Welcome at

Technoram

aThe Swiss Science

Center

FACTS

• 1982 first opened as a Museum for Technology

• From 1990 to 2000 conversion into a Science Center

• Now over 500 interactive exhibits and about

6‘000 m2 exhibition area

• About 250‘000 visitors per year, maximum daily attendance of 4‘200 visitors

• About 100 employees (about 40 fulltime equivalents)

Public understanding of science

You think that the public reads„Scientific American“?

Wrong!

The public drinks beer and watches football!!!

George Tressel (NSF 1987)

Why Technorama?

People often shy away from science precisely because they are afraid of being wrong.

They have been taught that science is • all work and no play• all knowledge and no wonder• all logic and no guesswork

Technorama can give you a complete different experience – try it with an open mind: Fascinating and playful interactive science exhibits.

Perception

Playful Science

Much later I did experiments in the laboratory and played around – no, pardon – I never did experiments, I always was playing around.

R. Feynman (1918 - 1988)(Nobelprice in physics)

Wolfgang Pauli and Nils Bohr

Experimental

• In the matter of physics, the first lessons should contain nothing but what is experimental and interesting to see. A pretty experiment is in itself often more valuable than 20 formulae extracted from our minds.

Albert Einstein

• Explaining science and technology withoutprops can resemble an attempt to tell what it islike to swim without ever letting a person nearthe water.

Frank Oppenheimer

knowing something!

You can know the name of a bird in all the languages of the world, but when you're finished, you'll know absolutely nothing whatever about the bird... So let's look at the bird and see what it's doing -- that's what counts. I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something.

Richard Feynman

Hints

• Don‘t try to see every exhibit – you can‘t experience over 500 phenomena in one day.

• Take a „sightseeing trip“ through the galleries in small groups (2-3).

• Use your freedom to decide what not to investigate and where to linger and backtrack.

• Make your own experience and learn why things behave the way they do.

• Nothing will happen, unless YOU make it happen.

Hear and forget.

See and remember.

Do and understand!