I went to the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry last weekend, and it is completely awesome.  If you do not want to go there after reading this, you’re no fun.

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The Chicago Museum of Science and Industry is located on the grounds of the 1893 Chicago Worlds Fair.  It is easy to get to by car (Lake Shore Drive) or by CTA (the 10 bus drives directly from the Harrison Red Line stop to the museum).

U-505

The museum has two pieces of amazing World War II history.  While very different in size, they are both incredibly important and dynamic in their influence on the outcome of the war.  The first is the German U-Boat, U-505.

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That’s right folks, there is an entire submarine in this museum.  It was captured in the Atlantic, and was critical in understanding German underwater engineering and weaponry.  Its capture was the result of a highly and specifically trained task force; the United States Navy had not boarded an enemy vessel since the end of the War of 1812.  As you can imagine, boarding a submarine full of angry Nazis is a little trickier, particularly when it’s rigged to self destruct when captured.  This was part of the inspiration for the film U-571.

The Encoding Machine

One reason the United States was so interested in capturing a German U-Boat was to get their hands on the Enigma cypher machine.

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The Enigma was the main instrument in German coding, and was capable of generating over 72 SEPTILLION permutations.  It was considered unbreakable (especially in the age before computers).  But the capture of the Enigma (and over 900 pounds of confidential documents) aboard U-505 helped seal the deal for the code-breaking task force that had been working on cracking Enigma for over 20 years.  And the museum has one!

The Tip of the Iceberg

It would take days to blog about everything the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry has to offer.  So please look at the coolness of the following photos and multiply it by a number similar to one created by the Enigma:

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That’s right, this machine shows my veins!  In real time!!

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It’s a room full of airplanes!  And just so we’re clear on the scale, the plane on the right is a Boeing 727.

The Grounds

The museum is housed on the former grounds of the 1893 Chicago Worlds Fair.  And it is gorgeous:

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You could spend hours outside here (weather permitting).

I have only begun to scratch the surface of this awesome place.  Go check out the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry!