Dear visitors,

Once again we stand at the threshold of a new year; a new year that can mark a new beginning in our vision and attitude towards the world we live in.

Launched with the belief in children’s potential to change the future, the BA Planetarium Science Center (PSC) is a pioneer of informal science communication in Egypt. It has taken it upon itself to mobilize all available resources towards spreading the message of Science for ALL!

To that end, the PSC capitalizes on human resources, Egypt’s most abundant resource. However, our trust and investment is not in just the human power to work but, more importantly, in the human mind to imagine and discover.

A Science Center is dedicated to increasing the public awareness and understanding of science through entertainment; it fulfills its goal by encouraging curiosity, imagination and creativity. In its endeavor to achieve that, the PSC seeks excellence and innovation.

This year, the PSC focuses on reinforcing its earlier successes and highlighting its annual events: the Summer Program, the FIRST-LEGO League in Egypt competition, the Egyptian Science and Engineering Fair (ESEF), the World Environment Day (WED), Eratosthenes festivity and the Science Festivity.

In 2009, we celebrate the third Science Festivity; a huge public event that gives science a presence in the community and offers people of all ages and backgrounds the opportunity to question, discuss, and explore. The overarching theme of the Science Festivity 2009 is “Energy”. The hub of the Science Festivity is the “Science Village”, which, as our visitors from 2007 and 2008 already know, hosts a large diversity of hands-on exhibits, in addition to the always intriguing Super Science Show. This year, visitors of the “Science Village” will also get the chance to attend the previously parallel lectures and presentations in the same location. For sure, our faithful as well as our new visitors will continue to experience the pleasure of lifelong learning; whether with family, friends, or on their own.

Moreover, this year, the PSC joins the world’s celebration of the International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009). The vision of IYA2009 is to help the citizens of the world rediscover their place in the Universe and engage a personal sense of wonder and discovery. In commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the first use of an astronomical telescope by Galileo Galilei, IYA2009 is a global celebration of astronomy and its contributions to society and culture, under the central theme “The Universe, Yours to Discover”.

IYA2009 events and activities will promote a greater appreciation of the inspirational aspects of astronomy that embody an invaluable shared resource for all nations. On this occasion, the PSC is organizing a series of activities that include, among others: the “Astronomy Olympiad” competition, the “Universe Awareness” and the “Space Technology” programs, the “Astronomy in the Arab-Muslim Civilization” and the “She is an Astronomer” series of lectures and seminars, in addition to the 17th Annual Conference of the European Society for Astronomy in Culture (SEAC’2009).

2009 was also declared the Egyptian Italian Year of Science and Technology. In collaboration with the Egyptian Ministry of Higher Education and the Italian Embassy, the BA will be hosting five consecutive exhibitions, kicking off with the “Blow-Up, Images from the Nano-world” exhibition, 8-27 January 2009, which aims to reveal the hidden and mysterious world of nanotechnology.

We invite you to visit our website regularly to read more and stay updated about all our activities during 2009, which promises to be an exciting year for Science and Technology in Egypt.

It is resolution time, and we here at the Planetarium Science Center are resolved to open new horizons with a clear vision. A vision that celebrates diversity and a firm determination to think globally while acting locally to change individual attitudes towards our shared reality, our country, our region, our world, and last, but most importantly, our shared humanity.

The PSC staff wishes all our visitors a Happy New Year 2009!