Pacific Science Center also offers year-round youth, teen, family and adult programs, including summer camps in various Puget Sound locations, science-themed 21+ events and research weekends.

[2] The center's original buildings were the United States Science Pavilion designed by Minoru Yamasaki for the 1962 World's Fair in Seattle.

The land and buildings were leased for $1.00 a year until 2004, when the title deed was signed over and the Pacific Science Center Foundation officially took ownership.

Before IMAX, a previous movie theater there showed films such as NASA's Apollo 8 (to the soundtrack of Yellow Submarine) and The 21st Century with Walter Cronkite.

Before being elected governor of the state of Washington, Dixy Lee Ray, served as Science Center director for many years.

In the mid-1970s, the lower-level math area was dominated by the Mathematica: A World of Numbers... and Beyond exhibit, where demonstrators in orange jackets (known as "OJ"s) made soap bubbles and showed audiences how the stylish new Chevrolet Chevette was paving the way for the quick adoption of the Metric system.

The Life Building contained the Sea Monster House, a replica of a First Nations longhouse,[5] as well as a working hydraulic model[6] of Puget Sound and the Mount Baker volcanic exhibit.

The presenters in question here were Janie Mann, who did dynamic combustion shows dressed as a witch circa 1977–78, and Dan Cox,[7] who did physics demos as Groucho Marx in the same era.

These staff were part of the "OJ" program (short for "Orange Jacket", the uniform of the time for Science Center tour guides and visitor assistants).

The resulting installation was designed by Seattle artist Dan Corson and involves five 10 meter (33 ft) tall sculptures of flowers, inspired by the Australian firewheel tree.