Perot Museum of Nature and Science
Established2006 (2006)
LocationDallas, Texas, United States
Coordinates32°47′13″N 96°48′24″W / 32.78689°N 96.80665°W / 32.78689; -96.80665
TypeScience museum, natural history museum
Visitors1,000,000+[1]
CEODr. Linda Abraham-Silver[2]
Public transit accessDART at Victory station
Websiteperotmuseum.org/


The Perot Museum of Nature and Science (shortened to Perot Museum) is a natural history and science museum in Dallas, Texas in Victory Park. The museum was named in honor of Margot and Ross Perot.[3] The current chief executive officer of the museum is Dr. Linda Abraham-Silver.[4]

Background

Victory Park building in February 2013.

History

On June 6, 1936, the Dallas Museum of Natural History opened to the public as part of the 1936 Texas Centennial Exhibition. On September 20, 1946, the Dallas Health Museum was founded by a group chartered as the Dallas Academy of Medicine. It was renamed the Dallas Health and Science Museum in 1958. The name was changed yet again to the Science Place in 1981. In 1995, the Dallas Children's Museum was founded elsewhere.

An exterior view of the museum's main staircase

In 2006, Perot Museum CEO Nicole Small oversaw the uniting of the Dallas Museum of Natural History, the Science Place, and the Dallas Children's Museum at Fair Park. Following the merger, the museum was in three buildings there, featuring an IMAX-style theater, a planetarium, an extensive exhibit hall, and its own paleontology lab.[5][6] The museum moved on December 1, 2012, to a new facility in Victory Park.

On June 1, 2014, CEO Small was replaced by Colleen Walker.[7]

Walker resigned as CEO in 2017, and was replaced in 2017 by Linda Abraham-Silver.[8]

Donation and endowment

The Victory Park campus museum was named in honor of Margot and Ross Perot as the result of a $50,000,000 gift made by their adult children Ross Perot, Jr., Nancy Perot Mulford, Suzanne Perot McGee, Carolyn Perot Rathjen, and Katherine Perot Reeves. The $185,000,000 fundraising goal, slated to provide for the site acquisition, exhibition planning and design, construction of the new building, education programs and an endowment, was achieved by November 2011, more than a year before the museum's scheduled opening in December 2012. The donated funds enabled the museum to be built, incurring no debt or public funding.[6][9]

Victory Park campus

Cast skeleton of Tyrannosaurus rex in Life Then and Now hall
Journey Through The Solar System exhibit at the Expanding Universe hall

The 180,000 square foot facility has six floors and stands about 14 stories high. Five of the floors are accessible to the public and house 11 permanent exhibit halls as well as 6 learning labs.[10] The top floor houses the museum's administration offices. The Victory Park campus opened its doors to the public on December 1, 2012. Approximately 6,000 visitors came to the museum on its first day of operation.[11]

Building design

Designed by Thom Mayne of Morphosis Architects, the building was conceived as a large cube floating over a landscaped plinth (or base).

The stone roof, which features a landscape of drought-tolerant greenery, was inspired by Dallas surroundings. The plinth was landscaped with a 1-acre rolling green roof comprising rock and native drought-resistant grasses that reflects Texas' indigenous landscape and demonstrate a living system that will evolve naturally.[12] Building on the museum's commitment to resource conservation, the new building has a rainwater collection system that captures run-off water from the roof and parking lot, satisfying 74% of the museum's non-potable water needs and 100% of its irrigation needs.[13]

The building is characterized by a continuous flow escalator, measuring 54 feet (16 m) in length and housed within a 150-foot (46 m) glass casing that extends diagonally outside the building cube. The building also prioritizes sustainability by utilizing LED lighting, off-grid energy generation technology, and solar-powered water heating. To enhance energy efficiency, the atrium and other spaces within the building benefit from natural sunlight via strategically placed skylights.[9][14]

The building has secured the highest possible 4 Green Globes from the Green Building Initiative. It got a rating of an overall 85% on the Green Globes rating scale and 100% for its design and its sustainable performance measures.[15][16] Green Globes is a nationally recognized green building guidance and assessment program in the United States.[14]

Permanent exhibit halls

Exhibit hall Level Feature Highlights[10][17]
Moody Family Children's Museum Lower Level
Sports Lower Level
Discovering Life 2
Being Human 2
  • Use motion capture to learn how the human body moves by mimicking instructors in hip-hop dance, basketball or tai chi as a visitor's body is projected next to theirs
  • View cross sections of real human bodies
  • Test out a prosthetic hand
  • Review human tissue samples
  • Record your own heartbeat
  • Toss a ping-pong ball with your mind
  • Get in the Bio Lab to extract DNA from wheat germ (8+), examine your own cheek cells (8+), dissect a fruit fly larva to see its giant chromosome (13+) or test antimicrobial agents (10+)
Texas Instruments Engineering and Innovation 2
  • Create music in a sound studio
  • Build a robot to learn how machines follow programmed instructions
  • Create a model skyscraper that can withstand an earthquake
The Rees-Jones Foundation Dynamic Earth 3
  • Simulated earthquake experience through the shake table simulator
  • Footage of real Texas tornadoes and hurricanes
  • The tornado simulator model
Lyda Hill Gems and Minerals 3
  • The world's third largest gold nugget (23.26 kg / 62.33 troy lbs) known as the Ausrox Gold Nugget that was discovered by three prospectors with a hand-held metal detector in April 2010 in the Eastern Goldfields, Australia.[19][20] The nugget is irregular-shaped and has a surface that alternates between smooth, crystalline, and square. The nugget has been displayed at the Western Australia Museum at Kalgoorlie-Boulder and the Houston Museum of Natural Science.[19] After its Perot Museum stop, it will be exhibited in Munich, Germany as part of a world tour[21][22]
  • 1.5 ton geode called the Grape Jelly geode
Tom Hunt Energy 3
  • Virtually travel through 9,000 feet of gas well in the Shale Voyager motion-based theater to experience natural gas fracking. Visitors will experience being shrunk down to travel into a well shaft less than a foot wide in the Texas Barnett Shale
  • Learn the difference between onshore and offshore oil drilling
  • Learn about traditional and alternative fuels
  • Giant drill bit and gas turbine engine
T. Boone Pickens Life Then and Now 4 Follow the evolution of life on Earth over 4 billion years, the Beringia land bridge where people migrated from Siberia to Alaska across a land bridge that spanned the current day Bering Strait and life in prehistoric Alaska. Soundscape for this exhibit was designed by students from the University of Texas at Dallas.[23]
Expanding Universe 4
Rose Hall of Birds 4 Mezzanine
  • Build your own bird by selecting wings, songs, diets, tails, feet and feathers to construct it and then put on 3D glasses and fly it

Temporary exhibit halls

Exhibit hall Level Exhibit Name Date Description
Jan and Trevor Rees-Jones Exhibition Hall Lower Level Building the Building December 1, 2012– May 12, 2013 Showcases the stories of the more than 2,500 people it took to create and design the Victory Park campus building and exhibits. Includes interviews with museum leaders, architect Thom Mayne, exhibit designers, landscape designer Coy Talley, Balfour Beatty construction team members, local educators from school districts and universities. Also includes the remnants of a Ford Model T discovered as the site was prepared for construction.[24]
Jan and Trevor Rees-Jones Exhibition Hall Lower Level Recycle Reef June 17, 2013– August 25, 2013 Visitors will participate in building the exhibit from the ground up by using recyclable materials to transform them into creative works of art. The exhibit will be dynamic and ever-changing as it develops with each newly contributed art work. The entire exhibit will be recycled after the exhibit closes.
Jan and Trevor Rees-Jones Exhibition Hall Lower Level Animal Inside Out September 22, 2013– February 23, 2014
Jan and Trevor Rees-Jones Exhibition Hall Lower Level Build It! Garage June 21, 2014– August 17, 2014
Jan and Trevor Rees-Jones Exhibition Hall Lower Level World's Largest Dinosaur April 6, 2014– September 1, 2014
Jan and Trevor Rees-Jones Exhibition Hall Lower Level 2theXtreme: MathAlive! September 27, 2014– January 1, 2015
Jan and Trevor Rees-Jones Exhibition Hall Lower Level The International Exhibition of Sherlock Holmes February 14, 2015– May 10, 2015
Jan and Trevor Rees-Jones Exhibition Hall Lower Level Build It! Nature June 19, 2015– August 6, 2015
Jan and Trevor Rees-Jones Exhibition Hall Lower Level Amazing Animals: Built to Survive June 13, 2015– September 7, 2015
Jan and Trevor Rees-Jones Exhibition Hall Lower Level Creatures of Light: Nature's Bioluminescence October 31, 2015– February 21, 2016
Jan and Trevor Rees-Jones Exhibition Hall Lower Level Eye of the Collector April 16, 2016– September 5, 2016 Nine exhibits displaying historical and fashionable objects of 10 people displaying their recollections of items they have gathered during their lives.[25]
Jan and Trevor Rees-Jones Exhibition Hall Lower Level Birds of Paradise October 8, 2016– January 8, 2017 Exhibits display video footage, photographs, artifacts, and interactive experiences to create a science exhibition, art show, and natural history display from a comprehensive study of all 39 known species of birds-of-paradise.[26]
Lyda Hill Gems and Minerals 3rd Floor Giant Gems of the Smithsonian September 9, 2016– January 17, 2017 Exhibit displays a close up view of the National Museum of Natural History's National Gem Collection.[27]
Jan and Trevor Rees-Jones Exhibition Hall Lower Level Maya: Hidden Worlds Revealed February 11, 2017– September 4, 2017 Exhibit allowing guests to explore an underworld cave, excavate an ancient burial site, and encounter the richness of Maya culture through hands-on explorations such as building arches, deciphering hieroglyphs and translating the Maya calendar.[28]
Jan and Trevor Rees-Jones Exhibition Hall Lower Level Ultimate Dinosaurs
Lyda Hill Gems and Minerals 3rd Floor Mineral Art of China
Jan and Trevor Rees-Jones Exhibition Hall Lower Level The Art of the Brick
Jan and Trevor Rees-Jones Exhibition Hall Lower Level The Science of Guinness World Records March 6, 2021– September 6, 2021

The Hoglund Foundation Theater A National Geographic Experience

The 297-seat Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant theater has a 2D, 3D 4K digital projection and sound system. The theater features a variety of films, from educational features and documentaries to experimental independent films.[29]


Educational outreach

The museum creates a Teacher's Guide, which is a booklet and online publication that is distributed to North Texas educators. The guide outlines programming designed for children pre-K to 12th grade in earth and space sciences, life and natural sciences, chemistry, physical sciences and engineering. Programming reinforces Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) objectives.[30][31]

There are four educational outreach opportunities: field trips to the museum, onsite programming at schools (in the classroom and after school), Community Engagement through the Museum's TECH Truck and The Whynauts virtual, bilingual video series.

Field trips

Students can explore 11 permanent exhibit halls, experience educational films in their theater, and take advantage of TEKS-aligned onsite classroom or auditorium programming. Further learning, available through program extensions, is held in the learning labs and auditorium of the museum's Lower Level. The museum also features educational films, offered in partnership with National Geographic.

Onsite programming at schools

Museum educators offer 26 programs that can be taught in schools’ classrooms, presented to large groups in auditoriums, or showcased as part of after-school programming.

Community Engagement

The TECH Truck brings hands-on discovery directly to community centers programs, libraries, parks, public events, out-of-school programs and more — providing science-based experiences for the public.

The Whynauts

Bring the wonders of the Perot Museum to your classroom through an interactive, bilingual, STEM educational series.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Le, Tiffany (July 12, 2013). "Perot Museum attracts its one millionth visitor". The Dallas Morning News.
  2. ↑ "Perot Museum appoints Dr. Linda Abraham-Silver as the Eugene McDermott Chief Executive Officer" (Press release). Perot Museum of Nature and Science. March 2, 2017.
  3. ↑ Stengle, Jamie (November 17, 2012). "New Dallas science museum named for Ross Perot". USA Today.
  4. ↑ "Board Members & Senior Staff". Perot Museum. Retrieved 2022-07-15.
  5. ↑ Rothstein, Edward (November 30, 2012). "Bursting With Science, Some of It Unsettling". The New York Times.
  6. 1 2 Spiegelman, Willard (February 4, 2013). "How Dallas Does Philanthropy". The Wall Street Journal.
  7. ↑ Abril, Danielle (May 2, 2014). "Meet the Perot Museum's new CEO, Colleen Walker". Dallas Business Journal.
  8. ↑ Elf, Ellery the (2017-03-02). "JUST IN: Dr. Linda Abraham-Silver Named New Chief Executive Officer For Perot Museum". My Sweet Charity. Retrieved 2022-10-18.
  9. 1 2 Mariani, Anthony (April 26, 2013). "Museum Swap: The Perot is Pretty Groovy". Fort Worth Weekly.
  10. 1 2 Pinn, Rachel Edenson (November 15, 2012). "Previewing the Perot Museum of Nature and Science, from A to Z". Dallas Observer.
  11. ↑ Flick, David (December 1, 2012). "Dallas' Perot Museum of Nature and Science officially opens to enthusiastic crowd". Dallas Morning News.
  12. ↑ "Museum of Nature & Science". Talley Associates. Archived from the original on 2012-01-06. Retrieved 2013-04-01.
  13. ↑ "Perot Museum of Nature & Science". Polyguard Architectural. Retrieved 2022-07-15.
  14. 1 2 Fedele, Angela (April 30, 2013). "Perot Museum Celebrates Impressive Green Recognition". Design Build Source.
  15. ↑ "Perot Museum Achieves Green Globes Highest Possible Ranking for Sustainable Building Design" (Press release). Market Wire. April 11, 2013.
  16. ↑ Kaul, Greta (November 14, 2012). "What to do at Dallas' new Perot museum: Look a dinosaur in the eye, race Felix Jones". Dallas Morning News.
  17. ↑ "Perot Museum's Sports Run Exhibit". 900lbs of Creative. February 25, 2013. Archived from the original on May 14, 2013.
  18. 1 2 "Goldfields welcomes home 23kg gold nugget" (Press release). Government of Western Australia. November 5, 2011. Archived from the original on June 28, 2013. Retrieved April 30, 2013.
  19. ↑ van Bergeijk, Jeroen (September 1, 2010). "The third largest gold nugget in the world". vanbergeijk.com.
  20. ↑ Radley, Whitney (January 29, 2012). "A real rock star: 62-pound gold nugget discovered by metal detectors gets its Houston moment". Culture Map Houston. Retrieved 2013-04-30.
  21. ↑ "It Feels Like a Million Bucks" (Press release). Houston Museum of Natural Science. 2012.
  22. ↑ Whiteley, Jason (December 6, 2012). "Local students designed soundscapes at new Perot Museum". WFAA. Archived from the original on April 11, 2013. Retrieved May 1, 2013.
  23. ↑ "Last Chance to See Building the Building Exhibit at the Perot Museum of Nature and Science". Dallas Art News (Press release). April 30, 2013. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved May 1, 2013.
  24. ↑ "Eye of the Collector". Perot Museum of Nature and Science. 2016. Retrieved February 16, 2017.
  25. ↑ "Birds of Paradise". Perot Museum of Nature and Science. 2016. Retrieved February 16, 2017.
  26. ↑ "Giant Gems of the Smithsonian". Perot Museum of Nature and Science. 2016. Retrieved February 16, 2017.
  27. ↑ "Maya: Hidden Worlds Revealed". Perot Museum of Nature and Science. 2017. Retrieved February 16, 2017.
  28. ↑ Devries, Raine (November 2, 2012). "Perot Museum will feature state-of-the-art theater and exhibits". The Examiner. Beaumont, Texas.
  29. ↑ "TEKS-aligned programs and field trips". Perot Museum of Nature and Science. Retrieved 2013-04-01.
  30. ↑ Weiss, Jeffrey (November 14, 2012). "Dallas' Perot Museum designed to fit with Texas-specific public school curriculum". Dallas Morning News.
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