MIT Museum

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Janet Echelman: Remembering the Future

A commissioned aerial sculpture of braided, knotted and spliced twine suspended through the lobby and staircase, giving form to Earth's climate timeline. Made during Echelman's MIT CAST residency.

Now showingFrom 17 Sept 2025$20

Freezing Time: Edgerton and the Beauty of the Machine Age

Harold "Doc" Edgerton's stroboscope and high-speed flash photographs from the 1930s, freezing motion in factories and the natural world, reprinted from the original negatives.

Now showing5 Feb – 29 Nov$20

Split | Second

Instruments and artworks spanning 340 years across four sections - Earth Time, Mechanical Time, Electric Time, Atomic Time - tracing how precise timekeeping became a negotiated human construct.

Now showing19 Feb – 4 Jan 2027$20

Crochet Coral Reef

Margaret Wertheim and mathematician Erik Demaine turn fibre art, hyperbolic geometry and marine science into collective climate action, highlighting the threat to coral reefs. Opens with the OCEANS season.

Now showing14 Aug – 14 Feb 2027$20

Starship Enterprise Model

The restored original 33-inch Starship Enterprise model built for Star Trek: The Original Series in 1964, on loan from the Roddenberry family for its East Coast debut.

Now showing30 Sept – 28 Mar 2027$20

Sensing Oceans

Immersive installations by Marshmallow Laser Feast set against 19th-century oceanographic equipment, exploring how we make sense of the earth's oceans. Opens with the OCEANS season at MIT Future Fest.

Now showing30 Sept – 21 Feb 2027$20

Permanent Collections

Essential MIT

A dynamic, interactive look at how MIT works, from global-issue research to ventures into space, in the d'Arbeloff Gallery. An opening exhibition of the 2022 Kendall Square building.

Permanent collection$20

AI: Mind the Gap

An interactive exhibition on the promise, unforeseen impacts and everyday misconceptions of artificial intelligence, building on the legacy of Claude Shannon and Seymour Papert.

Permanent collection$20

MIT Collects

Salon-style wall vitrines of objects and media from the museum's 1.5-million-item collection: teaching and research models from ship hulls to crystal structures and architectural design.

Permanent collection$20

Ganson

A select group of Arthur Ganson's kinetic machines from the museum collection, choreographing his perceptions of the world into subtle mechanical movement. Visitors set them going by pedal or crank.

Permanent collection$20

Radical Atoms

Three iconic tangible-interface works — SandScape, inFORM and TRANSFORM — from Hiroshi Ishii's Tangible Media Group at the MIT Media Lab, exploring materials that reconfigure themselves like digital pixels.

Permanent collection$20

Made to Measure

Measuring instruments from the MIT Museum's collection, from simple rulers and precision thermometers to the world's only standard Smoot bar, central to research at MIT.

Permanent collection$20

Nearby

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MIT List Visual Arts Center

DesignFree2 min walk

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Gibson House Museum

Architecture16 min walk

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Museum of Science, Boston

Children17 min walk

Visitor Information

How much does MIT Museum cost?

Standard adult admission to MIT Museum is $20. Seniors (65+) $15; college students with ID $10; youth 6-18 $10; children 5 and under free; family ticket (2 adults + 2 youth) $55. Free for MIT students, faculty, staff and alumni with ID plus one guest, and for Cambridge residents with proof of address via the free Cambridge Resident Membership. Occasional free admission days such as the Cambridge Science Carnival.. Prices for special exhibitions and timed-entry slots may differ.

What are the opening hours of MIT Museum?

MIT Museum is open Open daily 10:00-17:00, last entry 16:30. Closed New Year's Day, Independence Day (4 July), Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day; closes early at 15:00 on New Year's Eve.. Holiday hours can vary, so check the museum's website before you go.

Where is MIT Museum?

MIT Museum is located at 314 Main Street, Gambrill Center (Building E28), Cambridge, MA 02142, USA, in the Kendall Square, Cambridge area of Boston. The nearest station is Kendall/MIT (MBTA Red Line).

What can I see at MIT Museum?

MIT turned inside out: crank-powered kinetic machines, AI you can argue with, and the world's largest hologram collection. Current highlights include Essential MIT, AI: Mind the Gap and MIT Collects.

Do I need to book MIT Museum in advance?

Booking ahead is recommended, especially for weekends, school holidays, and special exhibitions. Tickets are normally on the museum's website, and a pre-booked timed slot helps you avoid queues at the entrance.

When is the best time to visit MIT Museum?

Weekday mornings shortly after opening are typically the quietest, especially mid-week. Late afternoons can also be calmer. Weekends, school holidays, and the lunch rush are the busiest periods.