Get ready to visit “the Griffin.” The Museum of Science and Industry on Sunday is officially becoming the Kenneth C. Griffin Museum of Science and Industry, a name change in recognition of a $125 million donation in 2019 from the founder and CEO of the Citadel hedge fund.
The museum in Hyde Park devoted to science, technology and industry will offer free admission on Sunday for the occasion.
According to an announcement Tuesday, the MSI is also opening new exhibits and experiences made possible by the donation, including a Griffin Studio digital space and Notes to Neurons, an interactive multimedia exhibit devoted to music.
The donation was first reported when it and the name change were accepted by the museum’s board in October 2019. It’s the largest gift in the museum’s history, and one of the largest to a Chicago cultural institution.
Kenneth C. Griffin was a major arts benefactor during his years in Chicago, also giving a total of $21.5 million to the Field Museum (in part for the Griffin Dinosaur Experience), plus donations to the Art Institute, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and other institutions and nonprofits, and he sat on the board of the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. Formerly ranked the wealthiest person in Illinois, he left the state in 2022, moving Citadel’s headquarters to Miami.
According to the museum’s announcement, the donation also has supported the renovated Henry Crown Space Center, a home for the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and a film experience “Superhuman Body: World of Medical Marvels.”
dgeorge@chicagotribune.com