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  • Celebrate the holidays Exploratorium-style with whimsical machines and dazzling lights.

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  • Illuminated Fog Exhibit

    Where Curiosity Takes You

    Step inside a tornado, turn upside down in a curved mirror, walk on a fog bridge, and explore more than 650 hands-on exhibits.

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  • People at Exhibit

    Inquiry-based learning is at the core of the Exploratorium. We invite people to ask questions, question answers, and discover for themselves how the world works.

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  • Shadow Box exhibit

    Browse our growing online collection of hands-on exhibits. 

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  • Explore our cool, teacher-tested, low-cost activities for the classroom and the curious.

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  • Curious Contraptions November 8–January 20, 2019

    Explore charming, handmade mechanical sculptures at Curious Contraptions.

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Experience the Exploratorium at Pier 15

Plan Your Visit

Pier 15
(Embarcadero @ Green St.)
San Francisco, CA 94111
Directions & Parking

Today's hours are 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.

Museum Hours
Tuesday–Sunday (All Ages): 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
Thursday Evenings (Ages 18+): 6:00–10:00 p.m.
Monday: Closed except select Monday holidays

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What's Going On?


Curious Contraptions: November 8–January 20, 2019
Curious Contraptions

November 8–January 20, 2019

Explore charming, often hilarious mechanical sculptures known as automata. These small, handmade machines bring whimsical dramas to life through low-tech mechanisms, inviting visitors to investigate how they work. 

Dec
19
Spectrogram of hydrophone recording
Lab and Lunch: Listening for Change in San Francisco Bay

Wednesday, December 19, 2018 • Noon–1:00 p.m.

Bring your lunch and listen to the sounds of life beneath the Exploratorium piers, as a bioacoustics researcher discusses what scientists learn when listening for environmental changes.

Dec
20
After Dark: Essentials

Thursday, December 20, 2018 • 6:00–10:00 p.m.

What do we really need to survive? What happens when a key ingredient goes missing? Examine some essential questions surrounding ecology, packing lists, oils, and nutrition, including the element selenium at Everything Matters.

Dec
21
Tactile Dome Evening Hours
Tactile Dome: Special Evening Hours

Friday, December 21, 2018 • 6:15 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

The museum closes at 5:00 p.m. today, but the after-hours interactive fun continues in our Tactile Dome. Take an interactive journey through total darkness during these special evening hours. 

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More to Explore

The Exploratorium isn't just a museum; it's an ongoing exploration of science, art and human perception—a vast collection of online experiences that feed your curiosity.

Featured Video

Hernán Lira: Building Automata

Experience the magic of toy- and puppetmaker Hernán Lira. 

more videos
Global Climate Change Explorer

Discover how researchers study climate change and examine the latest scientific data.

Shadow Box exhibit
Exploratorium Exhibit Collection

We’ve been making our own hands-on exhibits here at the Exploratorium since 1969. Now with over 650 exhibits currently on display in our museum, we’re working to create a browsable collection of these exhibits online.

Science Snacks
Science Snacks

Low-cost, teacher-tested activities for the classroom and the curious.

Explore our online collection