The Arizona Science Center, at 600 Washington St in

Downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in American and Canadian English to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ( ...

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, it is the ...

, is a

science museum A science museum is a museum devoted primarily to science. Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays of objects related to natural history, paleontology, geology, Industry (manufacturing), industry and Outline of industrial ...

located in Heritage and Science Park. It was founded in 1984 as the Arizona Museum of Science & Technology in a downtown storefront. Its current building, designed by

Antoine Predock Antoine Samuel Predock ( ; June 24, 1936 – March 2, 2024) was an American architect based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He was the principal of Antoine Predock Architect PC, the studio he founded in 1967. Predock first gained national attention ...

, was completed in 1997. Along with daily demonstrations throughout the Center, the Center provides shows in the Dorrance Planetarium and in a five-story, giant screen

IMAX IMAX is a proprietary system of High-definition video, high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and movie theater, theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (image), aspect ratio (approximately ei ...

Theater.

History

Arizona Science Center, formerly the Arizona Museum of Science & Technology, was conceived in 1980 as a pilot science center by the Junior League of Phoenix. The Science Center opened its doors to the public in 1984 as a small storefront exhibition space located in the parking garage level of the downtown Phoenix Hyatt. The Science Center’s first year of operation saw more than 87,000 visitors. Following sustained demand, construction of the ,

-designed facility was completed in 1997. When the Science Center moved to its present location, Heritage Square was renamed Heritage and Science Park. Among the museum's best-known programs is the annual Snow Week. Since the beginning, Arizona Science Center has hosted a demonstration Amateur Radio station - originally licensed as KC7LUL, now W7ASC. The hams teach guests to send their name in Morse Code, they demonstrate satellite communication and other modes of amateur communication. The ham station has a page at www.QRZ.com. Enter "W7ASC" in the search box. In 2009, the museum reached an agreement with the adjacent, closed Phoenix Museum of History to showcase their collection. As of March 2022, Guy Labine is the museum's president and CEO.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Buildings and structures in Phoenix, Arizona Planetaria in the United States Museums in Phoenix, Arizona Science museums in Arizona Antoine Predock buildings