Step into San Francisco’s Exploratorium, a museum where science, art, and human curiosity come alive. Founded in 1969 by physicist Dr. Frank Oppenheimer, the Exploratorium reinvented what a museum could be by encouraging visitors to touch, tinker, and test the world around them.
Inside six galleries and outdoor spaces, you’ll find more than 700 exhibits built on-site by artists, scientists, and educators. Stop time with a strobe light, play with perception, watch fog swirl in a tornado, or test your senses in the pitch-black Tactile Dome. Exhibitions change regularly, so there’s always something new to explore, like Glow, where you can discover the art and science of light.
The Exploratorium is for everyone, including families, students, couples, and solo adventurers alike. On Thursday nights, the museum transforms into After Dark, an adults-only (18+) event with cocktails, music, and immersive programming (different ticket).
Beyond the exhibits, the building itself is a model of sustainability. Since relocating to Pier 15, the Exploratorium has become the largest net-zero energy museum in the U.S., powered entirely by renewable energy and cooled by Bay water. It’s a museum that doesn’t just teach science, it lives it.
What You’ll Explore Inside
• Human Phenomena Gallery: Experiment with thoughts, feelings and social behavior
• Tinkering Gallery: Try out our latest prototypes that we build for museums around the world, and get creative with hands-on building activities
• Seeing & Listening Gallery: Put your perceptions to the test with light, sound, color, and heat
• Living Systems Gallery: Discover all scales of the living world in this working laboratory
• Outdoor Exhibits: Immerse yourself into large-scale exhibits on wind, water, and motion
• Bay Observatory: Enjoy panoramic Bay views with exhibits on local history, geography and ecology
