Singapore Science Centre
Encyclopedia
Abbreviation
An abbreviation is a shortened form of a word or phrase. Usually, but not always, it consists of a letter or group of letters taken from the word or phrase...
: SCS, Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
: 新加坡科学馆), previously known as Singapore Science Centre is a scientific institution in Jurong East
Jurong East
Jurong East is a neighbourhood in Singapore, bounded by the Pan Island Expressway, a canal and the shoreline of Jurong Lake, Jurong Town Hall Road, the eastern side of Jurong Gardens, Ayer Rajah Expressway, Penjuru Road, West Coast Road, Sungei Pandan and back to the Pan Island Expressway.It is...
, Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
, specialising in the promotion of scientific and technological education for the general public. With over 850 exhibits spread over eight exhibition galleries, it sees over a million visitors a year today, and over 17 million visitors up to the year 2003 when it celebrated its silver jubilee
Silver Jubilee
A Silver Jubilee is a celebration held to mark a 25th anniversary. The anniversary celebrations can be of a wedding anniversary, ruling anniversary or anything that has completed a 25 year mark...
.
History
The Science Centre was born in from the then National Museum of SingaporeNational Museum of Singapore
The National Museum of Singapore is a national museum in Singapore and the oldest museum in Singapore. Its history dates back to 1849 when it was started as a section of a library at Singapore Institution...
into a separate institution so that the latter could specialise in its artistic and historical collections. This idea was first mooted in 1969 by the Science Council of Singapore, and was subsequently approved by the government, who was keen to promote scientific education in the rapidly modernising country keen to tap into the technological sector.
The SCS building's architecture was decided by an architectural design competition
Architectural design competition
An architectural design competition is a special type of competition in which an organization or government body that plans to build a new building asks for architects to submit a proposed design for a building. The winning design is usually chosen by an independent panel of design professionals...
organised by the Science Centre Board. Raymond Woo's entry was selected, and was thus commissioned as the architect for the project. Built at a cost of S$12 million on a 60,000 m² site in Jurong East
Jurong East
Jurong East is a neighbourhood in Singapore, bounded by the Pan Island Expressway, a canal and the shoreline of Jurong Lake, Jurong Town Hall Road, the eastern side of Jurong Gardens, Ayer Rajah Expressway, Penjuru Road, West Coast Road, Sungei Pandan and back to the Pan Island Expressway.It is...
, it was officially opened on 10 December 1977 by Dr Toh Chin Chye
Toh Chin Chye
Toh Chin Chye is a prominent first generation political leader in Singapore. He completed his Secondary education in St. George's Institution and continued his studies at Raffles College and the University of London. Subsequently, Toh received his PhD at the National Institute for Medical...
, who was the Minister-in-charge of the Science Centre Board.
On 7 December 2007, the Science Centre rebranded itself to be known as "Science
Centre Singapore" ("SCS").
Developments
In 1987, the centre saw a significant expansion with the opening of Singapore's first and only OMNIMAXOmnimax
Omnimax may refer to:* A variation of the IMAX film format that is projected on an angled dome* A shorthand expression for a deity that is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, and/or omnibenevolent...
(now known as IMAX Dome
IMAX
IMAX is a motion picture film format and a set of proprietary cinema projection standards created by the Canadian company IMAX Corporation. IMAX has the capacity to record and display images of far greater size and resolution than conventional film systems...
) theater, the Singapore Omni-Theatre
Singapore Omni-Theatre
The Singapore Omni-Theatre is an observatory and IMAX film theatre located in the Science Centre, Singapore in the city-state Singapore, South-east Asia. It opened in 1977...
. Costing S$18 million, it has a 276 seat theater underneath a 23-meter tilted dome.
In 1999, a S$38 million renovation expanded on the exhibition space, created a new entrance, as well as open-air exhibition areas and a direct connection to the separate Omni-Theatre building. In 2000, Snow City
Snow City
Snow City is Singapore's first indoor snow centre located within the Science Centre, Singapore area beside Ommi-Theatre in Jurong East. Snow City introduces the concept of snow and cold climates in a fun, entertaining and educational way...
, a recreation of a -5 degrees Celsius
Celsius
Celsius is a scale and unit of measurement for temperature. It is named after the Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius , who developed a similar temperature scale two years before his death...
environment in tropical Singapore was set up beside the Omni-Theatre.
The Observatory
Location
The Science Centre Observatory is situated at 1°20′03"N 103°44′14"E, and is 15.27 m above mean sea level. It is one of the few observatories in the world located next to the EquatorEquator
An equator is the intersection of a sphere's surface with the plane perpendicular to the sphere's axis of rotation and containing the sphere's center of mass....
. Its unique position allows constellations in both the northern and southern celestial hemispheres to be observed and thus opens up more vistas in the sky for observers. The Observatory is endowed with a range of sophisticated facilities as well as a classroom for astronomy lessons, slide shows and public talks.
Telescope
The main telescope of the Observatory is a 40-cm Cassegrain reflectorCassegrain reflector
The Cassegrain reflector is a combination of a primary concave mirror and a secondary convex mirror, often used in optical telescopes and radio antennas....
of combined focal length 520 cm. The sub-telescope is a 15-cm apochromatic Kepler refractor of focal length 180 cm. The equatorial mount for the telescopes was designed for Singapore's unique location; the accompanying English yoke provides the necessary stability for the drive and tracking mechanisms. The 5.5-metre stainless steel dome can be made to swivel in any direction and its shutter can be made to slide open for the telescope to be focused onto interesting objects in the sky.
Star-gazing session
The Observatory is open to the public for star-gazing sessions on every Friday nights with effect from June 2006. The opening hours are from 7.50pm to 10pm. The Observatory can comfortably accommodate 50 visitors per session. It is important to note that star-gazing through the observatory telescope is only possible when the sky is clear. However, regardless of weather conditions, the staff will be present.Relocation plans
On 4 April 2008, the Urban Redevelopment AuthorityUrban Redevelopment Authority
The Urban Redevelopment Authority is the national urban planning authority of Singapore, and a statutory board under the Ministry of National Development of the Singapore Government.-Mission:The authority was established on 1 April 1974, and is of especially critical importance to the city-state,...
announced plans to relocate the Science Centre next to Chinese Garden MRT Station
Chinese Garden MRT Station
Chinese Garden MRT Station ' is an above-ground Mass Rapid Transit station on the East West Line in Jurong,Singapore. It serves residents in Yuhua and Hong Kah, as well people visiting the various tourist attractions in Jurong Lake, which includes the Chinese Gardens, where the station derived its...
in 10 to 15 years.