The Adler Planetarium first opened its doors to the public on May 12, 1930. This year, we’re celebrating 90 years of looking up on Chicago’s lakeshore. Over the decades, we have witnessed the dawn of human spaceflight, watched humankind fly to the Moon and back, launched experiments into space, helped millions of people connect with […]

Summer Camps at the Adler Planetarium are out-of-this-world. All summer long, campers have the whole universe at their fingertips. With tools like telescopes, programmable robots, and high-altitude balloons—and new friends around every corner—Adler summer campers share adventures of cosmic proportions. Manager of Program Development at the Adler Planetarium, Sarah Smail, is passionate about our Adler […]

Editor’s Note: Updated in May 2023 to reflect more current and updated information. Wes Lethem Former Theater Technician Hi Wes! Tell us a little bit about yourself. Working on the Museum Campus and specifically here at the Adler is a childhood dream come true, only it’s better than I ever could have imagined. As a […]

Header Image: Benjamin Banneker’s almanac for the year 1795 being digitally scanned for preservation. BENJAMIN BANNEKER’S 1795 ALMANAC Way before we had smartphones, almanacs were an important source of practical information and amusement for many people. African-American astronomer and mathematician Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806), produced several almanacs, which were published over a period of six consecutive […]

Erin Wilson Senior Director of Marketing Hi Erin! Give us a little background info about yourself! Career advertising lady and proud Adlerite for the past five years. Mom to three littles and a pooch. Ex-collegiate athlete who seeks competition wherever I can find it. I bleed maize and blue. What do you enjoy most about […]

Live what you love. It’s advice that we all should be heeding more often, but it’s something that I am lucky enough to do here at the Adler each and every day. For the past two and a half years, I’ve been proud to help lead the charge as we’ve worked collectively to define who […]

Jess Ray Decision Support Analyst What do you enjoy most about working at the Adler? Getting to partner with colleagues that have such diverse expertise to help them understand and use their data. Numbers can be scary to some people, but together we demystify the dataset and find the story hidden within. What is something […]

Header Image: Early artistic representation of a part of the Adler Planetarium’s new exhibit, Chicago’s Night Sky. If you traveled to a dark-sky park on a clear night to do some stargazing, you’d probably be able to see around 4,500 stars with your naked eye. On a clear night in Chicago, that number is more […]

Editor’s Note: Updated in May 2023 to reflect more current and updated information. Neil Adam Former Exhibit Technician/Graphics What inspired you to be an Exhibits Technician? 10 years before coming to Adler, I worked at a sign shop. After hearing the Adler had an opening for someone with more of a graphics background, I was […]

“Chicago’s Black Women in STEAM” is a series on The Adler ’Scope that highlights the awesome women of Chicago who are doing amazing things in science, technology, engineering, art, and math fields here in our own community. Meet women of varying ages, backgrounds, and interests and learn their unique stories. Taylor Witten Content Producer | […]