San Francisco Exploratorium: Discover the Premier Interactive Science & Arts Museum

San Francisco Exploratorium

When professor and high school teacher Frank Oppenheimer imagined creating a science museum in San Francisco, little did he know that his vision would grow into today’s Exploratorium, encompassing two huge piers on the city’s waterfront. Originally opened in 1969 in the Palace of Fine Arts, the expanded facility which occupies Piers 15 and 17 has evolved into a world-renowned experiential science, technology, and arts museum that is fun and above all, educational, for visitors of all ages.

If you enjoy firsthand learning, the Exploratorium is the place for you. Imagine making sand sculptures magnetically or experiencing a tornado (safely) while you are indoors. These are two of the most popular permanent exhibits to be found here, along with the incredible Tactile Dome where you will feel your way both crawling and climbing through a totally dark exhibit that is unlike any other.

Oppenheimer, who also spent time as a cattle rancher and experimental physicist, was unique in the many ways that he viewed science and art acting in tandem as people explored the world around them. During his professorial days he created a teaching environment where students could follow their own personal curiosities as they delved into scientific phenomena that takes place in the everyday world. His “library of experiments” brought art and science together, a combination that is constantly utilized in this amazing museum.

The Exploratorium aims to invite curiosity and experimentation which in turn aids in the development of new exhibits, and the expansion of existing ones.

Explainers, Not Docents

What’s an ‘Explainer’, you ask? Here’s another way that the Exploratorium differs from other museums you may have visited. Docents are typically staff members who lead guided tours, giving detailed information about an exhibit, type of art such an impressionist or modern, or particular pieces of art, whether it be a painting or piece of sculpture.

Welcome to the world of Explainers, where young high school and field trip Explainers wearing orange vests are positioned throughout the museum. These bright and curious youngsters are supported and trained by the Exploratorium’s staff educators and scientists so that they can make your visit much more enjoyable. Explainers love to learn and share their knowledge, and with enhanced communication skills they can answer your questions, lead discussions, and explain how specific exhibits may influence our lives.

The Explainers program has been so successful that it has been instituted at other museums around the globe. So, whenever you see one of these friendly orange-vested Explainers, feel free to ask questions any exhibit.

How is the Exploratorium Organized?

There are six permanent galleries encompassing hundreds of exhibits that are made in the museum’s in-house shop. The shop is right here, on-site, and is visible to guests. With a strong belief that their exhibits should be evaluated by the museum’s visitors, they are changed over a period of time to remain current. While some exhibits are, as the museum says “tinkered with” for updating, others are “retired” or recreated for better understanding.

Gallery 1: “HUMAN PHENOMENA” is focused on human thoughts, feelings, and social behavior. How you, your family and friends feel about specific things in your life, and how you interact with others are in the Exploratorium’s viewpoint open to your creativity and investigating scientifically. Sounds confusing? I agree, but the exhibits here are meant for you to interact with, advise your thoughts, and observe others also playing along.

Gallery 2: “TINKERING” is the place where visitors are encouraged to be creative and make something that they have personally designed. There are plenty of “contraptions” here that the museum staff has made, too, which gives visitors ideas to build off of. It isn’t often that a museum encourages its guests to roll up their sleeves and make something unique, but that is exactly what the Exploratorium invites guests to do. Making something by hand without a plan has led to an amazing array of finished projects.

Gallery 3: “SEEING & REFLECTIONS” is a lot of fun as the exhibits experiment with how our eyes respond to light in a myriad of ways. The scientific process involving vision investigates real phenomena of how the world is perceived by each of us, utilizing not only light, but also mirrors, and would you believe, bubbles. Various exhibits will give you a much deeper understanding of the scientific process of sight and reflections, and allows visitors to play with light and learn about it impacts the world.

Gallery 4: “LIVING SYSTEMS” may just be our favorite gallery at the Exploratorium, though choosing which galleries you find the most interesting is subjective. This gallery explores life all the way from DNA and the smallest cells to the endless number of organisms and ecosystems that make up the earth. Using scientific tools to discover hidden organisms that are underground or in the ocean, this area of the museum is ideal for Explainers to lead demonstrations and open discussions with visitors who always have a lot of questions here.

One particular area of Gallery 4 that we found to be particularly fascinating were the Botany exhibit where the structure of flower anatomy is explored. From the stamen, pistil, anther, and other parts of each flower, you will learn how plants reproduce even in the most difficult environments.

The Cow’s Eye Dissection sounds awful at best, it is really amazing. Scientists have been able to determine if cows can see color, how their eye lenses work, and how humans and cow eyes share some similarities. Who knew?

And be sure to visit the Plankton exhibit where visitors can view minute organisms via microscope that flourish in San Francisco Bay. The organisms are both incredible to discover and are startlingly beautiful.

Gallery 5: “OUTDOORS EXHIBITS” zero in on how the weather and environment continue to shape the City of San Francisco, the Bay Area including Oakland in the East Bay, and San Jose to the south, and the entire region in a larger sense. Learn how ocean and bay tides, winds off of the Pacific Ocean, and human behavior affect an area that is home to more than 7.5 million people. While San Francisco proper has just 850,000 residents, the region’s population is nine times larger. The Outdoors Exhibit will give you a chance to shake a bridge and reveals a different perspective on the many different types of areas that people inhabit.

Gallery 6: “OBSERVING LANDSCAPES” provides an in-depth look at the San Francisco Bay Area from an ecological, historical, and geographical perspective. All visitors will find this interesting no matter if you live locally, in another part of the U.S., or another country. Learn how the growth of the local population as well as natural forces have come together to establish the amazing landscape of the area. From the hills of the East Bay that are brown in summer and turn emerald green during the rainy fall and winter, to the Santa Cruz Mountains south of San Jose, this region of Northern California is a sight to behold.

Visiting the Exploratorium

Visitors will find the Exploratorium to be an energetic place to explore, and the crowds thoroughly enjoy the firsthand approach to learning. Of course, kids will be especially stimulated, but there is more than enough for adults to get excited about, too. Weekend crowds are younger with many young families visiting, so adults may prefer weekdays for a quieter experience. However, weekdays are also prime time for school trips, so you can’t totally escape the energy that students usually bring to the party.

As you might expect, summer is the absolute peak season for everything in San Francisco, with fabulous weather and kids out of school. The good news for whatever time you visit is that the museum is enormous, very comfortable, and a recent redesign makes it easy to get around. All of the major exhibits are accessible for people with disabilities.

The Exploratorium is completely dedicated to making science education within reach of anyone who is interested, so in addition to offering a world-class facility to tour in person, there are online programs that will be of interest to many. They have also designed science education programs for use by educators around the world.

Check out the Exploratorium’s website for information about live webcasts that are frequently streamed both from the museum and remote locations that invite views to continue learning long after visiting the museum.

Special Programs at the Exploratorium

After Dark Thursday Night: From 6 to 10 p.m. every Thursday night the Exploratorium is off-limits to kids. Seriously. The museum’s more than 700 exhibits are open to adults only during these hours, with special programs designed to recharge the great minds that are forever changing communities. Check out the Tactile Dome without kids under foot, and yes, you can even grab an adult beverage while here to further enhance your experience. The Exploratorium’s 75,000 feet of exhibition space is adults-only on Thursday evenings, year-round, and has been this way for more than 15 years.

Look Up: Eclipse, Moon, and Mars is a special spring program that focuses on outer space. This is when guests can learn more about the universe than they knew existed, with both visual experiences and hands-on exploration specially developed for the museum. You will learn about eclipses with the Eclipse Experience exhibit, be amazed by the latest NASA rovers and orbiters, Perseverance, Sojourner, and Odyssey, be able to see volcanoes on Mars through the work of sculpture Lauke Jerran, and so much more. Our galaxy and beyond is limitless and astounding.

Glow. Play in the light: The art and science of light is incredible during the winter months. Lighted artworks at the Exploratorium include experimental LED games, glowing geometrics that you can learn to create on your own, count the craters on a glowing moon, and a variety of prototype exhibits in the Light Lab.

San Francisco. An incredible city that’s home to the Golden Gate Bridge, Coit Tower, Golden Gate Park, Fisherman’s Wharf, Pier 39, Ghirardelli Square, Alcatraz, cable cars, Lombard St. – the crookedest street in the world, Twin Peaks, Haight-Asbury, the Mission neighborhood, incredible dining, and the list goes on and on. Take our word for it, don’t miss the Exploratorium. This science and arts museum is beyond compare and easy to get to. Kids of all ages, 8-88, will be recharged after visiting this amazing museum.