World’s Only Permanent Gallery on Revolutionary Silicon Valley Innovations Unveiled at The Tech Museum

SAN JOSE, CA–(Marketwire – September 13, 2010) –  The Tech Museum today raised the curtain on its most ambitious exhibition, The Tech Silicon Valley Innovation Gallery, revealing cutting-edge technology developed by the world’s foremost experts on computing, digital design, communication and collaboration.

The nearly 3,000-square-foot gallery captures the spirit of Silicon Valley ingenuity, examining the core of innovation — the microchip — and immersing visitors in the exciting world of nanotechnology, digital art and mapping. The gallery is the embodiment of the legendary creativity and pioneering technological culture that defines the region.

“The Tech Museum is the only place on earth to explore first-hand the most exclusive exhibition of the groundbreaking Silicon Valley technologies that power our world,” Peter Friess, museum president said. “With the opening of the gallery, the museum truly captures the unique, pioneering spirit, the inventions and the mind-set that continues to make Silicon Valley the leading source of science and technology innovation.”

The gallery, which encourages community engagement to spread knowledge and skills, was timed to open with San Jose’s 01SJ Biennial, the largest event of its kind in North America, which focuses on the public intersection of contemporary art, technology and digital culture. That event is Sept. 16-19.

Four of the valley’s leading technology giants partnered with The Tech Museum to create the world’s only permanent, public gallery about the technology that has dramatically influenced human evolution. The customized exhibits offer a dazzling view of the technology of tomorrow, today. One-of-a-kind, hands-on exhibits reveal to the visitor the amazing devices, machines and tools that frame our lives.

The Exhibits

Adobe and Adobe Foundation – “Infinite Creativity” is an innovative multi-touch, multi-user collaborative drawing experience created exclusively for The Tech Museum. With an array of playful brushes to choose from, visitors swipe one or more fingers to make colorful swirls, lines, shapes, and patterns. These creations are then broadcast to a shared screen, joining the work of other visitors to create a constantly evolving, time-based stream of collective art. Through this engaging experience, visitors learn that technology can be used to express their creativity, collaborate with others, and share ideas.

Google – “You Are Everywhere” is the first public, permanent installation of Google’s Liquid Galaxy technology. Developed in classic Google fashion by volunteer engineers on their 20% time, the Liquid Galaxy provides an immersive Google Earth experience like never before. Step inside a chamber of eight large monitors arranged in a circle, and fly anywhere in the world in seconds. Mountains, buildings, valleys, even the ocean floor fill your peripheral vision.

Intel – “Microchips: The heart of the revolution” houses three exhibits that explain what microchips are, how they work, and how they have changed the course of human history. This mini-gallery also features videos of kids and teens explaining computer science concepts in their own words.

NVIDIA – “From Math to Magic” teaches visitors about the math and science behind computer graphics. Leveraging NVIDIA’s latest technology architecture, Fermi, the three education exhibits demonstrate features such as lighting, shading and rendering, and the physics and dynamics behind the latest graphics applications. The goal of From Math to Magic is to help visitors understand how math is used to create the compelling and interactive games that are so ubiquitous today. Specifically, visitors can: Gain insight into the way computer graphics objects are created from points, triangles and solid surfaces; Explore the effect of changing textures, lighting conditions and modeling detail on a computer graphics scene; and run an interactive simulation and watch how the forces of physics determine the outcome.

The Tech Silicon Valley Innovation Gallery, which opens to the public Sept. 15, is the third gallery to open in the last year, markedly updating the museum’s exhibitions and cementing its rank as one of the nation’s premier science and technology centers. A new gallery on health and biotechnology is scheduled to open in 2011.

About The Tech Museum
The Tech Museum is a hands-on technology and science museum for people of all ages and backgrounds. The museum — located in the Capital of Silicon Valley — is a non-profit learning resource established to engage people in exploring and experiencing technologies affecting their lives. Through programs such as The Tech Challenge, our annual team design competition for youth, and internationally renowned programs such as The Tech Awards, presented by Applied Materials, Inc., The Tech Museum celebrates the Spirit of Silicon Valley by encouraging the development of innovative ideas for a more promising future.

About Adobe Foundation
The Adobe Foundation is a private 501c3 foundation created and funded by Adobe Systems Incorporated to leverage human, technological, and financial resources to drive social change and improve the communities in which we live and work. The Adobe Foundation supports the arts and creativity as forces for social innovation and improving communities. 

About Google Earth
Google Earth combines satellite imagery, maps and the power of Google’s search service to make the world’s geographic information easily accessible and useful. There have been over 700 million unique downloads of Google Earth since the product’s launch in June, 2005. Google Earth can be downloaded for free at http://earth.google.com/

About Intel
Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) is a world leader in computing innovation. The company designs and builds the essential technologies that serve as the foundation for the world’s computing devices.

About NVIDIA
NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) awakened the world to the power of computer graphics when it invented the GPU in 1999. Since then, it has consistently set new standards in visual computing with breathtaking, interactive graphics available on devices ranging from tablets and portable media players to notebooks and workstations. NVIDIA’s expertise in programmable GPUs has led to breakthroughs in parallel processing which make supercomputing inexpensive and widely accessible. The company holds more than 1,100 U.S. patents, including ones covering designs and insights, which are fundamental to modern computing. For more information, see www.nvidia.com.

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