Welcome to Luxembourg Science Center
IN A NUTSHELL
Latest news
#cc0c00Pre-opening for scholar groups starting in April 2017!
Reservation of visits with shows/workshops here:
reservations@science-center.lu
Tél. (+352) 24 55 84 79April 30, 2017
New PISA show on RTL filmed at the LSC.April 12, 2017
Publication of the spaceressources.lu promotional movie filmed mainly at the LSC.March 28, 2017
Launch of the pre-opening phase of the LSC with 250 students from European Schools and the International School, along with Education Minister Claude Meisch. Associated links on the web: RTL, Wort, Essentiel, ARD. (See also papers in the press folder and pitsch.lu for a photo report).March 22, 2017
New article in the Wort.March 14, 2017
Labor Minister Nicolas Schmit visits the Science Center.March 1st, 2017
New article in the Quotidien.February 28, 2017
New article in the Essentiel.January 26, 2017
New article in the Wort (De, En).PAST EVENTS:
December 19–20, 2016
The Luxembourg Science Center participates to the Makerfest organized by Bee Creative at the Forum Geesseknäppchen of Luxemburg. Articles here and here.December 2–3, 2016
The Luxembourg Science Center participates to the Researchers' Days organized by the FNR at the Rockhal in Belval. RTL's coverage here.September 17 – November 11, 2016
The Luxembourg Science Center hosts the Exhibition "Beyond the Lab: The DIY Science Revolution". Meet the hackers, patients and ordinary citizens revolutionizing health science as we know it. See the program of the events here !July 25, 2016
Xavier Bettel, Prime Minister and Minister of Cultural Affairs, visits the Luxembourg Science Center. Associated links on the web: Gouvernement, Wort, L'essentiel, Le Quotidien, Lëtzebuerger Journal, RTL.Sparks "Beyond the lab" Exhibition
#e03a00The Luxembourg Science Center organized the exhibition:
BEYOND THE LAB: THE DIY SCIENCE REVOLUTION
From september 17 to november 11, 2016
at the Forum Geesseknäppchen in LuxembourgDETAILED FLYER (pdf)
Science is done by scientists. Or is it? This exhibition explores eight remarkable stories of people who are opening up scientific research to everyone in the field of health, taking it out of professional labs and into homes, workshops and back yards.
From measuring air pollution in London to a force measuring helmet in Luxembourg or the search for new antibiotics in Amsterdam, a growing number of ‘do-it-yourself scientists’ around the world are busy hacking, experimenting and inventing. These DIY science pioneers are challenging our ideas of who a scientist is and what science will look like in the future. Will you join the DIY science revolution?
The LSC has adapted this traveling exhibition as part of the european project SPARKS which aims at promoting Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) across 29 european countries and will lead 7 events based on meetings between experts and citizens (detailed program).
PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Languages:
English, French, GermanAge ranges:
> 12Fare:
Free entryOpening hours:
From september 17 to november 11, 2016
From monday to friday 7.00 - 23.00 (closing at 19.00 during the holidays, from october 29 to november 5)
Saturday 7.00 - 13.00
Closed on sunday and november 1stAddress:
Forum du campus scolaire Geesseknäppchen
40 Boulevard Pierre Dupong, 1430 LuxembourgParking:
– Forum's underground parking (after 13.30)
– P+R Bouillon (free)
– Public parking rue Pierre Dupong in front of Athénée high school (charged)Agenda
#ef6b00Phase I
The LSC is open for scholar groups with reservations since March 28th, 2017 and will be open for the general public on October 5th, 2017, in Differdange (3rd largest city in Luxembourg, nearby the French and Belgian borders), next to the campus of the new International School. It provides some freshly renovated 30,000 square feet of floor space, including general experimental space of 11,000 square feet, the rest being occupied by workshops and laboratories for in-depth learning (see pictures of the construction site in the diaporama).The place is ideally located, close to the Differdange train station, in an expanding new urban area hosting the creativity center "1535°" and the new shopping mall "Opkorn".
Phase II
Project of extension of the LSC in 2022, in heritage buildings of the Differdange steel plant (200,000+ square feet), just a few hundred meters away from Phase I premises.Access & Location
#ff9900The Luxembourg Science Center is located at:
50 rue Emile Mark
L – 4620 Differdange
LuxembourgThe 1980s building of a former professional training school of ArcelorMittal, the “Leierbud", has undergone a major revamp and restoration process to bring it up to code and standards required to house the new Science Center in its Phase I.
Our manufacturing shops and offices are located within the ArcelorMittal steel plant of Differdange.
GPS coordinates:
49°31'22.5''N, 5°53'41.2''E
49.522910, 5.894783Arrival by public transport:
- By bus: “Arbed” stop within 20m (Line 203 between Differdange and Luxembourg City)
- By train: Differdange's main station within 200mPhone: +352-26-58-12-28
IN DETAIL
Concept
#192168A unique Project
The LSC's mission is to arouse interest in science and technology among the general public and youngsters in particular. Orienting the latter towards the highly scientific professional workplace of the 21st Century is indeed a challenge faced by most OECD countries, including Luxembourg. This goal will be achieved through the excitement generated by a multitude of spectacular, interactive, recreational, and educational workstations, workshops and labs. In October of 2015, the Luxembourg Government has officially recognized this private initiative as an “Institution of National Interest”.Today there are more than 3,000 Science Centers in operation around the world, generally catering to youth and their family. In total, they boast 300 million visitors per year, the largest of them reaching an average of 300,000 per year. The LSC is the first institution of its kind in Luxembourg and in the Greater Region.
From Past to Future
The LSC will also be the anchor institution for tourism in the South of Luxembourg. The Red Rock Region in Luxembourg and its neighboring areas of France, Belgium and Germany have witnessed a unique prosperity thanks to the presence, extraction and processing of raw materials like iron ore and coal. Today, economic change in the information age has brought about a shift to human intelligence and technological skills as being the only richness allowing the region to continue to prosper and thrive. The success of converting former steel producing land into a University site at Belval is an example of this evolution. The Luxembourg Science Center will be the link between this glorious past, the present and a promising future.Evolution Timeline
#003f87The “Luxembourg Science Center (Groussgasmaschinn)” is a not for profit private institution (Asbl) whose mission it is to develop and manage a Science Center for Luxembourg and its greater Region: France (Lorraine), Germany (the Saarland and large parts of Rhineland-Palatinate) and Belgium (the Provinces of Luxembourg and Liège).
The institution took its roots in an earlier not for profit, the “Groussgasmaschinn” (Asbl), whose more limited objective was to preserve and restore the world’s largest combustion engine, the Groussgasmaschinn, implanted in the Gas Engine Power Plant of ArcelorMittal Differdange. This earlier project of “Industrial Energy Museum” has evolved over time into the current, dramatically more ambitious, Luxembourg Science Center project.
Brief Historic Overview
2007 - Groussgasmaschinn is put on the Registry of Historic Monuments
2007 - Incorporation of the not for profit “Groussgasmaschinn”, Asbl
2011 - “Energy (R)Evolution” – Exhibition
2012 - Start of disassembly and restoration of the Groussgasmaschinn
2013 - First experimental station test
2013 - Visit by the Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker
2015 - Statutory change from “Groussgasmaschinn” into “Luxembourg Science Center (Groussgasmaschinn)
2015 - Start of the Enterprise Program, a partnership of the LSC with private enterprise
2015 - “Of National Interest Status” is granted by the Luxembourg Government
2015 - Preview of the Luxembourg Science Center at the Science Festival, Luxembourg
2016 - Renovation and improvement work starts at the “Leirbud” building, to become LSC’s first home (Phase I)
2016 - Visits by the Prime Minister and Minister of Cultural Affairs Xavier Bettel, the Minister of Finance Pierre Gramegna, the Secretary of State of Economy Francine Closener, the Secretary of State of Cultural Affairs Guy Arendt
2016 - Inauguration of the exhibition Sparks with the Minister of Education Claude Meisch
2016 - Preview of the Luxembourg Science Center at the "Researchers' Days" and "Makerfest"
2017 - Visit of the Labor Minister Nicolas Schmit
2017 - End of the renovation work od the Phase I building and pre-opening for Luxembourg's school classesArchitecture
#00709ePhase II, to be implemented starting at the end of the decade, was already the subject of numerous architectural design efforts.
In May of 2014, an International Architectural Workshop brought about 30 last-year architectural students and 8 professors to the site at Differdange. They represented 6 architecture faculties (Brno, Czech Republic: VUT Brno - Florence, Italy: UdS Firenze - Nancy, France: ENSA Nancy - New York, USA: NYU New York University - Saarbrücken, Germany: Htw Saar and Seville, Spain: ETSA Sevilla). The purpose of the Workshop was to develop ideas and drawings how the two industrial buildings (the neo-classical Gas Engine Power plant and the Thermo Plant) could be used for the Science Center in a new urban development.
These initial ideas, drawings and plans have been perfected in 2015 and 2016 by more detailed work performed at ENSA Nancy and UdS Firenze in a master thesis program of about 20 students.
Press
#00829bClick on a picture to read the article
_ TV _
30 april 2017
PISA (RTL)12 april 2017
Film "All of us" (spaceressources.lu)3 april 2017
Pre-opening (ARD after 15:55)28 march 2017
Pre-opening (RTL)27 march 2017
Preparing pre-opening (Wort)3 December 2016
Researchers' Days (RTL)25 July 2016
Visit Premier Ministre Xavier Bettel (RTL)25 May 2015
Visit Lycée de Garçons Esch/Alzette (RTL)15 February 2015
Mr. Science (RTL)_ RADIO _
9 november 2016
Essentiel Radio13 june 2016
Essentiel Radio19 may 2016
Radio 100,7_ ONLINE _
Science.lu
7 november 2016
Exposition “Sparks”: “Pirate de santé” Andrew présente son pancréas artificiel!
Ausstellung ‚Sparks‘: „Gesundheitshacker“ Andrew stellt seine künstliche Bauchspeicheldrüse vor!
OUR OFFER
Experimental stations
#006b3fThe permanent exhibition of the LSC consists of about 50 hands-on fascinating experimental stations. Visitors thus plunge into the discovery of a broad range of scientific and technological phenomena. And non scientists are fascinated by their own comfort-level and ease of understanding. To further enhance comprehension, the LSC team has opted for a three level approach of communication, easily interchangeable through touch screens:
- Purely Illustrative for kids up to 10 years of age
- Medium level for visitors with no or minimum scientific background
- Expert levelFive languages are on hand: Lëtzebuergesch, French, German, English and Portuguese. And most stations are height-adjustable to allow for a comfortable body position for the user (especially young children) and unobstructed access for visitors with limited mobility.
Our first stations (out of a program of 100) refer to popular experimentations in fundamental and applied sciences: electricity (including one of the largest Tesla coils in the world, electro-magnetism, electronics), mechanics (statics, gravity, fluids, building and construction, resistance of materials, simple machines), combustion engines, robotics, and maths. Biology chemistry, astronomy, acoustics, and other engineering topics will follow.
In Phase II, in order to achieve sufficient diversity and cover as many diverse science and technology sectors, up to 500 experimental stations will be pu into operation.
All these realizations are produced and tested within our own workshops on the industrial site of ArcelorMittal in Differdange.
Workshops/Shows
#3a7728For each visit, professional science mediators offer two kinds of 1-2h long activities in designated lab areas (within or outside the permanent exhibition) to enhance specific interest in selected subject matters:
- on the one hand, spectacular and interactive demonstrations to inspire and stir curiosity;
- on the other hand, DYI activities through guided workshops to generate self-confidence and engagement.
The different mediation spaces give a panoramic view of sciences and technologies. They include a kitchen lab, a shop to shape materials, electricity and magnetism stages, a mechanics zone and experimentation rooms with the following themes : computer science & robotics, space sciences, thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, chemistry, biotechnology, optics, acoustics, and mathematics.
Groussgasmaschinn
#568e14The preservation and restoration of the “Groussgasmschinn”, the largest combustion engine ever built in the world was the starting point of our journey. This engine was the final most successful evolution of 13 gas engines driving generators producing electrical power by using blast furnace gas (a waste product) covering the needs of the steel mill and a large portion of the country. At the end of the 19th century, the innovative idea of management at the Differdange mill, to replace steam engines through gas combustion engines should revolutionize world steel production for half a century.
Groussgasmaschinn: Some Facts & Figures
Date of Commissioning: End of 1937
Entry into Service: May 1942
Out of Service: October 2nd, 1979
National Monument Classification: 2007
Engine Manufacturer: Ehrhardt & Sehmer, Saarbrucken, Germany
Generator Manufacturer: Siemens, Siemensstadt, Berlin
Weight: 1,150 metric tons (approximately half in moving order)
Support foundations: 6,000 metric tons of concrete
Number of cylinders: 4
Size of Combustion Chamber: 3,000 liter
Speed of Fly-Wheel Generator: 94 Rpms
Length: 24 m
Width: 18 m
Diameter of Fly Wheel: 12 m
Power: 11,000 HP (8MW)
Cost of Investment: 20 Million Luxembourg Francs (including building extension and maintenance crane)Heritage Collection
#7fba00In Phase II of the project which will include the industrial heritage and technological evolution of the past, the LSC will be a benchmark of industrial heritage preservation in the purposeful way of its original use. A collection of historic large power producing engines, in operating mode will permit the visitor to experience the symbiosis between past, present and future technologies.
WHO WE ARE
The Team
#51261cThe current team consists of about forty full-time employees. But, all in all, a hundred people have already been involved in the development of the Science Center.
The social dimension is an important element especially concerning our human resources, because the reinstatement of the former steel workers of Schifflange, Bettembourg and Rodange, the members of the Cell of Redeployment (CDR) of ArcelorMittal, was at the root of the project. The exceptional know-how of this team and its incomparable motivation are essential both for the works of conception and construction of the experimental stations of the Science Center as well as for the works of dismantling, restoration and refurnishing of the historic equipment.
Our Know how
#603311Our know-how and experience spans all the way from the restoration, maintenance and operation of historic combustion engines to sophisticated science and technological mediation.
Our Partners
#755426The Center is recognized as a major institution, critical for future economic development, by Luxembourg's Government, the European Union, leading foundations acting in education, as well as by academia and industry.
Our main partners are:
The Ministry of Education
The Ministry of Cultural Affairs
The Ministry of Economy
The Fonds National de la Recherche
The Oeuvre Nationale de Secours Grande-Duchesse Charlotte
The André & Henriette Losch Foundation
The Lanners Foundation
The Leir Charitable Foundation
The European Commission (Horizon 2020)
ArcelorMittal
Artec
Audi-VW
Cargolux
Cebi
Ceratizit
CFL
Creos
Delphi Automotive Systems
Euro-Composites
Fanuc
IEE
Post
SES-Global
The Ecole Nationale des Ingénieurs de Metz
Telecom NancyJoin Us
#8c5933Job openings coming soon...
