I can't believe XYZ isn't in The Geek Atlas

This is a thread for people to add their favorite places that didn't make the cut for The Geek Atlas.

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Permalink Reply by Jonathan on June 24, 2009 at 5:58pm
This site is a great start! I have been looking for places to visit related to Science for a while now and there is not much out there. I even got Charles Tanford and Jacqueline Reynolds' books on Scientific Travel from interlibrary loan to see what they have. Those books are ok, but lacking in some respects.

Anyway, I am traveling to Southern Germany and into the Alps of Austria, Switzerland and Northern Italy in a couple months, but am open to other areas closeby. If anyone has any recommendations, I would appreciate it. I'll post anything i can find on my own and find after my travels. I'll definitely hit the Science museum in Munich, but just looking for anything else thats interesting related to the history of Science. I am personally a Geologist, but am interested in all science topics.

Thanks!
Permalink Reply by Aaron Sakovich on June 26, 2009 at 9:39pm
As a complement to Chapter 20 (Peenemunde), Chapter 92, the NASM, and Chapter 94, Kennedy Space Center, I propose adding the birthplace of the US space program, the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center (aka, MSFC).

While sadly it is not possible to visit the center since the events of 2001, there is a museum associated with the place that Von Braun and his team of scientists and engineers came to after leaving Peenemunde. The US Space and Rocket Center (http://ussrc.com/) has a beautiful collection of memorabilia from the early days of the space program. Not only that, it also has a full-stacked Space Shuttle/STS (including the Pathfinder orbiter), a Saturn I-B standing vertically, a SkyLab backup space station, and not just one, but TWO Saturn V's! While other sites like KSC or HSC will have a Saturn V lying down, just as we have here, this is the only location in the world where you can see a fully stacked Saturn V mockup standing vertically, stretching it's full and glorious 363'/111m into the sky!

http://picasaweb.google.com/dclhacker/SpaceRocketCenter

You can definitely get your geek on in this town!
Permalink Reply by Steve Hindmarch on July 6, 2009 at 11:18pm
I was enormously impressed by the Swiss Technorama in Winterthur, near Zurich, Switzerland. My daughter and I visited at Easter and it is a wonder of hands on experiments. The science is pitched at the 12-16 age group but I learned a thing or two while I was there. All of the exhibits are labelled in English, French, German and Italian, as you might expect from a Swiss museum, and give a full explanation of how to run the experiment and how to interpret the results. We only had an afternoon before we had to catch our flight but we should really have allowed two days to experience it all.
Permalink Reply by Victor Phillipson on July 7, 2009 at 8:23am
The absolute high water mark of analog technology is preserved at Batterie Vara in Kristiansand, Norway. See: www.kanonmuseet.no , or www.movikfort.com .

From the Autumn of 1940 until November 1943 the engineering arm of the Wehrmacht, Organization Todt, installed four 38.5 cm naval guns in Kristiansand, Norway. This installation was named "Batterie Vara". Today one of the guns of Batterie Vara is part of the Kristiansand Kanonmuseum, and is available to visit year-round.

Because Batterie Vara was built early in the war, it received the best available equipment and facilities. Because NATO used those facilities until 1992, they are very well preserved; all the motors start, the cannon traverses and elevates, the ammunition train trundles down the track, and the loading/firing equipment still functions. There is also a walking tour of the entire facility, including the ammunition bunkers, enlisted mess, and the 88 mm. Flak positions.
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Permalink Reply by Robert Reid on July 8, 2009 at 3:53pm
I'd add the Permafrost Institute in Yakutsk, Russia -- the coldest city on earth. When I was last there I suffered heat stroke from June's soaring temperatures. The permafrost institute features frosty chambers where the area's permafrost is researched. Scientists there are sometimes quoted in 'global warming' stories. Yakutsk reaches 60-below in winter, about 100 in summer (F).

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