Science Center of Iowa
 The main entrance to the Science Center of Iowa | |
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| Location | 401 W Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway Des Moines, Iowa |
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| Website | https://www.sciowa.org/ |
The Science Center of Iowa is a science museum located in Des Moines, Iowa.
The museum opened in 1970 in Greenwood-Ashworth Park and was called the Des Moines Center of Science and Industry.[1] It was renamed the Science Center of Iowa in 1985.[1] It moved to its current location in 2005.[1]
Origins
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The construction of the Des Moines Center of Science and Industry was initially sponsored by the Junior League of Des Moines. The first location seriously considered was Union Park, a park in the East side of Des Moines on the Des Moines River. In 1965, fund raising began in earnest, with an anonymous $100,000 donation and $30,000 from the Junior League.[2][3] In 1969, the Des Moines City Council proposed, and the Des Moines Park Board unanimously approved, constructing the museum on a 4.5-acre tract within Greenwood-Ashworth Park (the park in which the Des Moines Art Center was also located). The proposed cost was $900,000.[4]
The Junior League donated an additional $10,000 for the construction of a Foucault pendulum, suspended on a 65 foot long wire.[3]
The museum contained the Sargent Planetarium, which could seat 135 people under a 40-foot dome. An image of the night sky was projected by a $27,000 Spitz A4 projector. The full cost of the planetarium was $50,000.[5][6]
The museum's first director was Robert Bridigum,[5] the planetarium's first director was Herb Schwartz,[7] and Bill Synhorst was the first exhibit director.[8]
In 2005, the Science Center moved to a new downtown location.
Exhibits at the Greenwood-Ashworth Park location
[edit | edit source]Among the museum's earliest exhibits was a 5-foot 8-inch tall Transparent Anatomical Mannequin.[9]
A Challenger Learning Center spaceflight simulator was opened in April 1992.[10][11]
In "The Den" small live animals (fish, snakes, etc.) native to Iowa were displayed.[12]
Exhibits
[edit | edit source]A new LEGO-based exhibit opened in September 2018.[13]
The Science Center's planetarium has a 50-foot display.[14] The IMAX theater closed in 2018 due to storm damage.[15] On August 24, 2022 Curt Simmons, the president of the Science Center, announced that the IMAX theater would not be re-opened, and the space would be repurposed for other exhibits.[16]
References
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