Museum of Mathematics

National Museum of Mathematics
(MoMath)

Entrance (2013)
Established	November 17, 2009 (2009-11-17) (chartered)
Location	11 East 26th Street Manhattan, New York City
Coordinates
Director	Cindy Lawrence
Public transit access	New York City Subway:  trains to 23rd Street or 28th Street   trains to 23rd Street or 28th Street  trains to 23rd Street Port Authority Trans-Hudson: HOB-33, JSQ-33 (via HOB), or JSQ-33 to 23rd Street MTA New York City Bus: M1, M2, M3, M5, M7, M20
Website	momath.org

The National Museum of Mathematics or MoMath is a museum dedicated to mathematics in Manhattan, New York City. It opened on December 15, 2012. It is located at 11 East 26th Street between Fifth and Madison Avenues, across from Madison Square Park in the NoMad neighborhood. It is the only museum dedicated to mathematics in North America, and features over thirty interactive exhibits. The mission of the museum is to "enhance public understanding and perception of mathematics."

History

In 2006 the Goudreau Museum on Long Island, at the time the only museum in the United States dedicated to mathematics, closed its doors. In response, a group led by the MoMath's current executive director, Cindy Lawrence, met to explore the opening of a new museum. They received a charter from the New York State Department of Education in 2009, and raised over 22 million dollars in under four years. With this funding a 19,000 square feet (1,800 m²) space was leased in the Goddard Building at 11-13 East 26th Street, which is part of the Madison Square North Historic District. Despite some opposition to the architectural plans within the local community, permission for construction was granted by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission and the Department of Buildings.

Projects

• Math Midway is a traveling exhibition of math-based interactive displays. The exhibits include a square-wheeled tricycle that travels smoothly over an undulating catenary track; the "Ring of Fire", which uses lasers to intersect three-dimensional objects with a two-dimensional plane to uncover interesting shapes; and an "organ function grinder" which allows users to create their own mathematical functions and see the results. Since making its debut at the World Science Festival in 2009, Math Midway has traveled the country, reaching almost a half million visitors as of December 2012. Midway's schedule includes stops in New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, California, New Jersey, Ohio, Maryland, Florida, Indiana, and Oregon, and it will continue to travel to museums of science and industry across the continent.
• Math Midway 2 Go (MM2GO) is a spinoff of Math Midway. MM2GO includes six of the most popular Math Midway Exhibits. MM2GO began traveling to science festivals, schools, community centers, and libraries in the autumn of 2012.
• Math Encounters is a monthly speaker series presented by the Museum of Math and the Simons Foundation. The lectures initially took place at Baruch College in Manhattan on the first Wednesday of each month, but moved to MoMath's visitor center at 11 East 26th Street in March, 2013 . Every month a different mathematician is invited to deliver a lecture. Lecturers have included Google's Director of Research Peter Norvig, journalist Paul Hoffman, and computer scientist Craig Kaplan. Examples of topics are "The Geometry of Origami", "The Patterns of Juggling", and "Mathematical Morsels from The Simpsons and Futurama". The lectures are meant to be accessible and engaging for high school students and adults. The first lecture occurred on March 3, 2011. Twenty unique lectures had been delivered as of December 5, 2012.
• Family Fridays began in April 2014 and occurs once a month. MoMath and Time Warner Cable launched the initiative to provide free mathematical opportunities to low-income families in the form of an event series with new activities and presentations each month.

External links

• Official website
• Museum of Mathematics on Twitter
• Math Encounters
• Math Midway