edgerton explorit center

My husband I visited this small science museum in 1984 or 85, and we were totally enthralled . And that thrill returns each time I read about some scientific news where high speed photography was and is used, regardless the kind of experiment. Doc Edgerton's famous experiments involved filming hummingbirds in flight as well as bullets hitting targets, thus providing for the first time, opportunity to see what happens when objects are moving at high speeds. Fabulous. And now in 2015, that technique developed by Edgerton, was used to show what happens when rain hits the earth, AND .. ta Da. we can "smell the rain". Lovely isn't it!! But that little splash of rain might also explain how many airbourne microbes can travel so quickly. And so in this little town of Aurora, Nebraska is a little golden hub of exquisite scientific knowledge. Hats off to those who visit and thanks to those who developed that place to visit. It is a real gem of a place about a very real person who did a lot to help people understand our world.

Our son loved this place when he was 9 years old, and he loved it just as much this time when he was 12. It's a fun place with lots of hands-on activities. "Doc" Edgerton was a pioneer in strobe-assisted photography, and there are some museum displays about this, but this center is about much more than that. There is a full-motion flight simulator (a big hit!), a giant "Operation" game, an earthquake simulator, a hurricane simulator, lots of different types of building block stations, a giant bubble station, and more. A few of the activities were under repair, but there was more than enough to occupy us for several hours!

This a wonderful, hands-on science museum for kids. We stopped here during a long, cross-country drive. It's located just off I-80, is very reasonably priced and is a great place for the kids to have some educational fun.