I’m a museum junkie, particularly in the summer. It’s my parents’ influence: They took my siblings and me to many children’s activities and events at local and national museums in Mexico and Peru. Now, as an engineer, adopted Pittsburgher, and globe-trotter-when-the-budget-allows, I’ve visited, and aspire to continue to visit, several national and international museums. So here’s some of my favorite, or soon-to-be-favorite, top seven national engineering museums. Enjoy the exploration!

George Westinghouse Exhibit presently housed at the Senator John Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh—From the invention of the airbrake and automobile shock absorbers to development of railroad signaling and the modern day weekend, the museum houses "the memory of how a corporation could build not just commodities, but communities." Showcases include a full-size replica of a 1938 time capsule; the recording of the world’s first commercial radio broadcast (KDKA); arrays of early home appliances; a complete set of George Westinghouse’s 361 patents; photographs and documents from many well-known Westinghouse engineers; and signed documents from Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla.

International Spy Museum, Washington, D.C.—The "invisible" profession of espionage has inspired highly creative engineering designs and led to significant high-tech breakthroughs. Among the 1,000 artifacts on display is a solar-powered listening device created by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency in the 1970s that looks like a tree stump. It was used to relay secret military radio transmissions to an orbiting satellite. Other devices include a pistol disguised as a tube of lipstick, a coat with a camera lens concealed behind a fake button, and a shoe rigged with a heel transmitter (Get Smart existed!). Plus: Experience being a spy with hands-on tests, taking on a secret profile, crawling your way through a ventilation system, and testing your decoding skills with the Rosetta Stone.

International Slide Ruler "e-Museum"—This non-profit, commercial-free, virtual Internet museum is dedicated to past and present students and engineers. The e-Museum hosts pictures of slide rulers and more than 1,000 unique items dating from 1900. Duplicate model numbers in this collection have different cursors, scales, or construction features. Several slide rulers are marked with the original engineer’s name and highlight the work they were used for, from detailed design to surviving college. Did you know that the 2008 World Championship Slide Rule Competition was held in Texas on March 8?

U.S. Army Engineer Museum, Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.—This federal museum, chartered through the U.S. Army, is open to the public free of charge. Its collections include restored WWII temporary mobilization buildings, representing hundreds of thousands of identical buildings built from Maine to California between 1939 and 1945. Other exhibits include an Encyclopedic Gallery displaying objects that trace the development of American army engineering equipment; a Topographic Engineering Gallery displaying the materials used by topographic engineers, surveyors, and mapmakers from their colonial beginnings to the present; and a Tactical Bridging Gallery that showcases models of floating, fixed, and fixed-mobile tactical bridges.

National Building Museum, Washington, D.C.—Designed in 1881 by civil engineer and U.S. Army General Montgomery C. Meigs and completed in 1887, the structure in which the museum is located is widely recognized as a marvel of engineering. The museum explores the history of American buildings, including architecture, engineering, construction, and urban planning. The museum’s collection contains approximately 40,000 photographic images; 68,000 architectural prints and drawings; 100 linear feet of documents; and 2,100 objects, including material samples and architectural fragments.

Museum of Science, Boston—Since 1830, the Museum of Science has been "a hub of research and invention." This museum boasts hands-on/minds-on experiences through more than 550 interactive exhibits. Some virtual exhibits include Secrets of the Ice (explore the science of the Antarctica expedition to collect ice cores from across the continent); Leonardo (learn all about Leonardo da Vinci, one of the greatest painters of the Italian Renaissance and a scientist and inventor with a keen mind and foresight); and Ancient Egypt (get to know our 2,500-year-old mummy by reviewing extensive CAT-scan images and manipulating a highly detailed 3-D model. Learn about excavation and send a buried message to a friend!).

Science Museum, London—"May the force be with you" is on the main website of this state-of-the-art museum. Home to more than 50 hands-on science and engineering exhibits and shows, the Science Museum also has Science Nights. These are all-night extravaganzas with a scientific twist for children and accompanying adults, complete with overnight camping at the museum. For a sneak-preview, check out its virtual tour under the "online stuff" tab; topics range from Huygens clocks, Klein bottles, and altazimuth theodolites, to building to extremes, energy to fuel the future, and measuring the universe.

Other interesting museums—among many, many, many—include the Crayola (and Silly Putty) Factory; the National Canal Museum; the National Air and Space Museum; Lewis and Clark Visitor Center - Gavins Point Dam & Powerplant; Edison Plaza Museum; and the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

Do you have a recommendation for a cool engineering-minded museum? Send your suggestions to Civil Connection at civilconnection@cenews.com.


Cathy Bazán-Arias, Ph.D., P.E., is senior staff engineer for DiGioia, Gray & Associates, LLC, Monroeville, Pa.