Neighborhood News: Adler Planetarium is a ‘Classroom under the Heavens’

Anyone growing up in Chicago, as I did, has great memories of the Adler Planetarium, 1300 S. DuSable Lake Shore Drive. 

Whether it was going to the Sky Show, or The Doane Observatory to peer through their giant telescope, or witnessing a solar eclipse with hundreds of others, it was an adventure for the ages. I remember learning that the sun was (approximately) 93 million miles from Earth, as well as how to identify the Milky Way and dozens of other constellations. 

I owe a large part of my  education to “The Adler!” As do nearly a century of  visitors.

History: Opening during the Great Depression 

Despite the ongoing Great Depression, the year 1930 was a big year for landmark museum openings in Chicago.

OnMay 12, 1930, The Adler Planetarium (aka, “The Adler”),opened to the public. It was the first planetarium in the western hemisphere.

Two weeks later, the Shedd Aquarium opened on May 30, completing what we know today as the Museum Campus that first included Field Museum (1894).

Why would the city of Chicago, going through the Great Depression, open a museum dedicated to astronomy?

Because the inspiration began many years earlier. In 1923, former Sears, Roebuck & Co. executive Max Adler visited a Zeiss projection-based planetarium in Munich, Germany, and decided to bring the technology to Chicago. 

According to Wikipedia sources, Adler donated $500,000 in 1928 for the facility. His cousin, architect Ernest A. Grunsfeld Jr., designed the Art Deco building. 

Adler purchased the collection of antique science instruments from A. W. Mensing at an auction in Amsterdam. This collection provided the foundation for the Planetarium, along with Chicago’s own Zeiss projector. The Chicago-based South Park Commissioners agreed to assume operating costs. 

Adler dedicated the institution as a “classroom under the heavens” for popular astronomy education. Philip Fox was the first director of the Adler. The Sky Theater opened at the same time with a 70-foot-diameter dome that extended 190 degrees to the floor, immersing 195 audience members in the Sky Show.  

The Sky Shows under the dome proved to be a huge draw. “Star of Wonder” was one of the annual holiday attractions, following the Wise Men’s Star to Bethlehem. In 1974, Adler’s first pre-recorded planetarium show, “Comet Tales,” premiered in the Sky Theater. Several renovations throughout the decades brought numerous improvements and educational exhibits, including 1999’s  Sky Pavilion, along with an extensive renovation of the original 1930 building. The Adler now offered several new exhibitions and the world’s first all-digital, interactive planetarium theater.

Today 

All of these innovations come with these questions in mind: How did we make sense of the universe before we had telescopes and rockets? How has new technology changed the way we look up? What does it take to be an astronaut or fly a robot mission to Mars?

The answers can be found, in part,  in their newest exhibition, “Stars Aligned: Tracing the Story of Astronomy and Astrology,” to discover how these two practices were once intertwined. You’ll see the “Astrolabium Planum,” a book from 1494, which features a collection of illustrations corresponding to each degree of the zodiac. The illustrations represent the personalities of people who have that specific planetary placement in their birth horoscopes. 

Or, in their exhibit “Other Worlds,” you’ll experience how diverse planets truly are. More importantly, you’ll learn how studying planets in our solar system and discovering exoplanets both help us better understand our Earth and how other worlds came to be.

In their “Mission Moon” exhibit, there is an interactive stomp rocket where you can build your own foam rocket and try to send it up as high as you possibly can through the atmosphere (aka a very large tube)!

Additionally, The Adler has three theaters, space science exhibitions, including the Gemini 12 space capsule, and a collection of antique scientific instruments and print materials.  The Doane Observatory is a research-active public observatory.

Objects from their space collection can be found in Stargazers Hub, Mission Moon, Universe In Your Hands, and Chicago’s Night Sky. These exhibits feature some of the rarest and most unusual objects in The Adler’s collection, including one of the world’s oldest telescopes!

There’s so much to The Adler, it’s best to go on their website and plan your day. For tickets and information,  click here. 

Alison Moran-Powers and Dean’s Team Chicago