The Fleet Science Center is always a great stop for kids, with 100 interactive science exhibits, as well as the city's only IMAX dome theatre. The Fleet offers a host of programs and movies for the planetary inclined.
The recently expanded Natural History Museum was founded by a handful of citizen-naturalists in 1874, and is an active research institution and is the second oldest scientific institution in Southern California. As a kid, I loved staring at the diorama exhibits of wildlife and watching the giant Foucault Pendulum in the main lobby. Designed by Jean Leon Foucault in 1851, the pendulum provides visual proof of the Earth's rotation swinging back and forth as it knocks down blocks.
The apparent change in direction of swing is related to the perspective of the observer. Because no force is acting to change the direction of swing, it doesn't change. Instead, the floor, the observer, and the Earth's surface are turning beneath the pendulum.
The Natural History Museum will host the traveling exhibition of the Dead Sea Scrolls from June to December 2007.
