The museum was established by Professor engineer Dimitrie Leonida in 1909. Dimitrie Leonida (1883 - 1965), an energy specialist, a university professor, took a deep interest in the history of science and technology and began by acquiring valuable pieces regarding technology in the Bucharest of the last century. The largest part of the collection, comprising books and photographs, is owed to him. In 1951 the museum was nationalized and named "The Museum of Electrification". On the 9th of May 1954 the reorganized museum opened. A further reorganization took place in 1978. The museum building, located in Carol Park, belonged to the exhibition complex raised in 1906. Seriously damaged ...by the 1977 and 1986 earthquakes, it underwent consolidation and repair works between March 1985 and December 1993. A part of the building reopened to the public in December 1993. Although the potential exhibition space spans 4,500 sq.m, 1,000 sq.m. of which in open air, it can hardly comprise all the pieces of the collections. The museum holds over 6,500 items from the fields: mechanics; electricity; chemistry; nuclear energy; mining; oil industry; the energy field; electrotechnics; heating; lighting; cinematography; telecommunications; calculating machines; hydraulics; air and spacecraft; print and typewriters; power engines and cars; library (25,000 science and technology books). The valuable exhibits include machines and devices in operating state: a steam machine of 8 horsepower from 1888, two power generators from 1882, an electric motor from the first street car of Bucharest, commissioned in 1894, the engine of the first submarine of the Romanian Navy, "Dolphin", a.s.o. The museum holds pieces of great documentary value, illustrating the creative power of the Romanian people, including: a watermill (precursor of the Pelton turbines), the switch with wooden pin and core, the miners of Brad conceived by 1600, the first aerodynamical automobile in the world designed by the Romanian engineer A. Perşu, various devices manufactured in Romanian plants, a cylinder of the "Assan" steam mill from 1853, the first steam mill in Romania, the dynamos used for lighting Cişmigiu Park, the Royal Palace and the National Theatre etc. The museum holds a collection of 10,000 photographs. The museum owns goods listed in the National Cultural Heritage Treasure.
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