Why Hasn't That AMNH Whale Ever Fallen From The Ceiling?

Jen Carlson

Published Apr 25, 2014

Modified Apr 25, 2014

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Jen Carlson

Published Apr 25, 2014

Modified Apr 25, 2014

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Photo via klingon65's flickr

Today the NY Times answers a question that no one was really asking: How is that giant whale not constantly crashing to the floor of the American Museum of Natural History? Some sort of attachment, perhaps? To the facts!:

"Inside the foam and fiberglass model is an iron frame, which connects to a large cylindrical steel pipe 16 inches in diameter that extends up into the roof. To see how it is all held together requires a journey that begins in a freight elevator, leads out a locked door that is opened by remote control in a separate location, and onto what Steven Warsavage, the museum’s associate director of construction, said is actually the roof of Building 9, which houses the Hall of Biodiversity.

Installing whale model, Hall of Ocean Life, 1968 (Rota, Alex J./AMNH Digital Special Collections)

"The Hall of Ocean Life is Building 10, built in the 1920s, with steep stairs leading to an interior with a catwalk around those false skylights. After ducking under some protruding beams and climbing over others, you reach the entrance to the room above the whale."

And that's where the "steel bars connect to trusses in the room... That allows the load, the weight of the whale, to be transferred to all that other steel." These photos (newly released from the Museum's vault) show the installation in progress, and how it all looks today. And that's how you ruin the magic of the floating whale.

Installing whale model, Hall of Ocean Life, 1968 (Rota, Alex J./AMNH Digital Special Collections)