Rochester Museum & Science Center

In 1941, Rochester businessman Edward Bausch donated both land and money for a new museum along the city’s East Avenue. What was then known as the Rochester Museum of Arts and Sciences had existed in one form or another since 1912, but the donation marked the beginning of the campus that the popular family attraction still occupies today. 

A museum visit offers a multitude of opportunities to learn, with interactive exhibits, a planetarium and live science shows that spark curiosity in the minds of young and old alike. The museum covers three floors packed with more than 120 hands-on STEM and history-based displays. 

Visitors can travel back to the Ice Age at “Expedition Earth,” which explores what the region may have looked like millions of years ago, or gaze at a full-scale Albertosaurus skeleton. Kids will be mesmerized by the Electricity Theater, where they can watch zaps of lightning created by twin solid-state Tesla coils. The lightning strikes are coordinated with music ranging from Vivaldi’s “Spring” to contemporary pop hits. The soundtrack changes regularly, creating a new experience for return visitors.  

Kids can discover the nature of light in the Germanow Gallery with “Illumination: The World of Light and Optics.” Visitors can immerse themselves in 15 interactive exhibits that demonstrate the science behind light through fun experiments with lasers, lenses and mirrors. 

The Rochester Museum & Science Center also offers deep insight into the region’s history. Its newest permanent exhibition — “Hodinöšyö:nih Continuity | Innovation | Resilience” — connects visitors with the Indigenous people who inhabited the region through a collaboration with contemporary Hodinöšyö:nih (Haudenosaunee) artists. 657 East Ave., Rochester, New York 14607, 585/271-4320, rmsc.org