Charlotte Magazine – August 2019

JULY 2019 // CHARLOTTE 29

SCIENCE

The Keeper of

the Non-Living

Robyn Levitan holds the keys to the Discovery

Place’s collection of the old, weird, and wonderful

BY TONYA MALINOWSKI

PHOTOGRAPHS BY RUSTY WILLIAMS

GOOD LIFE

MAKING THE MOST OUT OF LIVING HERE

INSIDE: SCIENCE € ART € PERSPECTIVE € STYLE € PLAYLIST

“WE’VE GOT SOME GREAT SKULLS in that one,” Robyn Levitan says,

pointing to a metal storage cabinet. But  rst, Ham. Levitan bends

down and with both arms reaches into a shelf in another cabinet. She

emerges with a carefully folded, toddler-sized spacesuit wrapped in

plastic. Levitan explains it’s the prototype of a suit that once belonged

to Ham—the chimpanzee NASA sent into space in January 1961. His

mission provided the research that made it possible for Alan Shepard

to become the  rst American in space just four months later.

GOOD LIFEGOOD LIFEGOOD LIFEGOOD LIFEGOOD LIFEGOOD LIFEGOOD LIFEGOOD LIFE

THE

Continued on next page

Each item

in Discovery

Place’s non-

living collection

is carefully

labeled and

stored, and

manager

Robyn Levitan

can tell you all

about them.