The Museum für Naturkunde Berlin is an outstanding, integrated research museum within the Leibniz Association, with an international reputation and a globally networked research infrastructure. As an innovative communication hub, it aims to help shape the scientific and societal dialogue on the future of our planet and to foster the development of a democratic knowledge society.
digitize!
Preserving, Connecting, and Experiencing Knowledge in New Ways
How is digitalization transforming research and collections? digitize! shows how analog objects become digital data – and how this enables new ways of accessing knowledge.
At the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, collection development and digitalization connect what was long kept separate: collections, research, and the public. In this gallery, you can experience how more than 30 million collection objects are being transformed into a globally accessible knowledge infrastructure.
You can see how we systematically digitize particularly specimen-rich groups such as insects and mollusks. This process produces high-resolution image datasets, 3D models, and structured metadata. Researchers use this information to identify and describe species, analyze evolutionary relationships, and study the ecological roles of species in present and past ecosystems.
Interactive stations and insights into ongoing workflows show how research is changing within the museum and beyond. digitize! makes visible how digitalization increases access to knowledge, fosters scientific collaboration, and drives our Museum Evolution forward.