Mississippi State University will present its third Science Night at the Museum, featuring a mixture of art and science exhibits on Wednesday, Feb. 13.
Amy Moe Hoffman, event coordinator and geology instructor, said the event will include demonstrations.
“The main idea of the evening is free demonstrations, museum tours, activities and events for whoever wants to come,” Hoffman said.
The demonstrations will be in physics, astronomy, geology, paleontology, meteorology, archaeology and art, just to name a few.
There will also be special events throughout the night, Hoffman said. First, if weather permits, the international space station will fly over.
The second is an unveiling of a new art mural created by senior art majors Moesha S. Wright and Todd M. Rowan directed by MSU Professor Emeritus of Art Brent Funderburk. Located in the Dunn-Seiler Museum, the 50-foot mural illustrates the geological history of this area as it was 65 million years ago.
Funderburk said in a press release the Starkville area has K-Pg Boundary where you can see the border between the Age of Dinosaurs, which is the Mesozoic Era, and the Age of Mammals, which is the Cenozoic Era. Funderburk said there are fossils from both worlds in this area.
“It’s kind of a narrative of the geologic history of Mississippi through some of our more impactful animals that we can find in fossil remains around here,” Hoffman said. “It tells a story and it’s really cool. It’s exciting to make that connection between science and art, so people start to see there connected in a lot of ways.”
At the event, there will be a green screen where people can learn how to be broadcasters or just play in front of the screen.
“A lot of the things will be interactive,” Hoffman said. “I think the chemistry experiments, this is the first time we have been able to include them on this, those will be more observatory and it will be chemical reactions. I know in the physics demonstrations, they are actually hands-on demonstrations.”
Hoffman said in the last two years of the event, there have been about 400-600 visitors each time.
“(It) is pretty impressive, I think, for a Wednesday night randomly in February,” Hoffman said. “I hope to get that many this year.”
Science Night at the Museum is a culmination of hard work, Hoffman said, and she is excited to see people enjoy it.
“I just can’t stop smiling about it because what I really love is when I put a ton of work into this and everybody else puts their work into their sections, and then the night comes, and you know there’s stress building up to it, but people are just loving it, they’re enjoying it,” Hoffman said.
The biggest complaint Hoffman has received is that there are too many things to do in just one night, which is one reason why the hours are extended this year. The event spans from 5:30 to 8 p.m., and takes place at different places like Hilbun Hall and the Cobb Institute of Archaeology.
The event is unique because the aspects of art and science are intertwined. Hoffman said there is a visual appeal to both.
“When you start looking, I guess I see beauty in a lot of things,” Hoffman said. “In a lot of sciences, there are a lot of aspects of it that are visually appealing, and you can see the same patterns over and over in nature. So, an artist reflects that, whether they know it or not in their work… I wish for everybody that you could walk down the sidewalk and see beauty in a piece of grass or in the clouds in the sky.”
Hoffman said while very distinct fields, art and science work together on research projects like 3-D printing and collaborating on grants.
The event Wednesday night is free to everyone, and all ages are welcome. Parking maps and routes can be found on the MSU website.
“To see all ages of people smiling and enjoying themselves and engaging with science is really gratifying to me, to see that we can provide that to people,” Hoffman said.