Accessibility

A Place for Everyone

The vision of the Museum of Science is one where everyone can participate equally in the excitement of science and technology learning. Barriers to access, whether caused by finances, culture, language, education, or ability, can inhibit exploration. The Museum is intent on breaking down these barriers while creating relationships with new audiences.

Please note that requests for interpreters and sighted guides should be made at least two weeks prior to your visit.

Learn More

Please contact the Museum's Accessibility Coordinator regarding any questions or concerns regarding accessibility for visitors with disabilities.

Nora Nagle 617-589-3102 accessibility@mos.org

Transportation

Parking and Entrance

  • Visitor drop-off and pickup is allowed at the Museum's main entrance.
  • There is one automated doorway (enter from the front plaza).
  • Paid parking is available in the Museum garage.
  • On each level, spaces near the elevator are designated for visitors with disabilities.
  • Parking is sometimes allowed in the Museum driveway when designated spots in the garage are occupied.

Public Transportation

  • The Museum is 200 yards away from the MBTA Science Park station (on the Lechmere Green Line).
  • An elevator provides wheelchair access to the Science Park station and platforms.
  • For more information about public transportation access, call the MBTA's Customer Support Line at 617-222-3200 / 617-222-5146 (TTY) or visit the MBTA's accessible services page.

Additional Services

Sighted Guide Tours

Museum personnel trained as sighted guides are available to enhance the Museum experience of visitors who are blind or low-vision.

For reservations, please call 617-589-3102 two weeks in advance.

ASL Interpreters

ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation often provides the most effective communication for people who are deaf. An interpreter can be arranged with at least two weeks' notice, based on availability. Please call 617-589-3102.

TTY

TTY users can contact the Museum at 617-589-0417.

Mugar Omni Theater

The following options are available for selected IMAX films:

  • Rear window captioning
  • Amplified narration
  • Descriptive narration
  • Foreign language translations
  • Show scripts

Limited numbers of infrared headsets and/or reflectors for captioning are available from ushers at the theater entrance 15 minutes before show time. A form of ID must be provided to borrow equipment. For quicker service, make a request at the Museum box office when purchasing or picking up tickets. Wheelchair accessible seating is located at the top of the theater.

View schedule and buy tickets

Planetarium

A captioning system and an infrared assistive listening system with amplification are available for select shows. Notify a Planetarium usher to borrow a system (a form of ID must be provided). Scripts are available for select shows. Planetarium staff will provide Braille constellation maps and tactile pictures on request. Wheelchair accessible seating is located throughout the Planetarium.

View schedule and buy tickets

Visitor Guide

Available in the Museum lobby, the map / guide (PDF) contains a floor plan. A version of this guide is also available in several foreign languages and at the Information Booth.

Mobility

The Museum has ten manual wheelchairs, seven strollers, and five electric scooters that guests may borrow for free. They are available on a first-come, first-served basis.

To sign out a wheelchair, stroller, or scooter, please speak to an information specialist at the Information Booth in the lobby.

Medical and Emergency Assistance

Contact a staff member at the Information Booth.

Food Allergies

For allergen information or questions regarding menu items in the Riverview Café, please contact our café managers: 617 589-3180, wpc@mos.org

Portable Defibrillators

Three portable defibrillators are located throughout the Museum of Science. Security personnel have been trained in their use.

Parking

The Museum's on-site garage provides hourly parking for approximately 850 cars on a first-come, first-served basis. Museum members receive a discount. Parking is available for visitors with disabilities. Clearance to access floors above the entrance level is 7'4". The entrance level of the garage can accommodate wheelchair lift vans. The garage has an elevator.

Find Accessible Museum Offerings

Use the filters to display Museum offerings that meet your access needs. You may narrow results down to a specific offering type or leave it at "any". Select the accessibility enhancements you are interested in. You may select multiple accessibility enhancements by pressing "Ctrl" while clicking the item. Click "Filter" for results.

73 Results

The following offerings match one or more of your selections.

  • Space Junk

    This visually explosive 3-D journey of discovery weighs the solutions aimed at restoring Earth's orbits.

  • Flying Monsters

    Gain new insight into one of the greatest mysteries in paleontology.

  • Meerkats

    Join a meerkat family — headed by fierce matriarch Clinky — as they cope with the challenges of life in the Kalahari Desert.

  • Hands-On Laboratory

    Help conduct real experiments using many of the tools and techniques of actual scientists.

  • Design Challenges

    Participate in a hands-on activity to design, build, and test a prototype solution to a given problem.

  • A Bird’s World

    Take a virtual tour of Acadia National Park in this exhibit, which includes a specimen of every bird found in New England.

  • Beyond the X-Ray

    Explore some of the many non-invasive ways doctors look into the human body.

  • Bradford Washburn: The Man Behind the Lens

    Explore the story of Bradford Washburn, renowned mountaineer and Museum of Science founder.

  • Butterfly Garden

    Walk among the free-flying residents of this warm conservatory filled with exotic plants.

  • Catching the Wind

    Learn how turbines transform wind into green energy, and track the Museum's Wind Lab energy production.

  • Cosmic Light

    Explore the Milky Way Galaxy to discover a range of information about our universe.

  • Cahners ComputerPlace

    Chat with our virtual and human guides, operate a robot, and explore how information is stored on your computer.

  • Colossal Fossil: Triceratops Cliff

    Get an up-close view of this 65-million-year-old fossil, discovered in the Dakota Badlands in 2004.

  • Dinosaurs: Modeling the Mesozoic

    Check out fossils and life-size models to learn how paleontologists compile evidence and change the way we view these extinct animals.

  • Discovery Center

    Put an animal skeleton together, touch a real fossil, or observe a variety of live animals up close.

  • Energized!

    Learn about sunlight, wind, moving water, and other self-replenishing sources that generate energy with fewer negative side effects.

  • Innovative Engineers

    Engineers' biographical stories show how the paths to engineering success are as diverse as their remarkable inventions.

  • Investigate!

    Practice thinking like a scientist by investigating different phenomena to try to understand the way the world works.

  • Live Animal Exhibit

    Visit this viewing area for a peek at some of the stars of the Museum's Live Animal presentations.

  • Making Models

    Learn about and practice with some of the basic tools that scientists use.

  • Mapping the World Around Us

    Check out a variety of maps, and try your hand at creating your own.

  • Mathematica

    Enjoy the wonder of mathematics and the beauty of post-modern design.

  • Museum of Science: Then and Now

    Learn the Museum's story through artifacts and interactive displays — from the "Chamber of Curiosities" to visions of the future.

  • Nanotechnology

    Explore the science of the super small in this exhibit developed by Museum-led NISE® Net (Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network)

  • Natural Mysteries

    Observe a reference library of interesting objects, experience enticingly mysterious environments, and participate in activities.

  • New England Habitats

    Explore windows into wide-ranging landscapes, model birds, casts of feet, antlers, beaks, and other touchable elements.

  • Science in the Park

    Run, jump, swing, and use familiar objects to investigate the pushes and pulls of everyday life.

  • Seeing Is Deceiving

    Encounter dozens of examples of images that, on closer examination, are not what they appear to be at first glance.

  • Take a Closer Look

    Explore the world around you using sight, hearing, touch, and smell.

  • The Light House

    Explore the science behind light and color.

  • The Rock Garden

    See petrified wood from Arizona, Egyptian granite, our own Roxbury puddingstone, and more.

  • To the Moon

    See full-size models of the Apollo and Mercury capsules and a graphic timeline documenting the key era of human space exploration.

  • WeatherWise

    Join Boston-area meteorologists as they lead you through the steps of learning the valuable skill of nowcasting.

  • Weems Animal Sculptures

    See 30 of Katharine Lane Weems's bronze sculptures of animals displayed in this exhibit, the largest Weems collection in the world.

  • Math Moves!

    Experience the mathematical concept of ratio in this interactive exhibit.

  • Behind the Headline

    Explore an exciting science and technology story in the news.

  • Balance and Motion

    Investigate balance and how forces cause changes in motion.

  • Butterfly Garden Experience

    Experience butterflies up close through guided observations, and learn about their life cycles.

  • Climate Change

    Explore climate change and consider energy-efficient and emissions-saving alternatives.

  • Earth and Space Exploration

    Learn about our changing planet, and hear the latest news on space missions, our solar system, and beyond.

  • Energy Challenges and Solutions

    Investigate current energy issues, or explore tiny energy technologies.

  • Exhibit Investigations

    Participate in an investigation activity that supports curriculum standards.

  • Fantastic Forces

    A magician's tablecloth demonstrates relations between mass, velocity, acceleration, and force.

  • Incredible Energy!

    Projectiles, explosions, and brain-racking pendulums illustrate energy's many forms.

  • Lightning!

    Explore lightning and storm safety as the world's largest air-insulated Van de Graaff generator hurls indoor bolts.

  • Live Animal Presentation

    Discover the furry, feathered, and scaly residents of our Live Animal Center.

  • Mind Games & Optical Illusions

    Discover what perception-bending illusions reveal about the ways humans interact with the world.

  • Our Bodies, Our Health

    Check out health-related presentations on influenza, trans fats, cancer, asthma, stem cells, and more.

  • Science Live!

    A rotating schedule of live scientific discovery.

  • Science Snapshot

    Take a closer look at the latest in science and technology in our lives.

  • Sound and Music

    Explore volume and pitch with vibrations from a medley of improvised instruments.

  • Super-Cold Science

    Experience the extreme, even bizarre, effects heat and temperature have on solids, liquids, and gases.

  • Technology in Our Lives

    Learn all about the Large Hadron Collider, robotics, the future of computing, and more.

  • Weather Wonders

    Watch as indoor wind, clouds, fog, and snow are made right before your eyes!

  • The Amazing Nano Brothers Juggling Show

    The atomic world as you've never seen before — hilarious, awe-inspiring, and educational!

  • Nanotechnology

    Check out how nanotechnology is transforming medicine, computing, energy, biological imaging, consumer products, and environmental stewardship.

  • Amazing Journeys

    This offering is available only to schools as part of a Museum field trip.

    Follow the life-and-death dramas of five of the most incredible animal migrations on the planet.

  • Forces of Nature

    This offering is available only to schools as part of a Museum field trip.

    How are natural disasters triggered, and how can we prepare for them?

  • Greece: Secrets of the Past

    This offering is available only to schools as part of a Museum field trip.

    Explore the Greek islands and glimpse the Parthenon's original glory.

  • Lewis & Clark: Great Journey West

    This offering is available only to schools as part of a Museum field trip.

    Experience the danger and beauty of the unknown West as it unfolded before the eyes of Lewis and Clark.

  • The Greatest Places

    Discover that nature — and human nature — are what unify us as a planet.

  • Adrenaline Rush: The Science of Risk

    This offering is available only to schools as part of a Museum field trip.

    What happens in the body when we leap from an airplane? Explore the science of risk-taking with globetrotting skydivers and BASE jumpers.

  • Journey Into Amazing Caves

    Wriggle through passageways to discover the alien world beneath your feet!

  • Africa: The Serengeti

    Africa: The Serengeti takes you on an extraordinary journey to East Africa to view a remarkable spectacle: the great migration.

  • The Last Reef: Cities Beneath the Sea

    Fly across iridescent tropical reefs, brush through a cloud of jellyfish, and visit a world where the closer you look, the more you see.

  • Explore the Galaxy

    This offering is available only to schools as part of a Museum field trip.

    Travel through the solar system and beyond in a tour of our stellar neighborhood.

  • Explore the Solar System

    This offering is available only to schools as part of a Museum field trip.

    Explore our beautiful solar system and its thousands of varied worlds that are changing the way we view our neighborhood in space.

  • Explore the Universe

    This offering is available only to schools as part of a Museum field trip.

    Take a grand tour of the cosmos, from Earth all the way to the farthest reaches of space and time.

  • Explore: The Universe

    Leave the Earth behind and take off with a Planetarium educator as your star pilot.

  • Secrets of the Sky

    This offering is available only to schools as part of a Museum field trip.

    This lighthearted musical program uses intrigue to spark students' interest in astronomical phenomena.

  • Undiscovered Worlds: The Search Beyond Our Sun

    Produced by the Museum of Science, this Planetarium show won Best Immersive Fulldome Program at the 2012 Jackson Hole Science Media Awards.

  • The Sky Tonight

    This offering is available only to schools as part of a Museum field trip.

    This star show addresses seasonal events and visible phenomena.

  • Explore: The Sky Tonight

    With an astronomy expert as your guide, find seasonal stars, constellations, and planets visible from New England.