Liberty Science Center facts for kids
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 | Liberty State Park station, Hudson–Bergen Light Rail |
| 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 inside Liberty State Park. When it first opened, it was the biggest planetarium in the Western Hemisphere. It was also the fourth largest in the world!
This amazing center opened in 1993. It was New Jersey's first big state science museum. It has tons of science exhibits and lots of ways to learn. You can also see the original Hoberman sphere here. It's a silver, computer-controlled art piece designed by Chuck Hoberman.
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History of the Science Center
The Liberty Science Center got a big upgrade! In 2007, they finished a huge project that cost $109 million. This project added a lot of new space, making the center nearly 300,000 square feet (28,000 m2) big.
In 2017, something even bigger opened: the Jennifer Chalsty Planetarium. This planetarium has 400 seats and a giant dome that's 100 feet (30 m) wide. The screen is 89-foot (27 m) across! It's named after Jennifer Chalsty, who gave $5 million to help build it. When it opened, it was the largest planetarium in the Western Hemisphere. It was also the fourth largest in the world!
Awesome Exhibits to Explore
The Liberty Science Center has many cool exhibits that are always there. Here are some of them:
Skyscraper! Learn About Tall Buildings
This exhibit is all about skyscrapers, those super tall buildings! It has huge models of some of the world's tallest buildings. You can learn how they are built, like how elevators work using physics. You can even test how strong building materials are!
Eat and Be Eaten: Animal Adventures
This exhibit shows you unusual live animals. It teaches you about how some animals hunt (predators) and how others are hunted (prey). You might see vipers, puffer fish, and colorful poison dart frogs. There are also naked mole-rats and leaf cutter ants that grow their own food!
Communication: How We Connect
This 7,000-square-foot exhibit explores how humans talk and share ideas. You can use mobile devices, videos, and touch screens to learn about speech, writing, and symbols. The exhibit also shows how technology helps us communicate today.
Traveling Exhibits: New Adventures
The Science Center often has special exhibits that visit for a short time. These are called "traveling exhibitions."
Mammoths and Mastodons: Ice Age Giants
This exhibit used videos, hands-on activities, and life-sized models to teach about extinct animals. It even showed Lyuba, the best-preserved woolly mammoth ever found!
Titanic: A Ship's Story
The Titanic exhibit had over 100 real items from the famous ship. These items were displayed in copies of the ship's rooms. You could even touch an "iceberg" to feel how cold the ocean water was when the ship sank.
Beyond Rubik's Cube: A Puzzle's Journey
The "Beyond Rubik's Cube" exhibit opened in 2014. It has traveled to other museums around the world. This exhibit celebrates the Rubik's Cube's 40th birthday! It shows the history of the Cube and how it became so popular.
Jennifer Chalsty Center for Learning
In 2007, the Jennifer Chalsty Center for Science Learning and Teaching opened. This is a 20,000-square-foot (1,900 m2) area with six labs and a theater that seats 150 people. It's a great place for teachers to improve their science teaching skills. Students can also join programs to get excited about science!
Genius Award and Gallery
The Liberty Science Center hosts an event each year called the Gala and Genius Award. They also have a Genius Gallery, which is a permanent display. This gallery celebrates people who have made amazing discoveries or inventions. Some famous people who have received this award include Jane Goodall, Temple Grandin, and Jeff Bezos.
Sci Tech Scity: A Future City of Science
The Liberty Science Center is planning an exciting new project called Sci Tech Scity. This will be a special area with educational buildings and homes. The first part of this project is expected to open in late 2023 or early 2024.
