Editing Pacific Science Center (section)

==History==
[[File:Ford E-Series of the Pacific Science Center in Seattle, WA.jpg|thumb|right|A Science Center van]]
The center's original buildings were the '''United States Science Pavilion''' designed by [[Minoru Yamasaki]] for the 1962 [[Century 21 Exposition|World's Fair in Seattle]]. The World of Science, along with the Worlds of Art, Entertainment, Commerce and Industry, and Tomorrow were the five main theme areas that were installed the World's Fair. Located at the southernmost end of the fairgrounds and west of the Space Needle, the World of Science was located next to the arches, an easily-identifiable landmark.

The fountains located at the entrance of the center appeared in the movie ''[[It Happened at the World's Fair]]'' with [[Elvis Presley]]. After the World's Fair closed, the US Science Pavilion was re-opened as '''Pacific Science Center'''. The land and buildings were leased for $1.00 a year until 2004, when the title deed was signed over and the Pacific Science Center Foundation officially took ownership.{{citation needed|date=March 2022}}

===1960s===
During the 1960s, many of the center's exhibits were carried over from the original World's Fair exhibition; only a few of these original exhibits remain today. Currently, exhibits remaining from the World's Fair are the Lens and Mirror Machine and a suspended model of the Earth's moon.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.seattlepi.com/lifestyle/67034_fairmemories19.shtml| title=Recalling the time of their lives| newspaper=[[Seattle Post-Intelligencer]]| date=April 19, 2002| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020425223938/http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/lifestyle/67034_fairmemories19.shtml| archive-date=April 25, 2002}}</ref> One of the more notable science exhibits during the World's Fair was a ramp where the buildings were built at a tilt (the "illusion ramp"); this exhibit was reproduced in the late 1990s. The domed Spacerium, now known as the Seattle Laser Dome and used for [[laser show|laser light show]], was designed for a wide-angle movie journey through space. Before [[IMAX]], a previous movie theater there showed films such as NASA's [[Apollo 8]] (to the soundtrack of Yellow Submarine) and The 21st Century with [[Walter Cronkite]]. Before being elected governor of the state of Washington, [[Dixy Lee Ray]], served as Science Center director for many years. Ray helped promote the Science Center among school children by hosting a school-age geared science program televised on Seattle [[PBS]] station [[KCTS-TV|KCTS-9]].

===1970s===
In the mid-1970s, the lower-level math area was dominated by the ''[[Mathematica: A World of Numbers... and Beyond]]'' exhibit, where demonstrators in orange jackets (known as "OJ"s) made [[soap bubble]]s and showed audiences how the stylish new [[Chevrolet Chevette]] was paving the way for the quick adoption of the [[Metric system]]. Upstairs, a giant apparatus known as the "[[bean machine|probability machine]]" would ring an alarm before emptying out a bin of balls. The entire exhibition had been originally designed as an exhibit for the IBM Pavilion at the [[1964-65 New York World's Fair]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://nywf64.com/ibm06.shtml |title=Pavilions & Attractions - IBM - Page Six |access-date=December 22, 2011 |website=New York World's Fair}}</ref> It was permanently removed around 1980.

An aerospace building contained a full-sized [[lunar module]] mockup from which suited [[astronaut]]s would climb out. The Life Building contained the [[Sea Monster House]], a replica of a [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|First Nations]] [[longhouse]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.alcheringa-gallery.com/artists.html/v1/view/v2/2/v3/142 |title=Russell Smith, restorationist on the longhouse project at the PSE |access-date=July 17, 2012 |url-status=dead  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120318152836/http://www.alcheringa-gallery.com/artists.html/v1/view/v2/2/v3/142 |archive-date=March 18, 2012 |website=Alcheringa Gallery}}</ref> as well as a working hydraulic model<ref>{{cite web |url=http://exhibits.pacsci.org/puget_sound/PSSummary.html |access-date=December 22, 2011 |title=The Puget Sound Model| website=Pacific Science Center |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150310034800/http://exhibits.pacsci.org/Puget_Sound/PSSummary.html |archive-date=March 10, 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref> of [[Puget Sound]] and the [[Mount Baker]] volcanic exhibit.

With the physical sciences, the physics [[witch]] on [[Halloween]] would ask "Would you like to boil ''blood'' in a paper cup?" or [[Groucho Marx]] would dump [[liquid nitrogen]] on the ponds after a demo. The presenters in question here were Janie Mann, who did dynamic combustion shows dressed as a witch circa 1977–78, and Dan Cox,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://dlcox.wordpress.com |title=Daniel Cox Homepage |access-date=December 22, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141026001739/http://dlcox.wordpress.com/ |archive-date=October 26, 2014 }}</ref> who did physics demos as Groucho Marx in the same era. Cox would later go on to become a professor of physics. These staff were part of the "OJ" program (short for "Orange Jacket", the uniform of the time for Science Center tour guides and visitor assistants). The program consisted of 24 work study students, whose leader in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Carl Linde, set a format for the program that would last into the late 1990s. The [[Charles Eames|Eames]] theater was originally created for a special multi-screen [[IBM]] movie for the World Fair. It was later converted into an [[IMAX]] screen in 1979, the first of two IMAX theaters at the center.

===1980s===
Pacific Science Center grew dramatically in the 1980s. A key step in its evolution was the hiring of George Moynihan as executive director in 1980.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Floyd |first=Doug |date=March 14, 1980 |title=Post Filled |work=[[Spokane Daily Chronicle]] |pages=46}}</ref> Moynihan, from the [[Lawrence Hall of Science]] in [[Berkeley, California]], would run the center for the next two decades. His leadership team in the 1980s included Diane Carlson in public programs, Dennis Schatz in education and exhibits, and Dave Taylor in exhibits. In 1984 the science center took a gamble on hosting the exhibit ''China: 7000 Years of Discovery''. The success of the exhibit helped put PSC on the map as a leading science center.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Moody |first=Dick |date=September 4, 1984 |title=China show closes after record draw |work=[[Spokane Daily Chronicle]] |pages=6}}</ref> Other notable successes later in the decade were several iterations of a traveling robotic dinosaur exhibit, which led to the center eventually installing a permanent dinosaur display in the 1990s.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Johnson |first=Carla K. |date=April 5, 1990 |title=Pacific Science Center's traveling exhibit opens on Saturday at Walk in Wild |work=[[Spokane Daily Chronicle]] |pages=31}}</ref> Pacific Science Center hosted the annual [[Association of Science and Technology Centers]] conference in October 1987 and opened several major exhibits in the same period, including ''Kids Works'', ''Body Works'', an animal area, and a tide pool.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Johnston |first=Mike |date=October 13, 1987 |title=Seattle's Science Center opens new exhibit |work=Ellensburg Daily Record |pages=2}}</ref>