Science Center
In addition to setting a new standard for planetariums, the science center was a pioneer in modern science museums. Following the example set four years earlier by the Exploratorium, all exhibits in the science center were required to have something for visitors to manipulate or otherwise participate in. The combination of a planetarium, IMAX Dome theater and interactive science exhibits is now a common thread with most major science museums.
By the late 1990s the science center had become small and outdated compared to newer science museums. In 1998 the science center was expanded and modernized to include rides such as the Virtual Zone, a motion-simulator offering virtual rides with a scientific bent. The scientific and interactive exhibits then dwarfed the planetarium/theater, so the name was changed to the current Reuben H. Fleet Science Center.
The facility has been cited as a leading example of energy efficiency and sustainability.
Read more about this topic: Reuben H. Fleet Science Center, History
Famous quotes containing the words science and/or center:
“Science in England, in America, is jealous of theory, hates the name of love and moral purpose. There’s revenge for this humanity. What manner of man does science make? The boy is not attracted. He says, I do not wish to be such a kind of man as my professor is.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“I am the center of the world, but the control panel seems to be somewhere else.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)