InfoAge

  

    Saturday, March 20, 2021: Wow! This place was worth the wait to visit. I wrote about my impressions of a virtual visit to this museum in a recent issue of DOTTY’S DIMENSIONS: THE COLUMN, and that sounded interesting enough, but visiting in person was so much better. Because I’m a fan of space exploration, I made a beeline to the Space Exploration Center of this attraction: InfoAge Science & History Museums, 2201 Marconi Road, Wall, NJ (732-280-3000 or info@infoage.org). (The Space Center is up the street a bit from the main campus of the InfoAge Museums at 2300 Marconi Road.) Although the Space Center didn’t have all kinds of flashy exhibits compared to some of the bigger air & space museums, this was the home of radio astronomy. While here, I bounced my voice off of the moon, watched a staff member track a pulsar, and saw a back-up of the Vanguard Satellite, as well as noticed a replica of the Tristar Satellite, looked at items that went to the moon and back, and glanced at other exhibits. Some of these exhibits showed texts, pictures, and items about the Space Race and afterward. Outside, however, I observed the TIROS Satellite Dish rotate as the staff inside directed it toward the moon. After this, I headed to the main museum campus where I saw videos at the Visitors Center about these museums and about Guglielmo Marconi. This place was vast, so I headed to my favorite sections first: Radio Technology and Vintage Computers. In both sections, very enthusiastic guides gave me better lessons than I ever had in school about those two subjects. Meanwhile, the Radio Technology and Vintage Computer sections showed exhibits, texts, and pictures covering their histories. Other areas presented rooms of display exhibits that I glimpsed at: military items and miniature dioramas about World War I and WWII, model trains, and about 9/11/2001, as well as shipwrecks, black history, and other subjects. Overall, if you see nothing else in Monmouth County, see the InfoAge Science & History Museums.           

Thomas Edison Center, Edison, NJ

     Saturday, March 6, 2021:  In one of last year’s issues of Dotty’s Dimensions: The Column, I wrote about a virtual visit to this place: Thomas Edison Center, 37 Christie Street, Edison, New Jersey (732-549-3299). On the date above, I finally took my first in-person visit to an attraction in over a year when I visited the place listed above! Anyway, upon arriving I noticed the large tower in the picture, dedicated in 1938, on the spot where Thomas Edison’s lab stood from 1876 to 1882. I had to book in advance for my tour in this two-room museum, but our enthusiastic and knowledgeable guide explained and pointed out the different texts, pictures, and exhibit items that covered Edison’s life and his inventions. Two of his most famous inventions here were the first practical light bulb and the phonograph. Nevertheless, the greatest invention of Edison’s was starting the first organized research and development laboratory. Our guide also demonstrated some of the exhibit items here, especially the old phonographs. Then, I glanced at a model of the first laboratory that the model maker made with pieces from the original building. Finally, our guide took us outside to the tower and let us look inside on the ground floor at an eternal light that stayed lit all the time using the latest technology; on the date above, it would be an LED light. Afterward, we walked around the grounds and looked at the memorial to Edison (1847-1931), dedicated in 1947, the 100th anniversary of his birth.