Each spring at its Annual Awards Dinner, the Exploratorium celebrates great achievements in science, art, and technology by honoring special individuals chosen by their peers for their groundbreaking accomplishments, discoveries, or theories. Now in its thirty-third year, the Dinner is the Bay Area’s premier event in its realm, referred to as the “Oscar Night of Science.”

The Awards Dinner, which annually raises over $1 million, is also the Exploratorium’s major fundraising event, enabling the museum to continue its prodigious work. The Exploratorium is much more than a collection of exhibits. In fact, what most people see when they visit is just a small part of what the Exploratorium is all about. Our reach goes far beyond the museum’s walls, transforming teacher practices, creating alternative educational experiences, developing institutional partnerships, networks, and online communities, and extending learning experiences to people all around the world. Our goal is to give people of all ages not just the tools, but also the confidence they need to become active investigators and explorers, helping them let go of old, passive models of learning and see themselves as active partners in the learning process.