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Explorit Science Center Weekly Column

This page contains the material submitted to the local paper - The Davis Enterprise - for Explorit
Science Center's news column published in that paper on Fridays.

December 10, 1999

By: Kate Laddish

"Inventors and Inventions" Opens Tomorrow at Explorit

So, when was the last time you wereinside a camera?

Lately, cameras have been getting increasingly small to the point where some clever people have invented cameras that are petite enough to fit in your pocket so that you can have one available for those candid snapshots. However, cameras have not always been quite so portable. Although they are now ubiquitous, the camera is a relatively new invention.

Explorit Science Center's new exhibition "Inventors and Inventions Through the Centuries" has a version of an early type of camera, the camera obscura, that you actually enter in order to use. Although you cannot take lasting pictures with this camera, you can create and view images using the techniques that early photographers had available to them.

And when was the last time a camera was inside you? Arthroscopic and laproscopic surgical techiques, which allow surgeons to insert small "video cameras" connected to wires through small incisions in the patient, have decreased the size of incisions needed for procedures, which makes them very good inventions from the view of both surgeon and patient. The video microscope at Explorit, which magnifies objects 200 times, is akin to the cameras used in these surguries.

But Explorit's new exhibition about inventors and inventions certainly isn't just about cameras. Since the start of this millenium--and earlier--human ingenuity, often out of necessity, has produce many useful tools and ideas. This exhibition affords you a rich opportunity to explore creative inventions from around the world.

For example, the slide rule was certainly not the only precursor to today's calculators and spreadsheet programs. The abacus was invented in Asia roughly 2,500 years ago! Think that Excel is tricky? Try your hand at doing calculations using the giant abacus on the wall at Explorit!

Non-sighted people have had the opportunity to read and write using an alphabet of raised dots since the 1820s thanks to inventor Louis Braille, who was blind himself. If you are lucky enough to be able to read text, you may have had your curiosity aroused when you've encountered Braille in an elevator or at the ATM. Now is you chance to try your hand (literally) at writing and reading Braille with the Braille writer at Explorit.

These are just a very few of the inventors and inventions represented in Explorit's new exhibition. There's the wheel, electricity, Morse Code, a telescope, a "Rube Goldberg" machine, a personal computer and more! And it just wouldn't be Davis if the bicycle wan't represented.

This stunning new exhibition, partially sponsored by Genentech, Inc., opens tomorrow. What invention will you use to get to Explorit to experience it?

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Now is the time to renew your Explorit membership or to join for the first time! Hurry; the membership drive ends on December 17. As an Explorit member, you'll be entitled to free admission to Explorit and to over 225 other science museums worldwide for one year, discounts in the Explorit store (where possible stocking stuffers abound) and on Explorit classes, birthday parties and special events, and Explorit's quarterly newsletter, Science Centered.

But why the rush to join during the membership drive? Joining by December 17 automatically enters you in the drawing for eleven prizes, including the Grand Prize cruise and dinner on Lake Berryessa for you and 12-15 friends. No matter when you join, you will get the satisfaction of knowing that you are making hands-on science possible for our community surrounding counties that Explorit enriches with its unique outreach programs.

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Explorit Science Center is located at 3141 5th Street in East Davis. The current exhibition is Inventors and Inventions Through the Centuries. Public hours are Saturday from 11:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Sunday from 1:00 to 4:30 p.m., and Tuesday through Friday from 2:00 to 4:30 p.m. Regular admission is $3; members, teachers (with school ID) and children under 4 are free.