Talcott Mountain Science Center for Student Involvement ("TMSC") is a non profit corporation in

Avon, Connecticut Avon ( ) is a town in the Farmington Valley region of the Capitol Planning Region, Connecticut, United States. As of 2020, the town had a population of 19,795. History At the end of the last Ice Age, 12,400 years BP of the Younger Dryas, nom ...

. It is dedicated to the improvement of science education and does so by working directly with students, teachers, and the general public. Located in Avon CT, Talcott Mountain Science Center tries to improve lives of all people through an academy and science center programs.

History

TMSC was established in 1967 under a program of the

U.S. Department of Education The United States Department of Education is a United States Cabinet, cabinet-level department of the federal government of the United States, United States government, originating in 1980. The department began operating on May 4, 1980, havin ...

. Its founders were part of the Avon Public School district and included Superintendent Francis Driscoll and science teachers Donald P. La Salle and George C. Atamian. Its campus atop

Talcott Mountain Talcott Mountain of central Connecticut, with a high point of , is a long trap rock mountain ridge located west of the city of Hartford. The ridge, a prominent landscape feature, forms a continuous line of exposed western cliffs visible across ...

is a former

Project Nike Project Nike (Greek: Nike (mythology), Νίκη, "Victory") was a United States Army, U.S. Army project proposed in May 1945 by Bell Laboratories, to develop a line-of-sight (missile), line-of-sight anti-aircraft missile system. The project del ...

missile radar site ("HA-85") that formed part of the U.S. defenses during the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

. Initially three small buildings and a guard shack, the Center today houses four main campus buildings with classrooms and laboratories, as well as a weather research station, two observatories, the largest teaching planetarium in Connecticut and - within the surrounding 15 miles - a large visible model of the

Solar System The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Sola ...

Activities

The Center provides direct science education in schools in central Connecticut, online resources via the internet, teacher training in science methods, as well as public programs by appointment for students and adults on weekends and evenings, vacations and summers. Courses include general science for younger students, and enrichment and student-based research in astronomy, chronobiology, computers, ecology, geology, green energy, magic and science, meteorology, music technology, robotics, and video production. The Center produces curriculum for its own use as well as on a contracted basis for schools and projects. It has originated a number of nationwide educational projects under the

and the

National Science Foundation The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...

. It has been an international consultant to overseas schools in Northern Africa, Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean region. The Center houses the Talcott Mountain Academy for Science, Mathematics and Technology, a private independent co-educational day school centered on science and providing all academic subjects in grades K-8. The school is targeted at students who want to go above and beyond with gifted and talented educational opportunities to improve the daily lives of their students. Talcott Mountain Academy promotes community engagement, fun and enjoyment, unity, and more educational opportunities to have the children work together to improve their world.

Notable alumni

Eric Fossum Eric R. Fossum (born October 17, 1957) is an Emmy award-winning American engineer who co-developed some of the active pixel image sensor with intra-pixel charge transfer, with the help of other scientists from the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. H ...

* Steve Perlman

References

External links

* https://talcottscience.org {{Coord, 41.8161, -72.7994, display=title Avon, Connecticut Schools in Hartford County, Connecticut Planetaria in the United States Private middle schools in Connecticut Private elementary schools in Connecticut 1967 establishments in Connecticut