Scientific successes

Published on Wednesday 15 May 2002 01:00

FORGET Star Wars - we are starting to enjoy the real thing. Of course, only the richest can afford space tourism, but Earth-bound mortals are flocking to the new science and technology centres that are springing up throughout Britain. In Scotland last year, the number of visitors to historic monuments fell by 10 per cent, while there was a 47 per cent increase in visitors to museums and education centres devoted to science.

Edinburgh’s Our Dynamic Earth pioneered the new kind of hi-tech visitor attraction with its emphasis on the environment. Glasgow University’s often-neglected Hunterian Museum nearly doubled its visitor figures last year with an exhibition on dinosaurs. And the 75 million Glasgow Science Centre, even with its teething problems, attracted an encouraging 400,000 parents and children in only six months.

So the news that the chief executive of the Science Centre, Paul Smith, is resigning should not be taken as evidence that the project has in any way failed. The early troubles have resulted in a 1.2 million operating deficit, which may have prompted Mr Smith’s exit, but anticipated visitor interest is based clearly on solid ground. Or in space, for that matter.