The science centre Dynamic Earth will celebrate 25 years on Tuesday 2 July by offering visitors a 25% discount on tickets.
Her Majesty The Queen opened the £34 million attraction in 1999 as the first Millennium project in the UK, and since then the building with its distinctive tented roof has become a staple attraction for locals and visitors.
Dynamic Earth welcomes around 300,000 visitors each year to see the state of the art planetarium and immersive science galleries. School pupils also visit Dynamic Earth taking part in one of the 400 conferences and other science related events held each year.
The building was designed by architect Sir Michael Hopkins and the site was formerly home to the Scottish and Newcastle Brewery who gifted the land for the purpose of creating a new science centre. The Millennium Commission was a key founding funder donating £15 million towards the creation of Dynamic Earth. The City of Edinburgh Council, local enterprise agencies and generous donors also contributed significant finance.
Recently relaunched, the planetarium has become very popular and has one of the highest resolution, 360-degree screens in Europe. Introduced by Dynamic Earth’s expert astronomers, the spectacular short films take the audience to the outer reaches of space, take a deep dive to the bottom of the ocean and even give the audience a thrilling moon landing.
Mark Bishop, CEO of Dynamic Earth, commented: “Dynamic Earth exists to bring the fascination and delight of science into people’s eyes. I fondly remember first visiting the centre with my young family way back in 2004. The plasticine model my daughter created after being inspired by her visit sits proudly on my desk.
“In addition to showcasing the wonders of the world, we are also highlighting the perils human activity is placing on our fragile planet. We are increasingly seeing visitors take away from their Dynamic Earth experience a powerful wish to play their part to protect Earth. We are here to promote understanding and empathy that leads to action. Every visitor is a potential problem-solver of the future for the greatest issue of the age, climate change”.
“Our 25th anniversary gives us a chance to celebrate what has been achieved through the collective effort of our staff and many supporters. It’s also an opportunity to look to the future. We are keen to become a key visitor hub for Holyrood Park, to further increase our Scotland-wide educational outreach activity and to become a key Edinburgh Festival venue.
“However, our response to the climate emergency is going to be the defining theme of what we do. We will always bring alive the fun of earth science and increasingly we want to encourage every visitor to play their part in protecting the tiny, pale blue dot that is our only home, planet Earth.”
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
