The Exploratorium
San Fransisco
The Exploratorium is an experimental, hands-on museum designed
to spark curiosity – regardless of your age or familiarity with science.
With hundreds of exhibits to touch, look through, pick up, and tinker with,
let curiosity be your compass to endless discoveries! Located in the Palace
of Fine Arts, near the Golden Gate Bridge.
The Exploratorium isn’t just a museum, it’s an ongoing
exploration of science, art, and human perception—a vast collection of
online interactives, web features, activities, programs and events that
feed your curiosity.
A Little Breathing Room
The Exploratorium opened to the public in the fall of 1969.
Richard M. Nixon was president, and the Vietnam War and racial tensions
continued to divide the nation. Neil Armstrong had just taken humankind’s
first walk on the moon, Andy Warhol was creating pop-art images of soup
cans, and the hot tub had just been introduced in California. More than
70 million children from the post-war baby boom were becoming teenagers
and young adults, and San Francisco had become a nexus for social experimentation.
It was the perfect place—and the perfect time—to try out a new way of learning.
Today, the Exploratorium is led by Dr. Dennis Bartels, a
nationally known science-education and policy expert dedicated to strengthening
the Exploratorium’s culture of lifelong learning. Under his guidance, the
museum has begun a new phase of growth and exploration.
...and Tomorrow
While the Exploratorium’s philosophy remains the same,
its scope of work has grown enormously over the years. Staff, programs,
and facilities filled up the physical space at the Palace of Fine Arts
long ago, spreading out not just to multiple buildings on the nearby Presidio,
but even into the hollow legs of the rotunda that fronts the adjacent lagoon.
#exploratorium
Open
Tuesday through Sunday.
10 A.M. to 5 P.M
Closed Mondays (Except Martin Luther King Day,
President's Day, Memorial Day and Labor Day)
Closed Thanksgiving
Close Christmas Eve @ 3 P.M.
Closed Christmas Day
3601 Lyon Street
San Francisco, CA 94123
(415) EXP-LORE
Exploratorium Main Office:
(415) 563-7337
General Information Line:
(415) 561-0360
TTY General Info (for hearing impaired):
(415) 353-0400
www.exploratorium.edu/
