The Fernbank Science Center is a museum, classroom, and woodland complex located in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

. It is owned and operated by the

DeKalb County School District The DeKalb County School District (DCSD) is a school district headquartered at 1701 Mountain Industrial Boulevard in unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, United States, near Stone Mountain and in the Atlanta metropolitan area. DCSD operates ...

, which announced in May 2012 it was considering closing the facility to cut its annual budget, then quickly shelved the plan after public outcry. The nearby

Fernbank Museum of Natural History Fernbank Museum of Natural History, in Atlanta, Georgia, is a museum that presents exhibitions and programming about natural history. The museum has a number of permanent exhibitions and regularly hosts temporary exhibitions in its expansive fa ...

is a private non-profit organization that is separate from the Science Center.

Overview

The Fernbank Science Center opened in December 1967, and is an educational facility and an integral part of the DeKalb County School District. It provides programs for the science education of local students, pre-K-12. Both its planetarium and

observatory An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysics, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. Th ...

are open for public shows on specific occasions. The mission of the Science Center is to provide and promote an understanding of science and technology and to communicate to its visitors the harmony and order of the natural world. Fernbank contains many materials for instruction, including

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic Geological period, period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the #Evolutio ...

skeletons, rocks and minerals, a collection of tektites, an Aeronautics Education Laboratory and an

electron microscope An electron microscope is a microscope that uses a beam of electrons as a source of illumination. It uses electron optics that are analogous to the glass lenses of an optical light microscope to control the electron beam, for instance focusing it ...

lab. The center also has an authentic

Apollo Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...

spacecraft A spacecraft is a vehicle that is designed spaceflight, to fly and operate in outer space. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including Telecommunications, communications, Earth observation satellite, Earth observation, Weather s ...

from the unmanned

Apollo 6 Apollo 6 (April 4, 1968), also known as AS-502, was the third and final uncrewed flight in the United States' Apollo Program and the second test of the Saturn V launch vehicle. It qualified the Saturn V for use on crewed missions, and it was us ...

Saturn V The Saturn V is a retired American super heavy-lift launch vehicle developed by NASA under the Apollo program for human exploration of the Moon. The rocket was human-rated, had multistage rocket, three stages, and was powered by liquid-propel ...

test flight, and is home to a

planetarium A planetarium (: planetariums or planetaria) is a theatre built primarily for presenting educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navigation. A dominant feature of most planetariums is ...

with a -diameter projection dome.

Jim Cherry Memorial Planetarium

The Jim Cherry Memorial

Planetarium A planetarium (: planetariums or planetaria) is a theatre built primarily for presenting educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navigation. A dominant feature of most planetariums is ...

is a 500-seat celestial theater in the round, equipped with a , a Mark V Zeiss star projector, and over 100 special effects projectors. The

, which was built in the 1960s is the largest planetarium within the state of Georgia and one of the largest in the U.S. It was also the first planetarium to be owned and operated by a public school system in the United States of America. In 2012 Fernbank Science Center was the recipient of a grant from

Lockheed Martin The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American Arms industry, defense and aerospace manufacturer with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta on March 15, 1995. It is headquartered in North ...

which was used to refurbish the Jim Cherry Memorial Planetarium, and give the theater a technological upgrade bringing it into the 21st century and the digital age. A major component of technological upgrade is the fulldome/immersive projection system, produced by e-Planetarium of Houston. The fulldome system is intended to complement the planetarium's iconic Zeiss star projector not replace it. Prior to the 2012 upgrade, Fernbank staff had been using standard projectors for the video portions of the shows, which put an image on only a small segment of the dome. Since the upgrade, a digital immersive projection system throws extraordinarily bright light onto a spherical mirror tuned to the exact shape of the planetarium dome so video and other images cover the entire dome. Before the upgrade, science center staff had the capability to project images like a slide show. Since the 2012 upgrade, animated images can move across the entire surface.

Robotics Team

Fernbank LINKS (Linking Ideas and Networking Kids with Science) was established in 2002. Since then, the robotics team has participated in two robotics competitions, while winning many awards. All of their members graduate high school and pursue a college degree. In the fall, Fernbank LINKS competes in and hosts the free Georgia BEST Robotics Competition. During their original tenure from 2004-2014, LINKS had been one of the more successful BEST Teams in Georgia, consistently qualifying for the South's BEST Regional Championship at Auburn University. However, in 2015, they forfeited their chance to compete in order to host the Georgia BEST hub. Under their leadership, 12 BEST teams competed, with 2 qualifying for the South's BEST Regional Championship. In 2016, LINKS plans to expand the Georgia BEST hub to 24 teams, thus allowing more teams to experience the fun of STEM. In the spring, Fernbank LINKS competes in the

FIRST Robotics Competition FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) is an international high school robotics competition operated by ''FIRST''®. Each year, teams of high school students, coaches, and mentors work to build robots capable of competing in that year's game. Robots c ...

. Like the BEST Robotics Competition, teams are challenged to build a robot in 6 weeks. Following the main build season, teams prepare for and compete in competitions to advance to the FIRST Championship. In 2016, Fernbank LINKS became the first team in Georgia to win a district qualifier. They also became the first team from DeKalb County to win the Engineering Inspiration Award at the Peachtree District State Championship, qualifying them for the

FIRST Championship The FIRST Championship is a four-day robotics championship held annually in April at which FIRST student robotics teams compete. For several years, the event was held at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia, but moved to the Edward Jones Dome ...

in St. Louis as part of the Tesla Division. At the FIRST Championship, they were ranked #16 out of 75 teams, but were eliminated in quarterfinal play. During the Fall and Winter, LINKS has been heavily involved with

FIRST Lego League The ''FIRST'' Lego League Challenge (formerly known as ''FIRST'' Lego League) is an international competition organized by '' FIRST'' for elementary and middle school students (ages 9–14 in the United States and Canada, 9-15 elsewhere). Each y ...

. Every Fall, LINKS hosts 6 free trainings for FLL teams in DeKalb County. In addition, they host the DeKalb FLL Regional Tournament and the Atlanta Super Regional tournament.

Gallery

Fernbank-02.jpg, Main sign in front of science center. Fernbank-04.jpg, Home composting demonstration site. Fernbank-09.jpg,

Okefenokee Swamp The Okefenokee Swamp is a shallow, 438,000-acre (177,000 ha), peat-filled wetland straddling the Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia–Florida line in the United States. A majority of the swamp is protected by the Okefenokee National Wildlife Ref ...

diorama exhibit. Fernbank-07.jpg, NASA

Command Module. Fernbank-10.jpg, Aerospace Education Laboratory. Fernbank-16.jpg, Dr. Ralph L. Buice Jr. Observatory.

References

External links