jahresbericht 2012 - Naturhistorisches Museum Wien

08
dy in 2010, the decision was quickly made to update
and modernize the meteorite hall and give it its due
place as a major attraction of the museum. The new
concept includes the renovated central historic display
cabinets, supplemented by new display cases and
multimedia stations along the walls and in the window
area. The historic show cases were carefully renovated
and new cold LED lighting systems were introduced.
At the front sides of each of the central historic
show cases, interactive screens with short informative
slide shows were installed. The topics include: „Where
do meteorites come from?“, „Where and how do I find
meteorites?“ and „What are meteorites made of?“, as
well as information on stony meteorites, iron meteorites,
the classification of meteorites, the history of
meteorite research, and the history and importance of
the Vienna meteorite collection. Here the interested
visitors can obtain detailed background information
that helps them to understand the importance and
fascination of meteorites.
The thematic stations concentrate on different topics
and try to attract visitors by interactive displays.
The stations include a unique display of all Austrian
meteorites (including the Ischgl meteorite, which
was added to the collections in 2012 and is only the
7 th meteorite named after a location on Austrian territory),
almost 500-million-year old fossil meteorites
from Sweden (another unique display), as well as
stations about Mars and the Moon, complete with
displays of Martian meteorites, lunar rocks, and lunar
meteorites. Among the newest additions to the
collection is the Tissint Martian meteorite, which
was added to the collection in 2012. At another station
the visitors can compare the weights of stony
and iron meteorites, use a real and an electronic
magnifying glass to peek deep into the interiors of
meteorites and learn about their compositions and
components. A quiz invites visitors to find out if they
can tell real meteorites from “meteor-wrongs”.
Another new topic is the display of rocks from meteorite
impact craters; not only is a large selection of
these rocks displayed, but also interactive displays
have been installed, which allow the visitors to understand
the importance of impact cratering as a
geological process. One of the main attractions is a
so-called “impact simulator”, in which visitors can
choose from various asteroids sizes and velocities to
hit the city of Vienna. This target was chosen because
most visitors will be familiar with the size and extent
of the city and its surroundings, so as to have a scale
on which to place the destruction caused by the various
asteroid impacts. The main message is that impacts
are part of our cosmic environment and even
if they can be destructive and dangerous, they are
important to know about and fascinating to study.
The new displays are rounded off by a large-scale
animation of the formation of the solar system, and
a station on how and where the chemical elements
formed that make up all matter in the universe and
the solar system (and also us humans). The answers
to both of these major questions – the formation
of the solar system and the origin of the chemical
elements – were only possible through detailed mineralogical,
chemical, and isotopic investigations of
meteorites during the last 50 or 60 years. So the new
meteorite hall of the Natural History Museum Vienna
preserves the classical systematic collection, but
at the same time tries to enthrall the visitors by presenting
them with many exciting facts that we have
learned from studying these inconspicuous-looking
gray and brown stones. The great interest that the
new hall has caused among the public, and the positive
comments received from colleagues at other
museums, seem to indicate that the path we took
was the right one. In addition, a full color book on
meteorites and the Vienna meteorite collection was
produced as well. Finally, it needs to be noted that
the whole renovation project was financed from an
inheritance received from Oskar Ermann.
In 2012, planning and construction work also continued
for the installation of two new anthropology
halls on the topic of origin and evolution of humans.
After the opening at the end of January of 2013, the
anthropology halls will be open to the public for the
first time after about 16 years. For the very first time
the topic of the evolution of humans will be shown
in a permanent exhibit at the NHM Vienna. This very
important topic rounds off the displays of the museum
– from the Big Bang to Homo sapiens.
Numerous special exhibits and events also took place
in 2012. The temporary exhibit on karst and caves, as
well as the one on treasures from the archive, which
were inaugurated in September of 2010, continued
during 2012, and closed at the beginning of 2013. An
exhibit called “the paths of knowledge” continued
until the end of February 2012, and an art exhibit by
Barbara Husar, which was related to dinosaurs, was
on show until early April. A large interactive scientific
exhibition on life under extreme conditions was
open until late April. In February 2012, an exhibition
on archaeological and artistic perspectives of textiles
from Hallstatt opened in hall 12. This led to participation
of the NHM in the “summer of fashion” at
the nearby museum-quarter (MQ), where a “catwalk
into the past” was a great success with the public.
From May 23 until September 17 2012, the NHM
hosted the internationally renowned artist Daniel
Spoerri, who set his own artistic creations in dialogue
with selected museum specimens. Another art exhibit
with dioramas, called “Freeze”, was on display
from June to September. In October, the French photographer
Pascal Maitre showed his unusual and
engaging images of Africa, and from mid-November
Klaus Pichler displayed his often funny impressions
from behind the scenes at the NHM, within the frame -
work of “eyes on – the European Month of Photography”.
To round off the program, a new Triceratops
skull and the model of a terror bird, together with an
interactive dinosaur DVD, were presented to the public
in late November 2012.
In addition, research activities progressed well at the
NHM. Scientists published about 200 peer-reviewed
scientific papers in international journals, gave
hundreds of presentations at meetings and conferences,
organized a fair number of research gatherings
at the NHM, and contributed to teaching activities at
various Austrian universities. The installation of the
new electron microscopy and electron microprobe
facilities was completed as well, with delivery of the
new instruments as scheduled in the summer of 2012.
Most of the rest of 2012 was used for calibration and
testing of the new equipment, which is now available
to researchers at the museum and their collaborators.
The coming years will be challenging due to the continued
necessity to improve the displays and facilities
at the museum, while public funding is stagnating. Efforts
to obtain third-party funding have been initiated
and have had some first minor success, but the general
economic situation will not allow for significant sponsoring
income in the near future. Nevertheless, we will
do our best to ensure that the NHM Vienna will remain
one of the most important research and outreach sites
for the natural sciences in Austria, and the world.
(English text by C. Köberl)
jahresbericht 2012 | naturhistorisches museum wien
192 193