ABSTRACT
In spring 1897, a performance was held in the Budapest Opera House, the most elegant theatre in town, on the stage where Mozart and Verdi’s operas were normally performed. The organizers wanted to see whether theatre could be a suitable medium for popularizing science. According to a contemporary report, the play, entitled An Excursion to the Moon, described the Moon as a celestial body, and spoke about lunar and solar eclipses. The audience was large, but was not particularly impressed with the performance. However, in October a group of people decided to establish the Urania Scientific Theatre. 1 Somewhat later, and connected to the theatre, a new society was established under the name of Urania with the aim of spreading scientific knowledge to a wider audience.
