Things you never knew about Eureka!

We're getting ready to celebrate Eureka!'s 18th birthday later this year and are planning a number of exciting events and initiatives throughout 2010, including this month, the introduction of a new style admission ticket offering unlimited family fun for 12 whole months.

So, now seems a good time to share with you some unknown facts about the museum that may surprise you.

• The word ‘Eureka!’ comes from the phrase coined by Archimedes, an ancient Greek philosopher and mathematician. He famously cried ‘Eureka!’ - meaning 'I’ve got it!' - while making an important scientific discovery as he took a bath. The moment has been re-enacted at Eureka! every half hour since the museum opened, meaning that  Archimedes has now taken a staggering 95,058 baths!
• Since the museum opened in 1992, Eureka!’s dedicated staff have thrown over 2,000 birthday parties and delivered over 32,000 workshops to school groups.
• Eureka!’s largest exhibit is…Eureka! itself! The inside of the building and all its working parts were left visible when it was first built, so that children can see exactly how modern buildings are put together.
• Celebrities who’ve been spotted at Eureka! include Peter Kay, Jane Horrocks, Matthew Kelly, Lenny Henry, 80s Pop Legend Chesney Hawkes, former Prime Minister John Major and a host of soap stars including Emmerdale’s Zoe Tate and Mandy Dingle, and Coronation Street’s Martin Platt.
• The path to Eureka! is a yellow brick road made up of hundreds of individual yellow bricks, many donated by local construction community Marshalls and the remainder sponsored by individuals and businesses in the local community.
• The most photographed exhibit in Eureka! is the giant mouth in the Me & My Body gallery. A whole group of children can pose on its tongue at one time!
• In January 1995, 36 children from Burtonwood County Primary School spent the night in the museum with their teacher and Eureka! staff after becoming snowed in during a class trip.
• Eureka!’s Our Global Garden gallery introduced the world to the character Gordon the Garden Gnome, voiced by Alan Titchmarsh - who later found fame on CBeebies.
• Eureka! sits on its very own ‘Discovery Road’, a name chosen by Eureka! staff to reflect the exciting experiences which lay at the end of it.
• One of Eureka!’s exhibits, a digital world population counter, now stands at an estimated 7.08 BILLION people - meaning more than 25 million people have been born since the museum opened in 1992.

And on a more serious note…….

• Eureka! is an educational charity so all our work is about making a positive contribution to children’s lives.
• A 10-member Children’s Advisory Board, ‘Ideas United’ has input into all new galleries and programmes developed by Eureka!. This approach of consulting children who are seen as the ‘real experts’ has generated national interest and has been adopted by many other organisations around the world.
• Over 100,000 children from disadvantaged communities have been able to experience Eureka! at no cost to themselves or their schools, through funding and initiatives set up by the charity.
• All children in care visit Eureka! for free and all Calderdale schools visit Eureka! at half price.