MoMath

MoMath
Name	National Museum of Mathematics
Established	2012
Location	11 East 26th Street, Manhattan, New York City
Type	Science museum
Director	Glen Whitney

MoMath is the National Museum of Mathematics, a mathematics museum located in Manhattan, New York City focused on public engagement with mathematics through interactive exhibits, educational programs, and special events. The institution draws visitors from across the United States and internationally, collaborating with universities, professional societies, and cultural organizations to promote mathematical understanding. MoMath partners and programs have involved figures and institutions such as Andrew Wiles, Terence Tao, Maryam Mirzakhani, Euclid, Alan Turing, Ada Lovelace, Hypatia, Carl Friedrich Gauss, Leonhard Euler, Isaac Newton, Pierre-Simon Laplace, Srinivasa Ramanujan, Bernhard Riemann, Évariste Galois, Émilie du Châtelet, Niels Henrik Abel, George Dantzig, John von Neumann, Kurt Gödel, David Hilbert, Emmy Noether, Sofia Kovalevskaya, Paul Erdős, G. H. Hardy, J. J. Sylvester, Felix Klein, Hermann Weyl, Roger Penrose, Alexander Grothendieck, André Weil, Harish-Chandra, Michael Atiyah, Isadore Singer, Jean-Pierre Serre, John Nash, Grigori Perelman, Shing-Tung Yau, Trefethen, Richard Feynman, Stephen Hawking, Leonard Euler.

History

The museum opened in 2012 after planning efforts involving mathematicians, educators, and entrepreneurs including Glen Whitney, who previously worked with institutions such as the Mathematical Association of America, the American Mathematical Society, and the Simons Foundation. Early advisory support drew on figures from Princeton University, Harvard University, Columbia University, New York University, Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, California Institute of Technology, University of Cambridge, Oxford University, University of Chicago, Yale University, University of California, Berkeley, University of Michigan, Brown University, Cornell University, Rutgers University, University of Pennsylvania, Carnegie Mellon University, Duke University, University of Toronto, McGill University, Imperial College London, ETH Zurich, University of Paris, École Polytechnique, Max Planck Institute, Institute for Advanced Study, Courant Institute and organizations such as National Science Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Guggenheim Museum, and the American Museum of Natural History. The founding incorporated influences from historical exhibitions held at venues like the Science Museum, London, the Deutsches Museum, and the Exploratorium.

Building and Architecture

Housed in a renovated building near Madison Square Park and the Flatiron Building, the facility underwent architectural work by firms connected to projects at Museum of Modern Art, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and restoration efforts reminiscent of renovations at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. The interior design emphasizes open galleries and structural elements that reference historical sites such as Pantheon, Rome in proportions, with stair configurations evoking the geometries of Cathedral of Notre-Dame and Sainte-Chapelle. Accessibility upgrades align with standards endorsed by the Americans with Disabilities Act and building codes modeled on projects at Brooklyn Museum and New-York Historical Society.

Exhibits and Programs

Permanent and rotating exhibits explore topics connected to classical and modern figures like Euclid, Pierre-Simon Laplace, Joseph-Louis Lagrange, Niels Henrik Abel, Srinivasa Ramanujan, Leonhard Euler, Bernhard Riemann, Carl Friedrich Gauss, and contemporary researchers from Institute for Advanced Study and Princeton University. Exhibits include hands-on installations reminiscent of demonstrations at the Exploratorium, mathematical art collaborations referencing M. C. Escher, Bridget Riley, Piet Mondrian, Jackson Pollock, and computational projects inspired by Algorithmic art pioneers associated with Benoît Mandelbrot and John Conway. Programs have featured lectures by scholars from Harvard University, Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Yale University, Columbia University, University of Oxford, Cambridge University, ETH Zurich, Imperial College London, and artists connected to Tate Modern, Museum of Modern Art, and Victoria and Albert Museum. Interactive displays address topics such as topology with references to Alexander Horned Sphere and Klein bottle, number theory invoking Fermat's Last Theorem and Goldbach's conjecture, combinatorics linked to Pólya enumeration theorem and Ramsey theory, and geometry drawing on Platonic solids, Kepler conjecture, Delaunay triangulation, and Voronoi diagram.

Education and Outreach

Educational initiatives involve partnerships with the New York City Department of Education, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Mathematical Association of America, American Mathematical Society, Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, Association for Women in Mathematics, National Science Teachers Association, Girls Who Code, Code.org, Khan Academy, TED, TED-Ed, and philanthropic organizations like the Gates Foundation and the Simons Foundation. Outreach targets K–12 classrooms, teacher professional development, and informal learners through collaborations with Public Library of New York, Bronx Zoo, Brooklyn Public Library, Queens Library, and cultural festivals such as Tribeca Film Festival, New York Film Festival, Pride Parade, and Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade—as well as summer programs connected to universities like Columbia University, CUNY, NYU, and regional math circles modeled after initiatives at MathWorks and the American Invitational Mathematics Examination feeder networks.

Events and Public Engagement

The museum hosts lecture series, puzzle nights, family days, and festivals featuring speakers and performers from TED, NHK, BBC, NPR, The New York Times, The New Yorker, Scientific American, Quanta Magazine, Nature, Science (journal), Smithsonian Institution, Royal Society, National Academy of Sciences, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and awardees such as Fields Medal recipients, Abel Prize laureates, and Turing Award winners. Community engagement includes partnerships with local institutions like The New School, Cooper Union, Barnard College, Fordham University, Pace University, Stuyvesant High School, Bronx High School of Science, and cultural programming timed with events at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and Broadway.

Governance and Funding

Governance is overseen by a board composed of leaders from finance, academia, and philanthropy with connections to institutions such as BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase, KPMG, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, Citi, Bank of America, Rockefeller Foundation, Carnegie Corporation, Ford Foundation, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Simons Foundation, and advisory ties to research centers including the Institute for Advanced Study, Courant Institute, Flatiron Institute, and major universities. Funding streams include earned revenue, membership, corporate sponsorships, grants from entities like the National Science Foundation and private foundations, and major gifts from philanthropists associated with families such as the Rockefellers, Guggenheims, Laskers, and tech philanthropists linked to Google, Microsoft, Meta Platforms, Apple Inc., and Amazon (company).

Category:Museums in New York City