DECEMBER 16, 2021 - “Iconic Ears” might make for an entry on your list of band names. In the Star Trek context, though, that phrase most often refers to the aural appendages of everyone’s favorite Vulcan, Mr. Spock. Now the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum has come into possession of a pair of those ears.

Leonard Nimoy, who played Spock in Star Trek: The Original Series and in multiple films, carried home a set of prosthetic ears that he had worn on the set of TOS after the series was finished, according to the museum’s web site. They stayed with him, in a box he made to display them, and with the family after his death, until just recently. The Nimoy family, including Leonard’s children Adam and Julie, has donated the ears to the museum.

Adam Nimoy said, “…those ears have been in our family for over fifty years as a tribute to Dad’s outstanding performances as Mr. Spock and the inspiration and hope that Star Trek [has] given to generations of fans all over this planet. Today it’s my honor to donate the iconic Spock ears to the National Air and Space Museum, home to the starship Enterprise studio model, where they can be experienced by visitors firsthand.”

The donation also honors Beit T’Shuva, a residential addiction treatment center in Los Angeles, as well as the Leonard Nimoy COPD Research Fund at UCLA. The ears will go on display in an upcoming gallery in the fall of 2022.

For more on the iconic ears, including images and a video of their unboxing at the Smithsonian, visit AirAndSpace.SI.edu.