The Franklin Institute
222 N. 20th St., Philadelphia, PA, 19103
The Franklin Institute is at 222 N. 20th St. and Benjamin Franklin Pkwy. Three floors of interactive exhibits focus on science and technology. SportsZone offers a 40-foot long race challenge, a pitching cage and other interactive displays; Your Brain explores developments in neuroscience; a giant heart is the centerpiece in an expansive exhibit on the human body; and the Franklin Air Show includes an aircraft hangar, a midway, and a pilot training area where visitors can try various maneuvers in the Max Flight Simulator and the Blue Angels Adventure Flight Simulator. The two-story Hamilton Collections Gallery is home to a Baldwin 60,000 Locomotive along with artifacts curated from the institute's collections, while visitors can design a Rover, touch a real meteorite or search for other planets in Wondrous Space. Other exhibits relate to astronomy, aviation, electricity, math and physics. The Benjamin Franklin National Memorial, in the museum's rotunda, features a 20-foot-tall statue of Franklin. Fels Planetarium and Tuttleman Dome IMAX Theater offers changing shows, while The Hold & Miller Observatory houses a 10-foot Carl Zeiss Refracting Telescope. An escape room experience also is available. Food is available. Time: Allow 4 hours minimum.
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