Liberty Science Center facts for kids
Logo of the Liberty Science Center
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Exterior of Liberty Science Center
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| Established | January 24, 1993 |
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| Location | Liberty State Park, Jersey City, New Jersey, US |
| Type | Science museum |
| Visitors | 750,000 per year |
| Public transit access | Hudson–Bergen Light Rail at Liberty State Park:
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| Nearest parking | On-site (daily charge) |
The Liberty Science Center is a super cool place in Jersey City, New Jersey. It's a science museum where you can learn by doing! You'll find it in Liberty State Park. This center is packed with fun, hands-on exhibits. It's a great spot to explore science and technology. When it first opened, it had one of the biggest planetariums in the Western Hemisphere.
The center first opened its doors in 1993. It was New Jersey's first big state science museum. One of its most famous features is the original Hoberman sphere. This is a giant silver artwork that moves with computers. It was designed by Chuck Hoberman.
Contents
Discovering the Liberty Science Center
A Look at Its History
The Liberty Science Center got a big upgrade that finished on July 19, 2007. This project added a lot of new space. It made the building nearly 300,000 square feet in total!
In December 2017, something really exciting opened. It was the Jennifer Chalsty Planetarium. This huge room has 400 seats and a dome 100 feet wide. The screen itself is 89 feet across! It was named after Jennifer Chalsty, who gave $5 million to help build it. At the time it opened, it was the largest planetarium in the Western Hemisphere. It was also the fourth largest in the whole world!
Awesome Exhibits to Explore
The Liberty Science Center has many permanent exhibits. These are always there for you to enjoy:
- Skyscraper! Achievement and Impact – This exhibit is all about tall buildings. You can see models of some of the world's highest skyscrapers. You'll learn how they are built. It also explains the science behind things like elevators. You can even test how strong building materials are!
- Eat and Be Eaten – Get ready to meet some amazing animals here! This exhibit shows how animals hunt each other or try to avoid being caught. You might see cool creatures like vipers, puffer fish, or colorful poison dart frogs. There are also naked mole-rats and leaf cutter ants.
- Communication – This huge exhibit is about how humans talk and share ideas. You can use mobile devices and touch screens to explore. It shows how we communicate through speech, writing, and symbols. You'll also learn how technology helps us communicate today.
- Traveling Exhibitions – The center often hosts special exhibits that visit for a limited time.
- "Mammoths and Mastodons: Titans of the Ice Age" taught visitors about huge extinct animals. It had videos, hands-on displays, and even real fossils. You could see Lyuba, the best-preserved woolly mammoth ever found!
- "Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition" showed over 100 real items from the famous ship, the Titanic. You could walk through rooms that looked like parts of the ship. You could even touch an "iceberg" to feel how cold the ocean was when the ship sank.
- The "Beyond Rubik's Cube" exhibition opened on April 26, 2014. It has traveled to other museums around the world. This exhibit celebrates the 40th birthday of the Rubik's Cube. It shows the history of the puzzle and how it became so popular.
Learning and Teaching Science
The Jennifer Chalsty Center for Science Learning and Teaching opened in July 2007. This is a special area for teachers and students. It has six labs and a theater with 150 seats. Teachers can improve their science teaching skills here. Students can join programs to get excited about science.
Honoring Great Minds: The Genius Award
The Liberty Science Center holds an annual event called the Gala and Genius Award. There's also a Genius Gallery, which is a permanent display. It celebrates people who have made amazing discoveries. Some of the past award winners include:
- 2011: Jane Goodall
- 2012: Temple Grandin, Ernő Rubik, Oliver Sacks
- 2013: Sir Richard Branson, Garry Kasparov, Cori Bargmann
- 2014: Dean Kamen, Sylvia A. Earle, J. Craig Venter
- 2015: Jeff Bezos, Vint Cerf, Jill Tarter
- 2016: Frank Gehry, Jack Horner, Ellen Langer, Kip Thorne
- 2017: Katherine Johnson, Ray Kurzweil, Marc Raibert (and SpotMini)
- 2018: Vitalik Buterin, George M. Church, Laurie Santos, Sara Seager
- 2019: Chris Messina, Sally Shaywitz and Bennett Shaywitz, Martine Rothblatt, Karlie Kloss
- 2020: Moshe Safdie, Jennifer A. Lewis, William Conan Davis
Future Plans: Sci Tech Scity
In 2019, the Liberty Science Center started talking with Jersey City about a new project. They planned to create an educational and living area called Sci Tech Scity. The first part of this project was expected to open in late 2023 and early 2024.
