Liberty Science Center
The Liberty Science Center is an innovative learning resource for lifelong exploration of nature, humanity and technology, supporting the growth of our diverse region and promoting informed stewardship of the world.
About Liberty Science Center
Liberty Science Center is a private, not-for-profit institution dedicated to informal science and technology education. Guests are encouraged to discover the joy and excitement of exploring science and technology at their own pace. Ideas are presented in an imaginative and accessible manner, allowing visitors of all ages and backgrounds to experience the satisfaction of individual discovery.
Located in Liberty State Park, Jersey City, New Jersey, minutes from New York City and Newark Airport and adjacent to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, Liberty Science Center’s distinctive building features hundreds of hands-on exhibits and the nation’s largest IMAX* Dome Theater.
Each floor has a specific theme - Invention, Health and the Environment - with exhibits, interactive demonstrations by Liberty Science Center staff, discovery rooms and multi-media theater presentations. The Invention Floor, sponsored by AT&T, showcases structures, energy and light, images, action and effects and encourages the inventor in all of us. The Health Floor, sponsored by Johnson & Johnson, teaches about the human body and health issues through exhibits on perception, bodies in motion and physiology, and helps guests make better lifestyle choices. The Environment Floor, sponsored by Merck & Co., is a place to learn about the Earth, including the atmosphere, energy resources, life forms from reptiles to giant exotic insects and geology, and introduces guests to concepts of environmental stewardship. In the four-story atrium, art and engineering come together in Liberty Science Center’s signature exhibit - a 700-pound unfolding geodesic aluminum sphere designed by Chuck Hoberman.
Liberty Science Center offers an ever-changing variety of exciting traveling exhibitions from across North America each year. Found on the Invention Floor, traveling exhibitions change about every three months.
Thanks to its six-story-high spherical screen, Liberty Science Center’s IMAX Dome Theater fills viewers’ peripheral vision, making them feel as if they are actually traveling to remote, often inaccessible places. Films change on a regular basis with multiple selections always available and are locally sponsored by PSE&G. Liberty Science Center often hosts national and international film launches, giving it a high profile in the large format screen industry. In the Joseph D. Williams Science Theater, guests can enjoy the thrill of seeing colorful lasers in 3-D, creating images seemingly suspended in mid-air.
Liberty Science Center helps teachers make science curriculum more lively and relevant through a menu of offerings available onsite, offsite and online. These include Discovery Challenges to help school groups focus on specific tasks during visits to Liberty Science Center; Traveling Science, bringing science fun to students in area schools; and Electronic Field Trips that reach schools as far away as Iowa, France and Ireland. Liberty Science Center even offers Live From Cardiac Classroom, allowing students to observe and ask questions of operating room staff via teleconferencing during live open heart surgery performed in nearby hospitals.
Teachers can participate in professional development workshops at school or at the science center, and can spend a sabbatical year at Liberty Science Center honing their science and technology teaching skills. Additionally, Liberty Science Center works with New Jersey’s 30 “at-risk” school districts with funding provided by the New Jersey Department of Education in the Partnership Program, creating customized science curriculums, training and community nights for teachers, administrators, students and parents.
A public/private partnership, acting on concerns about the science literacy of American youth, successfully raised $68 million to create Liberty Science Center, which opened to the public in January, 1993. The Center has served over nine million people since its opening, making it one of the region’s most visited family attractions.
To learn more, see www.lsc.org or call 201-200-1000 for recorded public information
