Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts is located in

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Harrisburg is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Dauphin County. With a population of 50,135 as of the 2021 census, Harrisburg is the 9th largest city and 15th largest municipality in Pe ...

. The center is the first complex of its kind in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

to use

science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

as an entry to the

art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

s. Whitaker Center exhibits

, the

performing arts The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which are the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. Perform ...

, and a digital cinema under one roof. The center encompasses a total of , including the three main components, plus STAGE TWO, Discovery Lab classrooms, multi-purpose rooms, the AMP Grand Lobby and the Kunkel Gallery.

History

In September 1997, ground was broken on the corner of Third and Market Streets in the heart of

downtown Harrisburg Downtown Harrisburg is the central core neighborhood, business and government center which surrounds the focal point of Market Square, and serves as the regional center for the greater metropolitan area of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, United States. ...

and the Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts, a $52.7 million public-private partnership, was born. The

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. Whitake ...

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 (now

TE Connectivity TE Connectivity is an American Swiss-domiciled technology company that designs and manufactures connectors and sensors for several industries, such as automotive, industrial equipment, data communication systems, aerospace, defense, medical, o ...

Uncas A. Whitaker Uncas Aeneas Whitaker (March 22, 1900 – September 1975)Anthony Hallett, Diane Hallett, Entrepreneur Magazine Encyclopedia of Entrepreneurs, 1997: John Wiley and Sons, pp. 286-287 () was a prominent mechanical engineer, electrical engineer, l ...

and his wife Helen F. Whitaker, in recognition of these grants. The

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...

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 is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

gymnastics Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, shou ...

and

ice-skating Ice skating is the self-propulsion and gliding of a person across an ice surface, using metal-bladed ice skates. People skate for various reasons, including recreation (fun), exercise, competitive sports, and commuting. Ice skating may be perf ...

. This is one of the flagship exhibits for the Science Center.

Whitaker Center attractions

Select Medical Select Medical is a healthcare company based in Pennsylvania. It owns long-term acute care and inpatient rehabilitation hospitals, as well as occupational health and physical therapy clinics. Select Medical is a subsidiary of Select Medical Hold ...

Digital Cinema (formerly Select Medical IMAX Theater) is a large-format cinema arts theater which primarily focuses on educational films. It was an

IMAX IMAX is a proprietary system of high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (approximately either 1.43:1 or 1.90:1) and steep stadium seating. Graeme F ...

theater until 2014, when it was upgraded to a more cost-effective digital system. During its operation, it was the only IMAX theater in the Central Pennsylvania region. Harsco Science Center has three floors and features more than 240 exhibits that explore

physical science Physical science is a branch of natural science that studies non-living systems, in contrast to life science. It in turn has many branches, each referred to as a "physical science", together called the "physical sciences". Definition Physi ...

natural science Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatab ...

life science Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energy t ...

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

and

technology Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in medicine, science, ...

. There are also limited-engagement exhibits. Sunoco Performance Theater showcases 696 seats within the Orchestra, Mezzanine, and Balcony levels. The theater's 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.

References

Museums in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Science museums in Pennsylvania Performing arts centers in Pennsylvania Performing arts in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Defunct IMAX venues Whitaker Center {{HarrisburgPA-stub