The Science and Technology Education Innovation Center, formerly known as the Science Center of Pinellas County, is an educational center in

St. Petersburg, Florida St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 258,308, making it the List of municipalities in Florida, fifth-most populous city in Florida and the most populous city in the sta ...

, United States. It occupies of land located on 22nd Avenue North, in West St. Petersburg, located near the Tyrone Mall.

History

The Science Center is a non-profit organization founded in St. Petersburg in 1959 by William Guild and Nell Rodgers Croley. It was the first science center of its kind in the world, and it operates on donations and grants. Its mission is to inspire interest in and to promoting the understanding of all sciences. In 1966 the present main building was completed. During the 1960s and early 70s, the center offered after-school and weekend classes for students from Kindergarten through middle school in such subjects as biology, chemistry, electronics and astronautics. Today about 22,000 children visit the building each school year during field trips. The Science Center frequently works with Pinellas County schools, and all summer camp classes and science camps taught at the Science Center meet FCAT guidelines.

Features

Margaret Ewell Dickins Marine Exhibit

In 2000 the Margaret Ewell Dickins Marine Room opened. The exhibit includes numerous

aquarium An aquarium (: aquariums or aquaria) is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. fishkeeping, Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aquati ...

s filled with marine creatures such as a snowflake moray and a black sea bass. The most popular feature is a 600-gallon touch tank where visitors can touch

starfish Starfish or sea stars are Star polygon, star-shaped echinoderms belonging to the class (biology), class Asteroidea (). Common usage frequently finds these names being also applied to brittle star, ophiuroids, which are correctly referred to ...

horseshoe crab Horseshoe crabs are arthropods of the family Limulidae and the only surviving xiphosurans. Despite their name, they are not true crabs or even crustaceans; they are chelicerates, more closely related to arachnids like spiders, ticks, and scor ...

s, guitarfish,

slipper lobster Slipper lobsters are a family (biology), family (Scyllaridae) of about 90 species of Achelata, achelate crustaceans, in the Decapoda clade Reptantia, found in all warm oceans and seas. They are not lobster, true lobsters, but are more closely rel ...

hermit crab Hermit crabs are anomuran Decapoda, decapod crustaceans of the superfamily (taxonomy), superfamily Paguroidea that have adapted to occupy empty scavenged mollusc shells to protect their fragile exoskeletons. There are over 800 species of hermit c ...

s and

sea urchin Sea urchins or urchins () are echinoderms in the class (biology), class Echinoidea. About 950 species live on the seabed, inhabiting all oceans and depth zones from the intertidal zone to deep seas of . They typically have a globular body cove ...

s. In addition, the Science Center holds marine biology classes for children in this room during science summer camps and school breaks.

Observatory

In 1997, the Carol Samuels Observatory opened. The observatory provides visitors with a view of cosmic events and features through a Meade telescope. The research-grade telescope is the only one available to the public in Pinellas County in a non-university setting. The St. Petersburg Astronomy Club holds a handful of events at the Science Center throughout the year, and helps the public use the Meade Telescope to view comets, eclipses, or planets.

White Gardens

The idea for the White Gardens came from Starley M. White, chairman of the Board of the former National Bank. Surrounding the White Gardens is a "Walk of States", a

mosaic A mosaic () is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/Mortar (masonry), mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and ...

tile walkway made up of more than 50 sections, one section for each state in the United States. A segment of the walk is dedicated to the

Seminole The Seminole are a Native American people who developed in Florida in the 18th century. Today, they live in Oklahoma and Florida, and comprise three federally recognized tribes: the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, ...

tribe and

Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before Presidency of Andrew Jackson, his presidency, he rose to fame as a general in the U.S. Army and served in both houses ...

. Each of the 50 states are displayed in order of their admission into the union. The walkway shows an image of the state, including the state's bird and flower. Beside each state's tile walk the state's rock is on display. The Walk of States was created by St. Petersburg artist Attillio Puglisi. It was moved to the Science Center in 1971.

Planetarium

In 1971 the Discovery Center was built. This building houses the Columbia Planetarium. In 2003 the Spirit of Columbia Theater and

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 ...

opened. The Planetarium offers a showing daily which is included in the $5 admission fee. The Science Center's digital planetarium is the only one available to the public in Pinellas County. It can show the sky as it was on any specific date in history and when the center is rented out for birthday parties or anniversaries, it is often set to show the night sky as it appeared the night of the event commemorated.

Optical lab

The Science Center houses the only optical lab for the public to grind

telescope A telescope is a device used to observe distant objects by their emission, Absorption (electromagnetic radiation), absorption, or Reflection (physics), reflection of electromagnetic radiation. Originally, it was an optical instrument using len ...

mirror A mirror, also known as a looking glass, is an object that Reflection (physics), reflects an image. Light that bounces off a mirror forms an image of whatever is in front of it, which is then focused through the lens of the eye or a camera ...

s in the southeastern United States. The lab is operated by the St. Petersburg Astronomy Club. The club welcomes the public to visit the optical lab on Saturdays between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. to build a homemade telescope from scratch.

Gift shop

A small gift shop features science and space-themed toys which are available to purchase at reasonable prices.

Future

In 2019 the City of St. Petersburg acquired the facility with plans to tear down the building. City Councilmember Robert G. Blackmon brought together a coalition including State Representative Linda Chaney, State Senator Darryl Rouson, and Congressperson

Charlie Crist Charles Joseph Crist Jr. ( ; born July 24, 1956) is an American attorney and politician who served as the 44th List of governors of Florida, governor of Florida from 2007 to 2011 and as the United States House of Representatives, U.S. represen ...

to raise $5.5 million towards its restoration.

References

External links

{{commons category, Science and Technology Education Innovation Center
Official websiteOptical lab
Museums in St. Petersburg, Florida Planetaria in the United States Science museums in Florida