Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts
Encyclopedia
Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts is located in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Harrisburg is the capital of Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 49,528, making it the ninth largest city in Pennsylvania...
. The center is the first complex of its kind in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
to use science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
as an entry to the art
Art
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
s. Whitaker Center exhibits science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
, the performing arts
Performing arts
The performing arts are those forms art which differ from the plastic arts insofar as the former uses the artist's own body, face, and presence as a medium, and the latter uses materials such as clay, metal or paint which can be molded or transformed to create some physical art object...
, and an IMAX
IMAX
IMAX is a motion picture film format and a set of proprietary cinema projection standards created by the Canadian company IMAX Corporation. IMAX has the capacity to record and display images of far greater size and resolution than conventional film systems...
theater under one roof. The center encompasses a total of 130000 square feet (12,077.4 m²), including the three main components, plus STAGE TWO, Discovery Lab classrooms, multi-purpose rooms, the AMP Grand Lobby and the Kunkel Gallery.
Whitaker Center Components
Select MedicalSelect Medical Corporation
Select Medical Corporation is a leading provider of specialized health care in both inpatient and outpatient settings. Based in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, Select Medical has 27,300 employees throughout the United States. The company was co-founded in 1996 by Rocco Ortenzio and Robert Ortenzio...
IMAX Theater, is a state of the art large-format cinema arts IMAX
IMAX
IMAX is a motion picture film format and a set of proprietary cinema projection standards created by the Canadian company IMAX Corporation. IMAX has the capacity to record and display images of far greater size and resolution than conventional film systems...
theater featuring modern educational films and new releases. It is the only IMAX theater in central Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
. The IMAX theater is generously supported by Select Medical Corporation
Select Medical Corporation
Select Medical Corporation is a leading provider of specialized health care in both inpatient and outpatient settings. Based in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, Select Medical has 27,300 employees throughout the United States. The company was co-founded in 1996 by Rocco Ortenzio and Robert Ortenzio...
.
Harsco Science Center, with three floors features more than 240 fun and informative exhibits that explore physical science
Physical science
Physical science is an encompassing term for the branches of natural science and science that study non-living systems, in contrast to the life sciences...
, natural science
Natural science
The natural sciences are branches of science that seek to elucidate the rules that govern the natural world by using empirical and scientific methods...
, life science, mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
and technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
. There are also special limited-engagement exhibits. The science center is generously supported by Harsco Corporation
Harsco Corporation
Harsco Corporation is a diversified, worldwide industrial company based in the United States. Harsco operates in 54 countries and employs approximately 19,000 people worldwide. The company provides industrial services and engineered products that serve some of the world’s largest and most...
.
Sunoco Performance Theater, showcases 664 seats within the Orchestra, Mezzanine and Balcony levels, and its design features 14 theater boxes over those levels. Currently there are seven resident companies at the theater: Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, Harrisburg Choral Society, Harrisburg Opera Association, Market Square Concerts, Susquehanna Chorale, Theatre Harrisburg and The Wednesday Club. Sunoco Performance Theater is generously supported by Sunoco, Inc
Sunoco
Sunoco Inc. is an American petroleum and petrochemical manufacturer headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, formerly known as Sun Company Inc. and Sun Oil Co. ....
.
History
In September 1997, ground was broken on the corner of Third and Market Streets in the heart of downtown Harrisburg and the Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts, a $52.7 million public-private partnershipPublic-private partnership
Public–private partnership describes a government service or private business venture which is funded and operated through a partnership of government and one or more private sector companies...
, was born.
The Whitaker Foundation
Whitaker Foundation
The Whitaker Foundation was based in Arlington, Virginia and was an organization that primarily supported biomedical engineering education and research, but also supported other forms of medical research. It was founded and funded by U. A. Whitaker in 1975 upon his death with additional support...
and the Helen F. Whitaker Fund have contributed over $8 million to the center. Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts is named in memory of the founder of AMP Incorporated, Uncas A. Whitaker and his wife Helen F. Whitaker, in recognition of these grants.
The National Science Foundation
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...
awarded the center a major grant in support of a permanent exhibit for the new Science Center. "Bodies In Motion: The Physics of Dance" explores the physics of human movement, especially dance
Dance
Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....
, gymnastics
Gymnastics
Gymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. Internationally, all of the gymnastic sports are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique with each country having its own national governing body...
and ice-skating. This is one of the flagship exhibits for the Science Center.
Mayor Stephen R. Reed
Stephen R. Reed
Stephen Russell Reed is the former and longest-serving mayor of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He moved to Harrisburg with his parents as a boy.- Biography :...
, an integral part of this project from day one, has proudly referred to Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts as "Harrisburg's Crown Jewel".