<p>The museum is expecting its millionth (10 lakh) visitor of the year in the next few weeks (the museum considers its annual year between April 2010 and March 2011 akin to the financial year). It will go down in the annals of history as the first science museum in this part of the country to cross the landmark number of footfalls.<br /><br />Spread across 40,000 sq ft and housing seven exhibition halls, VITM clocked 8.92 lakh visitors between April 2009 and March 2010, most of them tourists and students. This year, the museum staff are excited and confident that they will be greeting their millionth visitor by the end of March.<br /><br />“The Science City in Kolkata is the only other science centre in India which has recorded more than a million footfalls in a year. But then the Science City is India’s largest science centre and is spread over 59 acres,” says VITM’s new Director Shivaprasad Khened.<br /><br />Khened took over from incumbent K V Bhatta on January 1. “One million footfalls for a science museum housed in a building is a milestone,” he says.<br /><br />Museum Curator Sunil Kumar feels word of mouth promotion by visitors has resulted in the museum becoming a “must see” for tourists visiting Bangalore. As on December this year, the museum attracted one lakh more visitors compared to the same period last year.<br /><br />“Most of the exhibits are interactive and explain scientific process in layman terms. <br /><br />The exhibits are also designed to provide the visitors with a first hand experience of the intricate processes that go behind technological marvels of today,” Sunil Kumar points out, outlining the unique selling point of the museum.<br /><br />Inaugurated by the then prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru in November 1962, the museum, a unit of National Council of Science Museums, an autonomous organisation under the Union Ministry of Culture, threw open its fully renovated Electrotechnic Gallery to visitors in April last year. Other galleries include Fun Science, Space-emerging Technology in the Service of Mankind, Biotechnological Revolution, BEL-Hall of Electronics and Science for Children.<br /><br />In 2006, the VITM also became the first museum in India to play host to “The Centennial Exhibition” instituted by the Nobel Foundation, Sweden, to commemorate 100 years of the Nobel Prize.<br /><br />In anticipation of its latest achievement, the museum is now finalising its plans to greet its millionth visitor by making it a special occasion. And, who is it going to be ? Watch this space in the days to come.</p>
<p>The museum is expecting its millionth (10 lakh) visitor of the year in the next few weeks (the museum considers its annual year between April 2010 and March 2011 akin to the financial year). It will go down in the annals of history as the first science museum in this part of the country to cross the landmark number of footfalls.<br /><br />Spread across 40,000 sq ft and housing seven exhibition halls, VITM clocked 8.92 lakh visitors between April 2009 and March 2010, most of them tourists and students. This year, the museum staff are excited and confident that they will be greeting their millionth visitor by the end of March.<br /><br />“The Science City in Kolkata is the only other science centre in India which has recorded more than a million footfalls in a year. But then the Science City is India’s largest science centre and is spread over 59 acres,” says VITM’s new Director Shivaprasad Khened.<br /><br />Khened took over from incumbent K V Bhatta on January 1. “One million footfalls for a science museum housed in a building is a milestone,” he says.<br /><br />Museum Curator Sunil Kumar feels word of mouth promotion by visitors has resulted in the museum becoming a “must see” for tourists visiting Bangalore. As on December this year, the museum attracted one lakh more visitors compared to the same period last year.<br /><br />“Most of the exhibits are interactive and explain scientific process in layman terms. <br /><br />The exhibits are also designed to provide the visitors with a first hand experience of the intricate processes that go behind technological marvels of today,” Sunil Kumar points out, outlining the unique selling point of the museum.<br /><br />Inaugurated by the then prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru in November 1962, the museum, a unit of National Council of Science Museums, an autonomous organisation under the Union Ministry of Culture, threw open its fully renovated Electrotechnic Gallery to visitors in April last year. Other galleries include Fun Science, Space-emerging Technology in the Service of Mankind, Biotechnological Revolution, BEL-Hall of Electronics and Science for Children.<br /><br />In 2006, the VITM also became the first museum in India to play host to “The Centennial Exhibition” instituted by the Nobel Foundation, Sweden, to commemorate 100 years of the Nobel Prize.<br /><br />In anticipation of its latest achievement, the museum is now finalising its plans to greet its millionth visitor by making it a special occasion. And, who is it going to be ? Watch this space in the days to come.</p>
