American Museum of Natural History Research Library
author: American Museum of Natural History

Dating the Past with Atoms (Exhibition)
birth: 1962 June 12
death: 1963 June
Exhibition. Opened June 12, 1962 and closed June 1963. Located in Section 5, Floor 2 in the Corner Gallery at the American Museum of Natural History. Dating the Past with Atoms presented a survey of methods of radioactive dating.
Summary
Dating the Past with Atoms presented a survey of methods of radioactive dating. The exhibition was a cooperative project between the Museum, the Lamont Geological Observatory of Columbia University, and the Frick Laboratory of the American Museum of Natural History and was designed and executed by the Museum's Department of Exhibition. Malcolm McKenna of the Department of Vertebrate Paleontology served as one of the scientific advisors (1, p. 1; 2, p. 46). The exhibition employed several different display techniques including black light with aluminum tubing banded with fluorescent colors to symbolize a new concept of time, as well as graphic panel displays enhanced by animation.
Highlights (1, p. 1-4):
*Relics of prehistoric cultures
*Part of a baby mammoth that was frozen in a glacier
*Fossils
*A piece of the oldest known rock
*A meteorite
*Objects that illustrated modern dating methods
*A live Geiger counter
*A mural featuring a photograph of cosmic radiation obtained by the satellite Discoverer 32
*A 10,000-year old human skull
*An animated display showing two erupting volcanoes
Section titles in the exhibition included (3):
*What is Radioactivity?
*What is a "Half-Life"?
*What is an Atom?
*What is an Isotope?
*How Carbon 14 is Extracted and Measured
*How Argon 40 is Extracted and Measured
*Two Processes of Radioactive Decay
This is a condensed summary of the exhibition. For additional information, see Sources and/or Related Resources.