The Ontario Science Centre just celebrated its 40th anniversary, and prides itself on being one of the world’s first and greatest interactive science museums. No matter what the time of year, something interesting is always happening at the Ontario Science Centre. Established in 1969 as a Centennial project, the official name of the Ontario Science Centre is the Centennial Centre of Science and Technology, and it is found just north of downtown Toronto, bordered by a ravine on the Don River.
The Ontario Science Centre has showcased such exhibits as the infamous Body Worlds Two traveling human anatomy exhibit and Body Worlds and the Story of the Heart, both unique experiences displaying human bodies that have been preserved through a lamination-like process called “plastination” that are then thinly sliced to show you exactly how they work. The centre also developed Facing Mars: would you survive the journey, an exhibit detailing the real challenges faced when attempting to send humans to Mars and to explore the planet.
The unique architecture of the Ontario Science Centre has been featured in numerous films including Gorillas in the Mist with Sigourney Weaver, and was even the site of a press conference held by John Lennon and Yoko Ono in 1969. The centre houses some of the only moon and Mars rocks in Canada that are on display to the public along with the city of Toronto’s only planetarium.
The Ontario Science Centre has an Imax theatre where visitors can take in a breathtaking movie on the giant screen after they tour the museum, or can just go catch a flick by itself. The centre also debuted a fully-functional indoor rain forest in the 1990s and the world’s largest outdoor hydraulophone, a musical instrument that uses pipes and water.
The Ontario Science Centre is open seven days a week, 364 days per year from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
