Regional Science Centre, established in the temple city of Bhubaneswar on 8 acres of land, was dedicated to the nation on 18th September 1989. This Centre is one of the 26 science centers/science museums under the network of National Council of Science Museums, an autonomous council under the Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India.
The Centre aims at inculcating scientific temper and popularizing science & technology amongst people of all walks of life, students in particular, in the state of Odisha through exhibits, exhibitions, special shows, and educational programmes. At present, there are three galleries.
They are :Motion Gallery,Mathematics Gallery,Popular Science Gallery.
Apart from these, there is a Science Park with a number of interactive outdoor exhibits and a Prehistoric Life Park comprising animated dinosaurs models synchronized with a story-telling light & sound show.
The gallery on ‘Motion’ showcases various facets of Motion in a holistic sense – its cosmic origin, celestial motion,atmospheric motion, motion inside the Earth, motion inside our body and even ‘Motion that is not’—illusory motion.
The gallery has 40 interactive exhibits showing features on cosmological motion, motion inside our body, wave motion, the motion of subatomic particles, laws of motion, illusory motion, mechanics of motion, time and motion & many more.
The gallery on “Mathematics” unravels the wonderful world of Mathematics and its applications in our everyday life. The gallery also makes the public aware of the Indian contribution in the Vedic Period towards the subject. Here, Mathematics is no longer fearsome or drab, rather one can play with it. For more inquisitive children, it is a place to learn the intricacies of Mathematics through a process of interaction and discovery.
Lots of action, fun, and excitement are what this gallery is all about. It contains an array of exhibits which engage visitors and allow them to interact, explore and unravel the mysteries behind everything in a fun-filled way.
A sprawling Science Park, having a large number of interactive exhibits aesthetically placed over the undulated landscape, is the pride of the Regional Science Centre, Bhubaneswar. Ample opportunities are there for the visitors to play with these outdoor exhibits and learn the underlying principles on which they work.
The story of the evolution of life on our planet Earth is narrated to the visitors through a Light and Sound show in an interesting way. The show highlights some of the salient features of the evolution of life and depicts behaviour of the animals which became extinct in the course of time.
Regional Science Centre, Bhubaneswar conducts regular Teachers’ Training Programmes, Creativity Ability Camp, Vacation Hobby Camp, Popular Science Lectures, Science Quizzes, Sky Observation programmes with the telescope, Science Seminars, Science Drama, Science Fairs etc.
The special shows include 3D Movies, Taramandal inflatable dome planetarium shows, Science Magic shows, Super-Cool Body shows, Non-fall Bicycle and Science Film shows.
As an outreach educational programme, the Centre operates two Mobile Science Exhibition (MSE) buses on the topics “Mathematics” and “Electricity & Magnetism” to the schools of rural areas of Odisha. The idea of MSE is to take science to the people of grass root level, who cannot afford to visit the Science Centre.
The Science Centre organizes regular science exhibitions and some important Travelling Exhibitions on current topics that tour different parts of the country throughout the year.