Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.
Sunday, December 4, 2016
The Chicago Museum of Science and Industry 18-Foot Walk-Through Heart Display.
The Museum of Science and Industry announced on May 31, 1950, that visitors would soon be able to walk through an 18-foot heart, part of a 3,000-square-foot exhibit sponsored by the Chicago Heart Association. As part of the experience, a human pulse will be audible inside the heart. In another part of the exhibit, the circulation of blood will be illustrated.
Installed in 1950, the heart is so big that it would fit into the chest of a 28-story human.
By 2009, the museum had replaced it with a new high-tech heart with digital projections but no walk-through.
My grandfather, Dr. Emmet Blackburn Bay, was a cardiologist at the University of Chicago who I believe advised on the design of the heart at the museum. We used to visit it whenever we visited him in Chicago in the 1960's.
ReplyDeletemy great uncle Chester Kirk was the artist of the original walk through heart exhibit
ReplyDeleteMy grandfather (Coleman Hewitt) made the heart and my mom did the labels. I miss being able say I can walk through my grandfather's heart.
ReplyDeleteMy Dad Joe Hernandez helped build construct and paint this heart and the company Olsen Designers
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