. It introduces children to the concepts of atoms and molecules from small molecules like

water Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known liv ...

to larger molecules like

polymers A polymer () is a substance or material that consists of very large molecules, or macromolecules, that are constituted by many repeating subunits derived from one or more species of monomers. Due to their broad spectrum of properties, b ...

"Molecularium - Riding Snowflakes"

In early 2004, Schadler, Garde, and Siegel were awarded a U.S.

grant to make a new Molecularium show exclusively for an immersive dome based video display environment, also known as a

fulldome Fulldome refers to immersive dome-based video display environments. The dome, horizontal or tilted, is filled with real-time (interactive) or pre-rendered (linear) computer animations, live capture images, or composited environments. Although t ...

medium. They recruited filmmaker, and experience designer, V. Owen Bush to bring the idea to life. Bush founded the production company Nanotoon Entertainment with writer/producer Kurt Przybilla to realize the new project. Bush and Przybilla proposed an adventure story of personified atoms flying a ship called the Molecularium through nanoscale materials including a snowflake, a penny, a stick of gum and the human body. In February 2005, the team debuted "Molecularium - Riding Snowflakes" a 23-minute digital planetarium show at the

Children's Museum of Science and Technology The Children's Museum of Science and Technology (CMOST) was a science museum for Children's museum, children in Troy, New York. The museum had various exhibits, including almost 100 living animals. The museum did not admit adults unless accompan ...

. In 2005, "Molecularium - Riding Snowflakes" won the Domie award at Domefest, a festival for immersive dome films, in Albuquerque New Mexico. "Molecularium - Riding Snowflakes" has shown at

Chabot Space and Science Center Chabot Space and Science Center (), located in Oakland, California, is a center for learning in Earth and space science, which features interactive exhibits, planetariums, a large screen theater, hands-on activities, and three powerful telescope ...

in Oakland, California, the

Newark Museum The Newark Museum of Art, formerly known as the Newark Museum, in Newark, New Jersey is the state's largest museum. It holds major collections of American art, decorative arts, contemporary art, and arts of Asia (including a large collection of T ...

Planetarium in Newark, New Jersey, Dubai Children’s City, UAE, and

Thinktank, Birmingham Thinktank, Birmingham (formerly known as simply Thinktank) is a science museum in Birmingham, England. Opened in 2001, it is part of Birmingham Museums Trust and is located within the Millennium Point complex on Curzon Street, Digbeth. His ...

, UK, among other digital planetariums. It has been translated and versioned in

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, people from the Korean peninsula or of Korean descent * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Korean **Korean dialects **See also: North–South differences in t ...

and

Turkish Turkish may refer to: * Something related to Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities in the former Ottoman Empire * The w ...

. It is Distributed by E&S,

Spitz A spitz (; , in reference to the pointed muzzle) is a Dog type, type of domestic dog consisting of between 50 and 70 breeds depending on classification. There is no precise definition of 'spitz' but typically most spitz breeds have pricked ears ...

, Sky-Skan, and e-Planetarium. In 2010, the

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world. History 19th century ...

(ALA) selected the Molecularium Kid's Site for inclusion to its Great Websites for Kids.

"Molecularium - Molecules to the MAX!"

"Molecules to the MAX!" is a 41-minute fully animated 3D

IMAX IMAX is a proprietary system of High-definition video, high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and movie theater, theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (image), aspect ratio (approximately ei ...

film for the Giant Screen. The film re-imagines the characters and story developed for "Molecularium- Riding Snowflakes" for an older audience and a different medium. The film's simulations and rendering were partially computed at the Computational Center for Nanotechnology Innovations. The film was produced by Nanotoon Entertainment and Developed at Rensselaer, with a gift from

Curtis R. Priem Curtis R. Priem (born ) is an American electrical engineer. After co-founding the Nvidia Corporation, he left the company and sold all of his shares in Nvidia by 2006. Career He received a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from Rens ...

, co-founder of

Nvidia Nvidia Corporation ( ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and incorporated in Delaware. Founded in 1993 by Jensen Huang (president and CEO), Chris Malachowsky, and Curti ...

corporation. The digital version of the film premiered at

EMPAC The Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) is a multi-venue arts center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, which opened on October 3, 2008. The building is named after Curtis Priem, co-founder ...

, in Troy, New York, on February 27, 2009. The

version premiered at the Giant Screen Cinema Association International Conference and Trade Show in Indianapolis, Indiana, on September 22, 2009. The IMAX 3D Premiere was at the GSCA Film Expo in Los Angeles on February 24, 2010. It is available in 2D & 3D for 15/70 and 8/70 large format film and in digital 3D. The film has been composed with Omnimax / IMAX Domes in mind. Molecules to the MAX! was nominated for Best Film Produced for the Giant Screen, Best Film for Lifelong Learning and Best Sound Design at the 2010 GSCA’s Achievement Awards. Molecules to the MAX! has shown at the National Museum of Natural Science (Taichung, Taiwan) Maloka Interactive Museum (Bogota, Colombia), The Scientific Center (Salmiya, Kuwait),

McWane Science Center The McWane Science Center (formerly known as the McWane Center) is a science museum and research archive located in downtown Birmingham, Alabama, United States. The state-of-the-art hands-on science center, aquarium, and 250-seat IMAX Dome Theat ...

(Birmingham, Alabama) Proctor's Theatre (Schenectady, New York) among others. It has been translated and versioned in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

and

. It is distributed to Giant Screen theaters by SK Films.

NanoSpace

In the spring of 2012, the Molecularium Project launched NanoSpace, an online molecular theme park. Visitors to NanoSpace learn scientific concepts with games, activities and movies. Areas within Nanospace include the Hall of Atoms and Molecules, H2O park (the

water cycle The water cycle (or hydrologic cycle or hydrological cycle) is a biogeochemical cycle that involves the continuous movement of water on, above and below the surface of the Earth across different reservoirs. The mass of water on Earth remains fai ...

), Sizes in the Universe ( scale and

scientific notation Scientific notation is a way of expressing numbers that are too large or too small to be conveniently written in decimal form, since to do so would require writing out an inconveniently long string of digits. It may be referred to as scientif ...

), Material Boulevard (

Materials Science Materials science is an interdisciplinary field of researching and discovering materials. Materials engineering is an engineering field of finding uses for materials in other fields and industries. The intellectual origins of materials sci ...

), and DNA Land (

Molecular Biology Molecular biology is a branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecule, molecular basis of biological activity in and between Cell (biology), cells, including biomolecule, biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactio ...

References

External links

* {{official website, http://www.molecularium.com/ Science education in the United States Computer animation Chemistry education Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute