The Science Factory


Science Factory is a museum and science center located at Sandnes, in Rogaland, Norway.

Background

The Science Factory opened in May 2008. It is a science museum with exhibitions about mathematic, astronomy, chemistry, physics, art, and technology. The history of Sandnes also well as regional history also showcased in the museum. In June 2013 a new exhibition called 100% energy was opened. As a part of the exhibition, the Science Factory has their own Tesla Coil. In the weekends and summer there are shows and educational workshops. The Planetarium is located in the center of the Science Factory. The Science Factory also has a Foucault pendulum weighing 60kg and is 11,17 meters long. There is an observation terrace located on the fourth floor featuring two telescopes.
The Science Factory is the largest department of the regional museum, Jaermuseet, which is headquartered in Nærbø. Jærmuseet is also responsible for running several other local museum facilities in various parts of the region of Jæren. Jærmuseet is the regional science museum for the municipalities of Randaberg, Sola, Sandnes, Gjesdal, Klepp, Time and Hå. Jaermuseet received the Museum of the Year 2009 award in Norway and also the Luigi Micheletti Award 2009 for best technological museum.

Exhibitions

Abel's Sketchbook

Abel's Sketchbook is an interactive exhibition that shows the relationship between art, technology and science. The name is inspired by the famous mathematician Niels Henrik Abel, who was born at Finnøy in Ryfylke not far from Sandnes. The exhibitions is based on the art and industry in the regionof Jæren.
Topics include:
In the middle of the building the planetarium looms above the café. It is a large dome-shaped projection screen where you can see the stars, planets and galaxies. In addition to the guided tours of the starry sky, several educational movies about different topics are shown. There are films in Norwegian and in English.
There are 57 seats, and was when it opened as one out of five planetariums in the world using a combined Skymaster ZKP 4 optomechanical projector and Spacegate system from Carl Zeiss.

Other Exhibits

In 2012 National Geographic wrote this about the Science Factory:
"The Science Factory: My favorite place by far, the Science Factory is in nearby Sandnes and serves as a high-tech playpen for kids of all ages. Stargaze in the planetarium..."