Built in 1931 to be used as the Machikaneyama Shugakukan Training Hall, this museum was renovated and reopened in August 2007. Founded on the idea of being a museum for interchange, it explores through exchange and interaction the question of how the traditions and research of the university connect back to society. The museum exhibits around 600 scientific specimens and items at present. Notable among these is a crocodile fossil that’s among the world’s largest. This massive reptile inhabited the Osaka area 500,000 years in the past, and its remains were unearthed on-site during construction on the university's campus. On the second floor is an exhibition of materials related to the 18th-century Kaitokudo and 19th-century Tekijuku academies. An institute created by the people of the city, Kaitokudo played an important role in establishing broad foundations of scholastic learning among the general public. In comparison, Tekijuku was founded by the physician-scholar Ogata Koan and acted as crucible for many of the young men who would come to usher in the dawn of modern Japan, men like founding father Fukuzawa Yukichi. Other exhibitions include the very first Japanese-made electronic microscope (developed in 1939) as well as a three-dimension model of the first protein structure discovered in Japan, uncovered here at the university using X-ray technology. These displays testify to Osaka University’s position at the forefront of optics and electronics research during that era. The museum also houses over 1.6 million scientific specimens and materials, and there are plans to apply novel display methods to create a series of exhibitions featuring these items.