The California Science Center (sometimes spelled California ScienCenter) is a state agency and science museum located in Exposition Park, Los Angeles, next to the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and the University of Southern California. The museum includes many exhibits of aircraft and spacecraft, including Space Shuttle Endeavour', multiple hands-on galleries, special exhibitions, and IMAX movies.

Billed as the West Coast's largest hands-on science center, this museum is a public-private partnership between the State of California and the California Science Center Foundation. The California Natural Resources Agency oversees the California Science Center and the California African American Museum. Founded in 1951 as the "California Museum of Science and Industry", the Museum was remodeled and renamed in 1998 as the "California Science Center," which hosts the California State Science Fair annually.

History

State Exhibition

The museum's history dates back to the first California State Exhibition building, which opened in Exposition Park in Los Angeles in 1912, the site of an agricultural fairground from 1872 to 1910. The brick and terra cotta building, designed by William D. Coates, Jr., state architect, and N. Ellery, state engineer, displayed agriculturally-based natural resources and industrial products from across the state, including ranching, fish and game, coal mining, gold mining, oil production, and lumbering, as well as some of the state's recreational attractions. After World War II, the building also featured exhibits about state science and technology industries.

California Museum of Science and Industry

In 1951, the exhibition became the "California Museum of Science and Industry". The State Exhibition building was renamed in honor of major donor and trustee Howard F. Ahmanson as the Howard F. Ahmanson Building. The hands-on interactive exhibits included themes on agriculture, transportation, electricity, energy, industries, and minerals.

In 1961, the museum opened a new science wing that featured "Mathematica: A World of Numbers... and Beyond", an exhibit sponsored by IBM and designed by Charles and Ray Eames to visually demonstrate fundamental mathematical concepts. Interaction stations demonstrated different concepts including celestial mechanics, the Möbius strip, multiplication, symmetry, and projective geometry. The original exhibit closed in 1998, and is now on display at the New York Hall of Science. The Hall of Health was added in 1968. The opening and closing ceremonies for the games were held in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, which is adjacent to the museum.

In 1994, the museum's building was damaged by the Northridge earthquake. The California Museum of Science and Industry closed in 1996 to prepare for a new facility.

California African American Museum

The California African American Museum was founded in 1981, and housed in the California Museum of Science and Industry building until 1984, when its own facility was opened adjacent to the California Aerospace Museum.

California Aerospace Museum

thumb|Former California Aerospace Museum (now closed) was designed by [[Frank Gehry, and displayed a Lockheed F-104 Starfighter]]

The "California Aerospace Museum" was also opened in 1984 adjacent to and operated by the California Museum of Science and Industry to coincide with the Summer Olympics. It was also known as Aerospace Hall but also commonly known as the California Air and Space Museum/Gallery and the SKETCH Foundation Gallery, and was the first major public work of architect Frank Gehry. The museum focused on the State's history as a leader in the aviation and aerospace industries and featured a giant, hangar-like space with aircraft and space vehicles and artifacts. The building, now known as the Air and Space Gallery, was closed in 2011. In 2012 the building was listed on the California Register of Historical Resources, but its future is unknown.

Transformation to the California Science Center

In 1988 the museum's leadership began a to develop a three-phase, 25-year master plan to transform the institution from a science museum to a science education facility. When Phase I was completed, the museum was officially renamed as the California Science Center, and was open to the public in 1998. Other changes included:

  • Renovated the historic Wallis Annenberg Building building into a new "Building for Science Learning and Innovation", opened in 2004 The building includes the Amgen Center for Science Learning and the K-5 Science Center School, a public magnet school officially known as the Dr. Theodore T. Alexander Jr. Science Center School.
  • SKETCH Foundation Gallery, Air and Space Exhibits - opened in 2002, a temporary gallery featuring interactive exhibits and artifacts on continuing loan from NASA and The Smithsonian Institution. Before its arrival, a building was constructed to temporarily house the Space Shuttle. It was on display in the "Samuel Oschin Pavilion" until December 31, 2023. This structure was designed by ZGF Architects and is planned to be replaced with the new Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center on the east side of the Science Center.

With a projected cost of $425 million, the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center broke ground on June 1, 2022. The new addition was formerly titled "Worlds Beyond". The new building was designed by ZGF Architects as an addition to the main science center. Construction work is scheduled to be completed in mid-2025 and will take several more years to install the artifacts and exhibits inside the building. An official grand opening is not yet announced. It will house a total of 150 new exhibits.' Inside the new building will be include:

  • Korean Air Aviation Gallery - This collection of approximately 20 authentic aircraft will be exhibited both on the floor and suspended in mid-air. It includes a replica of the Wright Brothers’ 1902 Glider; a Harrier T4 jump-jet; a historic F-100 Super Saber; and 50 feet of a real Korean Air Boeing 747 airliner, which will serve as the centerpiece of the Gallery.
  • Kent Kresa Space Gallery - This collection examples of spacecraft from every stage of the U.S. human space program. This section includes the Apollo-Soyuz Command Module (ASTP), Mercury MR-2 and Gemini 11 space capsules, along with an array of engineering models of planetary probes, telescopes and Earth observation spacecraft.
  • Samuel Oschin Shuttle Gallery - This will showcase the Space Shuttle Endeavour, in a 20-story-tall display, mounted in a vertical full-stack launch position, complete with an ET-94 external tank and a pair of solid rocket boosters. This section includes some parts from Endeavour, multiple levels for observing the Space Shuttle Endeavour including a 200-foot tall gantry for top-down views, and a 45-foot slide to return from the second story to the ground level. including a 188,000-gallon kelp tank populated with more than 1,500 live fish, kelp and other marine life with an acrylic tunnel which allows guests to feel surrounded by the sea life.

Fire! Science & Safety

This exhibit inside an Casa Del Fuego apartment building showcase the importance of fire safety, and raise awareness on what to do if ever a fire did occurs. It was developed in partnership with the Children's Burn Foundation.

Upcoming exhibits

Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center

The Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center is an upcoming expansion of the California Science Center. This building will include three multi-level galleries, spanning four floors and covering over 100,000 square feet of exhibit space. It will also house special exhibits and events, including the Space Shuttle Endeavour. Endeavour will be in vertical launching position, meaning a height of 20 stories, the tallest of such displays in the world. A Boeing 747 and about 20 other aircraft will be included in the exhibition as well.

Former exhibits

Creative World

This exhibit examines the environment humans build to meet their needs for structures and transportation. It features an earthquake simulator shows the safety features used to construct the Science Center; and nearby hands-on exhibits demonstrate liquefaction and how reinforced vs. non-reinforced construction can determine the sturdiness of a structure.

Collection

thumb|right|Space Shuttle Endeavour in the temporary Samuel Oschin Pavilion (Feb 2023)

thumb|upright|The [[Apollo command module from the 1975 Apollo–Soyuz Test Project displayed in the center's crewed spaceflight exhibit]]

thumb|The [[Gemini 11 space capsule, flown in 1966]]

Spacecraft

  • Mercury-Redstone 2 capsule which carried Ham, a chimpanzee, the first great ape in space (1961)
  • Gemini 11 capsule, flown by Pete Conrad and Richard F. Gordon Jr. in 1966
  • Apollo-Soyuz Test Project Command Module from the 1975 mission
  • SpaceX Dragon C108 which reached orbit 3 times and spent nearly 99 days in space
  • Rocket Lab Electron rocket was used to launch satellites into orbit and was the first to use 3D printed engines

Aircraft

  • Douglas DC-8 Jetliner
  • Lockheed F-104D Starfighter
  • Lockheed A-12 Oxcart two-seater trainer, Serial Number 60-6927 “Titanium Goose”
  • Replica Bell X-1 (movie prop from The Right Stuff)
  • 1902 Wright Glider replica
  • 1929 Velie Monocoupe
  • Northrop T-38 Talon Jet Trainer, Serial Number 58-1196
  • Northrop F-20 Tigershark
  • McDonnell Douglas F/A-18A Hornet Serial Number 161725
  • Grumman F-11 Tiger Serial Number BuNo 138608
  • Hawker Siddeley Harrier Jump Jet

Robotic spacecraft

  • Engineering prototype for Viking Lander
  • Cassini-Huygens planetary probe (replica)
  • Pioneer 10 planetary probe (replica)
  • Mariner IV planetary probe (replica)
  • Pioneer-Venus planetary probe (replica)

Attendance

The Center received 1,694,000 visitors in 2022, making the tenth most-visited museum in the United States.

Affiliations

The center has been accredited by the American Alliance of Museums and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, and is a member of the Association of Science and Technology Centers. The museum is also an affiliate in the Smithsonian Affiliations program.

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File:California Science Center January 2013 001.jpg|View of entire building

File:California Science Center January 2013 002.jpg|Entrance to California Science Center, with IMAX Theater at the left

File:IMAX at California Science Center.JPG|IMAX Theater at the California Science Center

</gallery>

See also

  • List of most-visited museums in the United States
  • List of works by Frank Gehry
  • List of science centers
  • List of aviation museums

References

Further reading

  • usc.edu Brief story about the California Museum of Science and Industry
  • CMSI Remembering the California Museum of Science & Industry
  • EHDD Architecture Phase II architects