Einstein Museum of Marvels opens in Volgograd

An unusual museum has opened in Volgograd – The Einstein Museum of Scientific Marvels. The museum features intriguing exhibits illustrating and explaining various phenomena in physics, chemistry and geometry. The aim of the museum is to make science fun for children.

“By opening this museum, we want children to realize that science can be very exciting!” says the museum’s executive director, Anastasia Romanova. “It is clear that children today find it boring learning the laws of physics by rote from textbooks. In our museum, all the exhibits can be touched, seen, experimented with and even shouted at!”

­­­How do you build a piano? What is the secret of the “magician’s box” and where is the rabbit hiding in it? How can cold water boil? How does “Professor Dowell's Head” speak? Can a child lift a real car? What happens if you lie on a bed of 4,800 nails or sit on a chair with 1,500 nails?!

Each exhibit in the museum is based on a particular physical phenomenon. For example, by lifting a vehicle, a child will discover how a pulley works.

Even more amazing is the self-rising chair. By sitting down on this chair, anyone can fulfill Baron Munchausen’s dream and lift oneself up – albeit not by one’s own hair. The secret lies in the same pulley system.

“Most of the museum’s exhibits were made to order by Volgograd craftsmen, based on designs drawn up by our employees,” says Romanova. “Konstantin Cicerov, a physics teacher from Lyceum No. 1, provided us with a great deal of help.”

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“The Museum of Scientific Marvels is an ideal place for physics lessons,” says Konstantin Cicerov.

“It’s common knowledge that it is expensive and difficult to adequately equip school laboratories. Physics is a science that can only be brought to life through experiments. And doing hands-on experiments can awaken a love of learning in children. The museum also contains exhibits that illustrate many of the laws and divisions of physics. I will certainly be bringing my students here.”

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Another science show was put on at the museum’s opening by “Mad Professor Nicolas,” who demonstrated how superabsorbent polymers work, what dry ice is, how to see rainbows in an ordinary room and other experiments.

“In order for the lessons to be effective, they must be interactive,” says the “Mad Professor,” whose real name is Mikhail Sysoev.

“For example, I ask children to pour a glass of water over my head. What teenager could resist making fun of ‘a professor’? In the end, they didn’t get to pour any water, as the absorbent polymers had already absorbed it all. The children were most impressed by the spectrum glasses that allow you to see a rainbow in a room by simply staring at an ordinary light bulb.”

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