Museum of Science and Industry changing name to honor donor Ken Griffin
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The Museum of Science and Industry will officially be renamed the Kenneth C. Griffin Museum of Science and Industry on Sunday. Five years ago, the billionaire donated $125 million to the museum and two years ago, he moved his Citadel hedge fund from Chicago to Miami.
The museum first announced Griffin's gift in 2019 and said it would come with a name change, but it wasn't until now that the change became official.
"For nearly a century, the Museum of Science and Industry has ignited the curiosity and imagination of more than 190 million visitors," Griffin said in a statement provided by the museum. "I am proud to support MSI in its mission to inspire the inventive genius in everyone."
To celebrate the new name, the museum at 5700 S. DuSable Lake Shore Drive in Hyde Park will offer free admission on Sunday and open several new exhibits funded by Griffin's gift.
"We are incredibly grateful to Ken Griffin for his historic and generous investment in our Museum, our mission, and our long-term future," said the museum's president and CEO, Dr. Chevy Humphrey.
"This gift helps us create exhibits of the future geared toward the next generation of scientists and leaders; it allows us to dig our heels in deeper to support science education in local schools and neighborhoods in new, more profound ways; and it enables us to carry out our mission to inspire the inventive genius in all of us."
Other new exhibits funded by Griffin's donation include Notes to Neurons, a multimedia experience dedicated to showcasing the power of music; new multimedia and interactive exhibits at the renovated Henry Crown Space Center; a new home for the SpaceX Dragon Spacecraft that flew two missions to the International Space Station in 2017 and 2019; a new film, Superhuman Body: World of Medical Marvels, at the museum's Giant Dome Theatre; and more.
The name change comes even after Griffin, who was once the wealthiest person in Illinois, left Chicago and moved his Citadel hedge fund to Miami in 2022 after having spent $50 million to fund Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin's failed campaign for Illinois governor.
The museum was originally established by Sears, Roebuck & Co. chairman and philanthropist Julius Rosenwald, and incorporated as the Rosenwald Industrial Museum. But it was renamed the Museum of Science and Industry in 1928—five years before it actually opened—because Rosenwald did not want his name on the museum, a Hyde Park Herald historical account noted.
Thus, Griffin is the first person to have his name officially attached to the museum in its 91-year history.