February 7, 2006
MEDIA CONTACT: Caroline Witherspoon
or Jocelyn Collado
Becker Communications
(808) 533-4165
“SCIENCE ON A SPHERE” REVOVLES AT BISHOP MUSEUM
HONOLULU – A six-foot sphere floats in the darkened planetarium lobby. One moment, it’s a red globe of the planet Mars, a moment later, it glows with vivid blues and greens of our own planet Earth. That’s what Bishop Museum visitor will encounter when it debuts its newest permanent exhibit, Science on a Sphere, on March 11, 2006 at the 2nd Annual Mad About Science Festival.
The exhibit features a 68-inch, 200 lb. white fiberglass sphere, suspended from a custom-made aluminum structure, which serves as a 3-D movie screen to display full-color animated images from satellites and other sources of geophysical and astronomical data.
Science on a Sphere was created by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Bishop Museum is one of only four science and technology centers in the United States housing Science On A Sphere as a permanent display thanks to an Environmental Literacy Grant from NOAA’s Office of Education. The NOAA grant includes both the installation of the exhibit and the development of related educational programming. Bishop Museum will be the first of the four institutions to install and display the Science on a Sphere exhibit. The other sites to receive this grants are: Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose, CA; Maryland Science Center in Baltimore; and the Science Museum of Minnesota in St. Paul.
“Science on a Sphere will be a great addition to Bishop Museum’s exhibits and compliment to our new Science Adventure Center,” said Mike Shanahan, Director of Education for Bishop Museum. “Both the Science Center and Science on a Sphere teach science through vivid, exciting, and interactive exhibits and programs. We’re thrilled that NOAA has provided us with this great new educational opportunity for both Hawai‘i’s schoolchildren and Bishop Museum visitors.”
Bishop Museum will add to the sphere’s repertory with programs that display images from global environmental data sets. These images, which include the Earth’s topography, weather events, weather prediction models, and past and future climate changes, are among the animated programs that can be projected on the sphere.
“Bishop Museum will work closely with both national and local NOAA offices in the development of educational programs and exhibits for Science on a Sphere,” added Shanahan. The set of earth-based programs will debut in early 2006. The NOAA Environmental Literacy Grant also includes funding to develop a series of programs for schoolchildren that will debut in the autumn of 2006.
A treasured resource of Hawaiian history and heritage Bishop Museum was founded in 1889 by Charles Reed Bishop as a tribute to his wife Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, the last descendant of the royal Kamehameha dynasty. Located at 1525 Bernice Street, the Museum is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $14.95 for adults; $11.95 for youth 4-12 years and seniors 65+, special rates available for kama‘āina and military; children under 4 years and Bishop Museum Members are free. For information, call 847-3511 or visit www.bishopmuseum.org.