Most of us think of Charles Darwin or the Lucy skeleton when we hear the word “evolution.” Nonliving items, such as bricks, are rarely considered. However, scientists have recently begun to extend the principle of evolution to a nonliving — but ubiquitous — object: minerals. This new insight allows for a different kind of storytelling about both minerals and the planet’s past. Minerals are mostly found as sparkly, vibrant crystals inside rock. The renovated Allison and Roberto Mignonette Halls of Gems and Minerals at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City will reopen on June 12, putting evolution front and center.
When scientists speak about the evolution of inanimate objects, they are referring to changes that occur over time, according to George Harlow, a geologist who has been the museum’s curator of gems and minerals for nearly 45 years. “It’s a response to why, when life on Earth has evolved over the last 4.5 billion years, nonliving minerals have evolved as well.”
Minerals now number over 5,000 species, more than triple the number when they first appeared, and their chemical composition and color have evolved over time. According to Dr. Harlow, the story of how it happened, and how it evolved, is a new one for the museum. “We’re looking at life’s effect on the mineral kingdom for the first time in this gallery.”
The museum’s exhibition department, headed by Lauri Haldeman, vice president for exhibitions, incorporated this new science (it entered the scientific mainstream around 2008) into the galleries, which were renovated for the first time since 1976 by Ralph Appelbaum Associates in partnership with the museum’s exhibition department.
The old exhibit hall was dark and had a layout that reminded me of Chutes and Ladders: twisting corridors and stairs filled with interactive displays and touchable rocks. But that’s no longer the case. Ms. Haldeman said that the room is now much less of a maze. “And less enigmatic. “With higher ceilings and a palette of neutral greys, the renovation looks spacious, lighter, and intentional; even the lighting inside the cases has been carefully designed and executed.
Visitors are greeted by a pair of 12-foot-high amethyst geodes and a nine-foot-high amethyst geode as they enter the new room. With pinpoints of white light scattered among glittering, dark purple crystals, their vast interiors resemble the universe itself. Minerals are shown in each glass case with the aid of custom handmade mounts — a museum specialty — so that each specimen appears to float. The entire gallery is set up to allow the minerals and gems to take center stage with minimal distractions.
For the time being, touch screens in galleries will remain untouchable displays, though one has been modified to enable visitors to view information on their phones. A spiraling timeline is one of the first displays. The Big Bang (though light did not exist at the time, according to Dr. Harlow) is symbolized by a tiny dot of light at the middle, which travels outward with lines marking events that allowed the birth of minerals, such as the creation of the solar system, the growth of the Earth’s crust, and the emergence of life.
