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 facility, designed by Japanese architect Arata Isozaki along a bend in the Scioto River in the Franklinton neighborhood. COSI features more than 300 interactive exhibits throughout themed exhibition areas.
Until the COVID-19 pandemic, COSI operated the largest outreach education program of any science museum in the United States. Anchored by COSI on Wheels – a whole-school outreach program traveling throughout Ohio and the surrounding Midwest – as well as local COSI on Wheels Workshops, Camp COSI on Wheels, and Interactive Videoconference programs reaching 350,000 learners each year outside of the museum at their peak.
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.
As a non-profit organization, COSI is supported by ticket sales, a network of community and statewide partnerships (including relationships with a variety of donors and sponsors), a volunteer program supported by 10,000 volunteers annually, and nearly 20,000 member households. In 2008, COSI was named the #1 science center in the United States for families by Parent Magazine. In 2020, it was named the #1 Science Museum in the United States by USA Today.
Exhibit areas
Upon relocating in 1999, COSI was developed with large, self-contained, themed atria, each dedicated to a single topic and designed as immersive theatrical learning worlds. As of 2018, COSI contains seven main exhibit areas: Ocean, Energy Explorers, Space, Progress, Gadgets, Life, and the American Museum of National History Dinosaur Gallery. Hallways between each learning world are filled with hands-on exhibits and displays.
Ocean
Accessed via an underwater cave through a crashed shipwreck, the cavern path splits as guests pass to the right or left. The pathway to the right leads to a docked submarine laboratory where hands-on exhibits explore the realities of ocean research, submersibles, SCUBA, water pressure, and remote-operated vehicles. Lilypad Lab focuses on drainage basin and Central Ohio wildlife. The path forking left from the shipwreck leads to the Temple of Poseidon, an ancient stone chamber built around a 30-foot tall statue of Poseidon with waterfalls, fountains, and water jets. Another realm focuses on the properties of water and the stories it inspires – laminar flow, whirlpools, erosion, water bells, and mythology.
Energy Explorers
Energy Explorers, which opened in 2013, allows visitors to choose an avatar character that follows the guest to the Home Zone, Transportation Zone, and Product Zone of a town, making decisions via computer kiosks to balance energy efficiency and cost.
Space
The Space exhibit area features a replica space station pod to tour, a recreation of John Glenn's Friendship 7 spacecraft from the Mercury-Atlas 6, remote-operated vehicles, balance tests, and other hands-on experiments that deal with space flight trajectory, gravitational pull, and simulated rover landings. Space was originally located on Level 2 in its own enclosed atrium exhibit area, entered via a "black hole" spinning funhouse hallway meant to disorient guests. The exhibit itself was in a dark, immersive, themed area, stylized after the 1969 Moon landing of Apollo 11. Under starry skies, guests interacted with "retro" stylized monitors and exhibits with a matching wood-panel / brushed metal motif that was reminiscent of the era, even included a 1960s living room (including shag carpeting) where guests could watch the recorded landing.