Early X-Ray Machine
The Vienna Technisches Museum is housed, in the usual Viennese custom, in a grand white building, but you enter it via an underground atrium that looks as though it was originally designed as a car park. Nonetheless, once inside, the usual combination of efficiency, friendliness and impressive public spaces are all there. This space serves as a marshalling yard and assembly area for the hordes of energetic kids on school outings, so you might want to get though as quickly as possible, but there are left-luggage lockers, drinks machines and toilets here, as well as a gift shop whose stock is not very relevant. It’s a very kid-friendly museum, with special areas and exhibits for even very young children.
It’s tempting to proceed directly up the grand staircase into the main exhibition spaces, but the two side galleries here are very much worth the digression.
On one side is one of the most impressive exhibitions on basic science I’ve ever seen. ‘Nature and Knowledge’ covers all the main areas of physical science; energy, forces and matter, heat, light and radiation, electromagnetics, atomic theory, gravity and, of course, astronomy. There is a historical trail, beginning with astronomy and ending with atomic clocks, and all exemplified by actual examples and interactive demonstrations of the principles involved.
The Counter-Intuitive Coriolis Force. The Model Is Rotating Clockwise.
Some of the hands-on exhibits are really very good, others perhaps could do with a re-think. For instance, the demonstration of how the counter-intuitive Coriolis force arises is one of the clearest I’ve seen, whereas the lead weight vs. a feather falling in vacuum would probably be more impressive on the moon, where you’d have time to see them fall. More thought-provoking was an inclined plane that appeared to disprove Galileo. Two metal cylinders of the same external dimensions and the same mass (a balance is provided) travel down the slope at different rates. Can you work out what is going on? I’ll leave the problem as an exercise. (Answer below!)
The gallery also contains some fine examples of technology, from an ancient astrolabe through to some wonderful mid-20th machines, such as X-Ray equipment. It’s fascinating to reflect on the skill and imagination required to create and use these historical instruments. One of Sir William Herschel’s telescopes is here, very similar to the one with which he discovered Uranus, and a fitting reminder of Herschel’s skill and prolific output as an instrument maker. See Royal Greewich
Barometric Apparatus
The other gallery in the entrance hall is devoted to the ‘In Motion’ exhibition on motion, animal and mechanical. Again, there are plenty of interactive exhibits, and a fair number of kids running around and completing worksheets.
Cut-Away Triple-Expansion Steam Engine. The Same Design As The Whispering Giants of Brede
Cut-Away Of Locomotive.
Up the central stairway brings you to the main hall, a huge space with a mezzanine surround and open to all three floors. Here you’ll find heavy industry, including a steel furnace, lots of locomotives and steam engines, and exhibits on energy and the oil industry. Don’t miss ducking underneath the mezzanine floor for the mine and generator exhibits.
Triple Expansion Steam Engine Powering A Generator.
Up another floor and there’s a large exhibition called ‘Everyday Life – Directions for Use’, which focuses on all the myriad ways in which technology plays a vital role in our lives. Complementing this is ‘At Work’, where the changes since the days of heavy industry, particularly computing, are represented by historical items – some great fun was had by the Scientific Tourist in revisiting ‘ancient’ computers from his youth.
‘Vintage’ Honeywell CPU And Disk Drive. State Of The Art When The Scientific Tourist Started Programming!
Anyone who knows the history of computing will recognise the front panel for the iconic PDP11 from Digital Equipment.
Front Panel For The Iconic PDP11 From Digital Equipment.
Next comes an exhibition which spans the worlds of work and life, the ‘Media Worlds’ space. As might be expected, much use is made here of modern multimedia and virtual exhibits, so it’s worth slowing down to explore the terminals (if you can get a moment when they’re not occupied by kids!)
Fittingly for Vienna, there’s a large section on musical instruments, but the rest of the floor and central atrium is given over to the ‘Mobility’ exhibition, everything from bicycles to satellites.
Vintage Cars And Bicycles
String And Canvas ‘Kites’ And Satellites.
The museum has a website at Technisches Museum Wien, with ‘in English the usual awkward idioms being only.’ Humour aside, it’s full of useful information about exhibitions and practicalities.
I’d allow at least 2-3 hours to really get the best from the place, depending on how busy it is. It’s only 150m up the road from the Schönbrunn palace, so it’s easy to combine with the more conventional tourist trail. The palace gardens also make an excellent break from being indoors – bring your own picnic.
The View From The Schönbrunn Palace Gardens. The Technical Museum Is The Red Domes Just Above The Right Side Of The Palace.
Top Tips
Time your visit to include the High Voltage Demonstration. This includes great electrical effects using very high voltages. It will literally make your hair stand on end. Static, lightning and all the fun of the fair. It’s spectacular, literally electrifying, and quite appropriate given the fact that Tesla (of the eponymous coils – seen here) is a scion of Vienna. The tours are usually in German, but occasional English versions are run.
Also, don’t miss the Cloud and Spark chambers in Nature and Knowledge. Watch as cosmic rays and background radiation passes through you!
Disproving Galileo
OK, worked it out? Although you can’t see it, the two cylinders have different mass distributions. One has most of the mass arranged uniformly throughout the length and width of the cylinder, the other has a hollow centre, so the mass is all at the outer surface. This gives a large difference in the angular momentum of the cylinders, and so they move at different speeds. Easy, huh?