Frank Oppenheimer's gift to science education

San Francisco Chronicle: When physicist Frank Oppenheimer came back to the Bay Area from his Colorado ranch, he had a dream to create a new type of science museum.

It would be a place of wonder, he told a Chronicle reporter, "where human perception and awareness of the natural world" would awaken curious young minds to the phenomena of physics, the structure of chemical molecules, the behavior of living organisms, and the workings of the human mind."

The exhibits—"experiments," Oppenheimer called them—that he and his friends built for their museum—the Exploratorium— would so stimulate the curiosity of viewers that they would want to know more and more, asking the "whys" and "hows" and learning all the time.

Now celebrating its 40th anniversary, the Exploratorium grew to become world famous, but few visitors are aware of its singular role in changing the way teachers teach science—not just in the US, but in many other countries where reforming science education is more vital than ever.