15 Facts About COSI

COSI, officially the Center of Science and Industry, is a science museum and research center in Columbus, Ohio.

COSI was opened to the public on 29 March 1964 and remained there for 35 years.

In 1999, COSI was moved to a 320,000-square-foot facility, designed by Japanese architect Arata Isozaki along a bend in the Scioto River in the Franklinton neighborhood.

In 1972, COSI originated the Camp-In overnight program for Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts – a concept now commonplace in museums nationwide.

Since 1964, COSI has engaged with nearly 30 million unique visitors through on-site and outreach programs.

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However, Space remains the only one of COSI's seven learning worlds to not have its own dedicated, theatrical, immersive atrium, instead being located on the bright Mezzanine bridge.

On November 22,2014, COSI reopened its 60-foot diameter, 220-seat Planetarium with all new digital projection.

COSI opened on March 29,1964, as a venture of the Franklin County Historical Society.

COSI is a founding member of the Science Museum Exhibit Collaborative and a long-standing member of the Association of Science-Technology Centers.

From its 1964 opening, COSI was housed in Memorial Hall, a Columbus landmark constructed in 1906.

COSI closed at the Memorial Hall location on East Broad Street on September 6,1999, and re-opened two months later on November 6,1999, at its new location on the Scioto riverfront in downtown Columbus.

COSI replaced former NASA astronaut Kathryn D Sullivan, who became COSI science advisor on a volunteer basis while serving as the Director of Ohio State University's Battelle Center for Mathematics and Science Education Policy.

Since then, COSI has integrated additional-cost traveling exhibits as part of its funding model.

COSI developed its own traveling exhibit, Lost Egypt: Ancient Secrets, Modern Science in cooperation with the Science Museum Exhibit Collaborative, built by the Science Museum of Minnesota.

On September 16,2016, COSI announced a partnership between the city of Columbus and the American Museum of Natural History in New York City to build a $5 million permanent Dinosaur Exhibition Gallery and a dedicated AMNH Traveling Exhibition Gallery replacing the WOSU and Adventure exhibits.