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Science Fiction Museum Created By Microsoft Co-Founder to Open in Seattle

Posted on: Sunday, 13 June 2004, 06:00 CDT

Jun. 13--SEATTLE -- Martians, time travelers and robots will have a new home in Seattle, thanks to Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.

The reclusive billionaire is creating the country's first Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame, set to open Friday.

Science fiction "reflects and comments on humankind's hopes, dreams and fears," Allen said, adding that the new museum is designed to inspire critical thinking about culture and society.

Allen, who is using his earthly riches to search for extraterrestrial life forms and to launch the first private rocket into space later this month, has packed the $20 million museum with his personal memorabilia.

The artifacts include Captain Kirk's command chair from the television series "Star Trek," the model spaceship from the 1951 film "The Day the Earth Stood Still" and the B9 robot from the television series "Lost in Space."

In addition, the museum will house rare first-edition books, such as Isaac Asimov's "Foundation" trilogy, Ray Bradbury's "The Martian Chronicles" and "Fahrenheit 451" and H.G. Wells' "The Time Machine."

The Science Fiction Museum will occupy a wing of the same oddly shaped glass-and-steel building where Allen opened his music museum four years ago. And it will have a real space pioneer at the helm. Allen hired former NASA engineer Donna Shirley, who managed the Mars Exploration Program, as the museum's executive director.

"I've been reading science fiction since I was 11 years old," Shirley said. "It was very influential on my career choices. Exercising the power of this medium to bring in kids and get them interested in stuff other than cops and robbers on TV seems to be extremely valuable."

Museum visitors begin their adventures at Homeworld, where they can learn about famous authors and compare a science fiction timeline with events in real life, starting from Mary Shelley's novel "Frankenstein" in 1818. The Fantastic Voyages section features the greatest science fiction spaceships, while Brave New Worlds shows futuristic cities and experimental societies. A gallery called Them! is dedicated to robots, aliens, androids and artificial intelligence.

Science fiction characters may be from another planet, but the literature, like jazz music, is a truly American art form, said Kim Stanley Robinson, an award-winning author who lives in Davis and serves on the museum's advisory board.

"We are the world's grand experiment," he said. "We're all in a big science fiction novel together and that's America."

Shirley hopes the museum can help reawaken an interest in science among children.

"Ultimately we would like people to come away more interested in literature and in science and technology," Shirley said. "Science fiction brings that out. It's all about 'what if.'"

Contact Kristi Heim at kheim@mercurynews.com or at (206) 632-8160.

IF YOU'RE INTERESTED

For more information about the museum, visit www.sfhomeworld.org.

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MSFT,

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