Few San Francisco institutions have an origin story quite like the Exploratorium's. Its founder, physicist Frank Oppenheimer, the younger brother of J. Robert Oppenheimer, was forced out of his job at the University of Minnesota in 1949 after a House Un-American Activities Committee inquiry. Blacklisted from academic jobs, he spent almost a decade running a cattle ranch in Colorado and became the only science teacher at the high school in Pagosa Springs. The hands-on teaching ideas he worked out in that period, including a "Library of Experiments," became the basis for a museum where visitors learn by touching, tinkering and testing.

From the Palace of Fine Arts to the waterfront

With a $50,000 grant from the San Francisco Foundation, the Exploratorium opened in late August 1969 inside the Palace of Fine Arts in the Marina. It began as an open workshop where the public could watch exhibits being built. Oppenheimer was director until his death in 1985. Its basic exhibits were later documented in the Exploratorium Cookbook, a manual explaining how to build them.

In 2013 the museum moved to Piers 15 and 17 on the Embarcadero. The Exploratorium's own visitor page places it between Pier 39 and the Ferry Building. Lindsay Bierman has been executive director since 2022.

The museum has also given the world a holiday. Pi Day was founded there in 1988, when the museum was still at the Palace of Fine Arts.

What's inside

The museum says it now has more than 650 exhibits covering light, sound, perception, biology, the bay and human behavior. A few highlights:

  • The Tactile Dome. It's a pitch-black maze you go through by touch alone, designed by Carl Day and August Coppola. It needs a separate reservation, so book it before you go.
  • After Dark. Thursday nights are for adults 18 and older, with themed programs, drinks and an emptier floor than on a school-day morning.
  • "Glow." A new exhibition on light runs Nov. 19 through Jan. 24.
  • The Outdoor Exploratorium. A set of free outdoor exhibits at Fort Mason lets you try the museum's approach without buying a ticket.

Planning a visit

Sunday mornings from 10 a.m. to noon are members-only, so general-admission visitors should plan for later in the day. Food is available at the Tinkering Table restaurant and Catalyst Coffee Lab, and the museum store can be visited without a ticket. Check the museum's visit page for current hours and prices before you go. The F-line historic streetcars run along the Embarcadero in front of the piers.