Exhibits

The Exhibits department provides our visitors with experiences that connect them to Earth’s history, its life, and their place within these stories by allowing them to explore the processes by which scientists, artists, and teachers use to better understand the world around them.  We do this by providing interactive universally designed interdisciplinary exhibits that focus on the scientific process.

Right Whale #2030

An exhibit on the tragic death and significance of Right Whale #2030.  This majestic mammal's skeleton presents a stunning backdrop for the exhibit, which includes a short film by Ithaca filmmaker David O. Brown.  The film contains footage of her attempted rescue, and an interpretive panel highlights her journey to the Museum as well as the history of right whales.

The exhibit highlights two important messages from the museum.  First, is human impact on the world that is resulting in the extinction fo a wide variety of species around the globe.  Second, the right whale skeleton tells the story of evolution because, although it no longer walks on land, the whale retains vestigial hip bones. 

Barbara Page Mural

Rock of Ages, Sands of Time is a remarkable series of paintings by artist Barbara Page.   The mural functions as a visual metaphor for an immense period of time -- an eon, five hundred and fifty million years -- the estimated time interval between the origin of visible macroscopic life on the planet and the present.  Each of the panels represents the passage on one million years.  Fossil fauna and flora make their appearance in chronological order against a background reflecting past geological events.  All of the organisms are depicted at true scale.

Climate & Energy

This exhibit, located in the geothermal energy gallery of the Museum of the Earth focuses on the role of human energy consumption in altering climate. Since opening on Earth Day 2007, additional panels of information have been added, access to our Global Change Website has become available on he Museum floor, and local partnerships have created a fresh expansion of information in the exhibit. Look for more to come as the climate conversation continues.

A Journey Through Time

This exhibit comprises the bulk of the museum and takes the visitor on a journey from the dawn of life on Earth to present day.  The exhibits explore scientifically technical areas such as geological processes, evolution, biodiversity and the cultural contexts of such scientific understanding.  The exhibits include three "worlds" -- devoted respectively to the Devonian of central New York State; the Triassic-Jurassic of the Connecticut, Newark, and Hudson Valleys; and the Quaternary Ice Age--and four audio-visual object theaters featuring short films narrated by geologist and Cornell President Emeritus Frank Rhodes. 

The exhibits also include two interactive labs, Fossil Lab and Ice Lab.  These labs are staffed by trained museum volunteers who provide a personal experience for the visitors and are available to interpret not only the labs but the rest of the museum exhibits.  At Fossil Lab, visitors can dig through bins of local Devonian (380 million year old) shale to find local fossils that, with the help of volunteers, they can identify and take home with them.  Dino Lab features many touchable specimens including dinosaur bones, teeth, claws and feces that volunteers interpret for visitors.