Winchester Science Centre (known as INTECH Science Centre until 2013) is a hands-on educational science, technology centre and research centre located at Morn Hill near

Chilcomb Chilcomb is a small village and civil parish in the English county of Hampshire east of Winchester and includes the South Downs Way long-distance footpath. History The nearby bowl barrow on Telegraph Hill along the South Downs Way just ea ...

, three miles from the city of

Winchester Winchester (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs N ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The centre houses a range of interactive exhibits, aimed at a core audience of children aged 5–12 years old and has over 185,000 annual visitors. The dome's planetarium seats 176 and is the UK's largest standalone planetarium. The centre is operated by Wonderseekers, a

registered charity A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, Religion, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definitio ...

in England and Wales.

History

INTECH (a portmanteau of "Interactive Technology") was founded in 1986 as a response to a local shortage of scientists, engineers and technicians, in a disused canteen at King's School on Romsey Road, Winchester. By the late 1990s, the centre had grown in popularity and began to look for a larger premises to meet increasing demand. In 2002, INTECH relocated to the present-day site at Morn Hill at a cost of £10 million. The new 3,500 square metre, purpose-built centre was funded partly through the

Millennium Commission The Millennium Commission, a United Kingdom public body, was set up to celebrate the turn of the millennium. It used funding raised through the UK National Lottery to assist communities in marking the close of the second millennium and celebra ...

NTL NTL may refer to: Companies * NTL Incorporated and NTL Internet, later Virgin Media, communications media company ** NTL Ireland, later Virgin Media Ireland * Arqiva, UK company formerly ''NTL Broadcast'' and ''National Transcommunications ...

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

, the

DfES The Department for Education and Skills (DfES) was a United Kingdom government department between 2001 and 2007, responsible for the education system (including higher education and adult learning) as well as children's services in England. ...

and DTI, SEEDA and

Hampshire County Council Hampshire County Council (HCC) is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Hampshire in England. The council was created in 1889. The county council provides county-level services to eleven of the thirteen districts geo ...

. The centre was opened by

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 19219 April 2021), was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he was the consort of the British monarch from h ...

on 28 October 2002. INTECH re-opened as Winchester Science Centre in October 2013.

Exhibits

The centre has two floors of hands-on science exhibits and a planetarium with a programme of full-dome films and presenter-led shows. Intech internalP1010036

References

{{Reflist

External links

Winchester Science CentreWonderseekers
Museums in Hampshire Education in Winchester Educational institutions established in 2002 Planetaria in the United Kingdom 2002 establishments in England Science museums in England Charities based in England

History

Exhibits

See also

References

External links