The Science Factory, Science museum in Sandnes, Norway
The Science Factory is a museum in Sandnes with interactive exhibits across multiple levels that explore energy, mathematics, astronomy, and everyday technological advances. The building includes a planetarium showing films and an observation terrace with telescopes on the top floor for hands-on learning.
This museum opened in 2008 and earned major awards within a year, including recognition as Museum of the Year in Norway and the Luigi Micheletti Award. These early honors showed how the institution quickly established itself as an important educational center.
The exhibitions here tell the story of local industries that once shaped the region, showing how companies like Øglænd and grain mills such as Krossen Havremølle connected people to their work. You can see the tools and methods that workers used in their daily routines.
The planetarium shows films in Norwegian and English, while the observation terrace offers telescopes for stargazing on clear nights. Plan to spend a few hours exploring the interactive areas at your own pace throughout the building.
A Foucault pendulum hangs through multiple floors of the building, slowly rotating to show the Earth's motion without any direct push from outside. Watching from above as the pendulum gradually changes its swing direction reveals one of physics most elegant demonstrations.
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