Chicago’s Museum Of Science And Industry Just Got A New Name

It's not a stretch to think that the folks in charge of Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry would be agreeable to slightly changing their name after receiving the single-largest donation since the museum opened its doors for the very first time in June of 1933.

Put yourself in their place. An incredibly rich and successful man hands you $125,000,000 with instructions to use that money to carry the museum into the future, create new and better exhibits, support science education, make the outside of the museum reflect the progress made inside, and a lot more.

Wouldn't you just go ahead a put that person's name out front?

Many Of Us Have Been To The Museum Of Science And Industry As Kids, Marveling At The Coal Mine, The Apollo 8 Command Module, The German U-Boat, The Giant Heart, And So Much More

And now it appears to have more than enough funding to keep it as the number-one school field trip attraction in Chicago (as it has been for well over a decade), thanks to the man who was once Illinois' richest man.

That would be Ken Griffin, Founder and CEO of Citadel, LLC, a Miami-based hedge fund firm that manages over $50 billion in assets. Mr. Griffin is listed as the 41st richest man in the world today by Forbes, citing a net worth of $37.4 billion.

He also knows other people who have some money, too. You may recognize who Ken Griffin is sitting with here:

Ken Griffin's donation of $125 million to the Museum of Science and Industry is not the only time that he's given big money to philanthropic causes.

Over the years, he's donated in excess of $2 billion, and just last year he donated $300 million to Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Harvard named the graduate school of arts and sciences after him.