Niagara Science Museum

Location

Welcome to the Niagara Science Museum located in Niagara Falls, New York! Whether you are a tourist visiting Niagara Falls, a student or teacher interested in science - especially in Physics - you should stop by and see what brilliant scientists, inventors and elite craftsmen from the past had to create to understand nature. Law after law that governs our physical word were discovered. Material after material to enable us to build better instruments and machines were created. It took a thousand years to understand most of what is around us and consequently to build comfort for humanity.

The Niagara Science Museum (NSM) is a sanctuary for the preservation and appreciation of old science instruments and philosophical apparatus.

The Museum was formally opened in May, 2009 with an exhibition by Dr. Reinhard Reitzenstein and Dr. Gary Nickard entitled "Wonder Rooms".

NSM is located in the original 1910 National Carbon Co. office building, in Niagara Falls, NY, two miles from the Falls. The abandoned Union Carbide plants are still in the background of the museum. In the early 1900's, the area was bursting with industrial activity that was fueled by cheap hydroelectric power, by easy access to raw materials, and by the availability of unlimited process water.

After almost a century of prosperity and growth in the area, decline set in. The patents expired and much less expensive graphite could be produced elsewhere. Equally important, large amounts of pollutants were being generated that contaminated the local environment. These factors contributed to the loss of major industries in the area.

In 1984, a disastrous accident at a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India, also greatly affected National Carbon, then a subsidiary of Union Carbide.

The museum aspires to raise continuously the importance of the collections and to achieve professional standards characteristic only to the best science museums of the world. At that time, NSM will be an important center for education and learning for the understanding of the role of science for the development of human race.

Phone: 716-525-4126

Hours: Mid-April through late October. Monday- Sunday 11 AM- 5PM.
The museum is open all year round “by appointment.” 

Admission: Free. A $10 donation/family is appreciated.

For more information, visit their website:
http://www.niagarasciencemuseum.org