Well-designed exhibitions on diverse scientific topics to be held not only in Taipei but also in the center and the south of the country are a starting point for the public to learn fundamental scientific knowledge, the National Science Council (NSC) said yesterday.
A large exhibition room on the ground floor of the Technology Building on Heping East Road in Taipei has been closed for renovations for months. But yesterday, it was re-opened to house an exhibition marking National Science Week, an educational program presented annually by the council.
Since 2000, the council has used National Science Week to inform the public of important scientific developments and the nation's science and technology programs.
The latest exhibition is a summary of themes covered in the last five years. Topics range from earthquakes, genetics, life sciences, biotechnology and water to sustainable development.
"From now on, we will use the display room here intensively to deliver scientific knowledge to the public," NSC Minister Wu Maw-kuen (
To promote public awareness, the science education program has this year been further expanded from a week to what the NSC calls a "National Science Season."
The council is focusing on physics this year to match the rest of the world, which is celebrating the International Year of Physics, a UN-sponsored promotion.
The exhibition launched yesterday will continue to the end of October. In addition to displays of pictures and textual information, films will screen on weekends. Some interactive displays will also be set up, NSC officials said.
The council has released an introductory pamphlet in Chinese for visitors. An English-language version of the pamphlet will be available early next month.
Meanwhile, the Expo for the Exploration of Physics, an educational program designed by the council, has been launched in northern, central and southern Taiwan. In Taipei, interactive displays designed to develop public interest in physics are on show at the CKS Memorial until Aug. 7.
Renowned physicists including Steven Chu (朱棣文), a professor at Stanford University who shared the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics, have been invited to speak to the public. Chu, who will take up a chair at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California in August, will speak on "A Biological Solution to the Energy Crisis" at 10am today at the Taipei expo.
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