About
Aberdeen Science Centre is the North East of Scotland's leading destination for hands-on science discovery, offering an exciting and immersive experience for families, school groups, and curious minds of all ages. Located on Constitution Street in Aberdeen, the centre is dedicated to making science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) accessible, engaging, and genuinely fun for everyone who walks through its doors.
The centre hosts a wide array of interactive exhibits across its galleries, allowing visitors to experiment, discover, and explore scientific principles through direct engagement rather than passive observation. From investigating the laws of physics to exploring the chemistry of everyday life, from testing engineering concepts to experiencing the mathematics of shapes and patterns, the hands-on approach ensures that learning happens through doing — a philosophy that has proven especially effective for children and young people encountering science for the first time.
Science shows and live demonstrations form a centrepiece of the Aberdeen Science Centre experience. Spectacular displays — featuring fire, liquid nitrogen, giant bubbles, and other dramatic effects — bring scientific principles vividly to life and generate genuine excitement and wonder in audiences of all ages. These shows are a highlight of any visit and are carefully designed to connect the drama of the demonstration to clear and memorable scientific explanations.
Aberdeen's position at the heart of the North Sea oil and gas industry gives the centre a particular resonance with energy, engineering, and technology themes. The region has been a global hub for offshore energy production since the 1970s, and the centre engages with this industrial heritage while also looking forward to the emerging technologies of renewable energy, carbon capture, and the energy transition. These themes connect local and global stories in a way that is both relevant and inspiring for young visitors considering careers in STEM fields.
The centre was originally established in 1996 and has undergone successive redevelopment to keep its exhibits fresh and relevant. Its educational programmes are closely aligned with the Scottish Curriculum for Excellence, making it an invaluable partner for schools across the North East of Scotland. Whether visiting for a self-guided family outing or a structured school trip, Aberdeen Science Centre delivers a dynamic and memorable encounter with the wonders of science.
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Plan Your Visit
💡 Visitor Tips
- Check the daily science show schedule on arrival and plan your visit around the show times
- Book science workshop sessions at reception when you arrive as popular sessions fill up quickly
- Allow at least 2-3 hours for a thorough visit, especially if children want to revisit favourite exhibits
- The gift shop has excellent STEM toys and science kits — ideal for extending the learning experience at home
- Combine with a visit to nearby Marischal Museum for a full day of discovery in central Aberdeen
- School holiday visits are busiest mid-morning — consider arriving at opening or after 2pm for shorter queues
Highlights
Live Science Shows
The spectacular live science shows at Aberdeen Science Centre are a highlight of every visit. Presented by enthusiastic and knowledgeable science communicators, these performances use dramatic demonstrations — including liquid nitrogen freezing, fire displays, enormous soap bubbles, and electrifying physics experiments — to bring scientific principles to life in the most vivid and memorable way.
Shows typically last 20-30 minutes and are suitable for all ages, though children's reactions of wonder and amazement make them particularly rewarding for families.
Check the daily schedule at reception and arrive early as the popular shows fill up quickly.
Interactive Physics Exhibits
The physics galleries at Aberdeen Science Centre offer dozens of hands-on interactive exhibits that allow visitors to investigate fundamental scientific principles through direct experimentation. Explore the behaviour of light and colour, investigate forces and motion, examine sound waves and vibration, and experience the sometimes counter-intuitive properties of electricity and magnetism.
Each exhibit is designed to invite active investigation rather than passive observation, encouraging visitors to form hypotheses, test them, and draw their own conclusions.
The exhibits are robust, engaging for all ages, and carefully designed to make complex physics concepts genuinely accessible and enjoyable for first-time learners.
Engineering and Construction Zone
The engineering and construction zone gives young visitors the opportunity to think and work like engineers, tackling practical design challenges with real materials. Activities might include building bridges to test load capacity, constructing earthquake-resistant structures, or designing and testing simple machines.
These exhibits draw direct connections to the engineering heritage of Aberdeen and the wider North Sea oil and gas industry, one of the world's most demanding engineering environments.
The zone is particularly popular with older children and teenagers, and the challenges are designed to have multiple solutions — rewarding creativity, teamwork, and iterative thinking alongside technical knowledge.
Energy and Environment Gallery
Given Aberdeen's position at the centre of Scotland's energy industry, the Energy and Environment Gallery has special resonance. Exhibits explore the science and technology of energy production and use, from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources including wind, wave, solar, and hydrogen. Visitors can investigate how electricity is generated, explore the science of climate and climate change, and discover the technologies being developed to address the global energy transition.
The gallery connects global challenges to local stories, reflecting the region's own journey from oil capital to potential renewable energy powerhouse — a story of enormous significance for Scotland's future.
Collections
Physics in Action
Interactive exhibits exploring forces, motion, electricity, magnetism, sound, and light through hands-on experiments.
Energy and Environment
Gallery exploring energy production, renewable technologies, and the science of climate and the environment.
Engineering Zone
Hands-on engineering design challenges encouraging visitors to build, test, and problem-solve.
Life Science
Interactive exhibits on biology, the human body, and the science of living organisms.
Maths and Patterns
Mathematical puzzles, spatial challenges, and pattern exploration for all ages.
Current Exhibitions
No current exhibitions. Please check the museum website for updates.