INACH, the Chilean Antarctic Institute, has its headquarters in a low building just south of the Plaza. It is the public agency that coordinates all Chilean scientific work in Antarctica, and it runs the small but well-presented Centro Antártico Internacional exhibits on the polar regions.
It's not always open to drop-in visitors, but if you can time a visit it gives a good sense of why Punta Arenas matters beyond its tourism — the city is the closest large port to the Antarctic Peninsula, and most non-Argentine scientific expeditions to the continent stage their gear here.