Pacific Science Center
From Free net encyclopedia
The Pacific Science Center is a science museum in Seattle, Washington.
The Pacific Science Center is an independent, non-profit science museum based in Seattle, Washington. It sits on 7.1 acres of land located on the south side of the Seattle Center. Its original buildings were the United States Science Pavilion, part of the 1962 World’s Fair. After the fair ended the Pacific Science Center opened. The land and buildings were leased for $1 a year until 2004 when the title deed was signed over and the Pacific Science Center Foundation officially took ownership.
Today the museum is composed of eight buildings. Including 2 IMAX theaters (one of only a few places in the world with more than one IMAX theater), one of the world's largest Laser Dome theaters, a tropical butterfly house, a planetarium, and hundreds of hands-on science exhibits. In addition to the many permanent exhibits the Pacific Science Center offers a constant rotation of traveling exhibits, including notable exhibits such as "China; 7,000 Years of Discovery", "Titanic: the Artifacts Exhibit", and opening in fall 2006 "Discovering the Dead Sea Scrolls".
The Pacific Science Center, however, is not only a museum. Its fleet of vans provide science education to schools all across the state. A division of staff work to teach teachers in the state how to teach science. A satellite campus in Bellevue, Washington, the Mercer Slough Environmental Center, teaches children and adults about environmental stewardship, wetland ecology and nature awareness. And like many museums the Pacific Science Center creates, builds and rents many traveling exhibits.
The Pacific Science Center is located within walking distance of the Space Needle, and is next to the Seattle Center. It is housed in what was the United States Science Pavilion for the Century 21 Exposition in 1962. This building was designed by Minoru Yamasaki, who also was the architect of the World Trade Center in New York.