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Frank Oppenheimer

1912–1985

Frank Oppenheimer grew up in New York City. He graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a degree in physics and later earned a Ph.D. at the California Institute of Technology, where he experimented with artificially induced radiation.

In 1941, Frank began working on uranium isotope separation, and, in 1945, he joined the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos. This top-secret effort to produce an atomic bomb was directed by Frank’s brother, J. Robert Oppenheimer.

After the war, Frank became a physics professor at the University of Minnesota. But in 1949, he was forced to resign as a result of harassment by the House Un-American Activities Committee. Blackballed by McCarthy-era paranoia, Frank was unable to continue his physics research, and spent the next ten years as a cattle rancher in Pagosa Springs, Colorado.

In 1957, he was drawn back into education as a science teacher at the local high school, which had fewer than 300 students and only one science teacher for all the grades. A tireless and innovative teacher, he took students to the dump and used abandoned auto parts to teach principles of mechanics, heat, and electricity.

With improvement in the political climate, Frank was offered an appointment at the University of Colorado in 1959. There, he revamped the teaching laboratory, creating a “library of experiments” that was in many ways a prototype for the Exploratorium.

In 1965, while in Europe on a Guggenheim fellowship, Frank explored and studied European museums and became convinced of the need for science museums in the United States that could supplement the science taught in schools. When he returned home, Frank was invited to plan a new branch of the Smithsonian, but he declined, preferring instead to work on what he called his “San Francisco project”— a museum of his own.

Frank proposed to house his new museum in the vacant Palace of Fine Arts in the Marina district of San Francisco. The proposal was accepted by the city, and in 1969, with no publicity or fanfare, the doors opened to Frank’s Exploratorium. Frank nurtured and shaped the growing museum until 1985, when he died from lung cancer.

The qualities that made Frank so special are the same qualities that make the Exploratorium special: an insistence on excellence, a knack for finding new ways of looking at things, a lack of pretentiousness, and a respect for invention and play.

Related Exhibits

Balancing Ball
Balancing Ball

Levitating on an invisible stream of air, a beach ball seems to defy gravity. If you try to pull the ball out, you can feel a force pulling it back in—the same force that keeps an airplane in flight.

Where:   Osher Gallery 1: Human Phenomenon

Bicycle Wheel Gyro
Bicycle Wheel Gyro

Tilt a spinning bicycle wheel while you’re sitting in a swivel chair and—surprise—you’ll start spinning in circles, too. You can also witness the same phenomenon here by hanging a spinning wheel from its axle.

Where:   Gallery 4: Living Systems

Bird in a Cage
Bird in a Cage

Stare at a bird’s eye for 30 seconds, then look into the empty cage. You’ll see a ghostly bird—of a very different color—inside the cage

Where:   Bechtel Gallery 3: Seeing & Reflections

Blood Cells in Your Eye
Blood Cells in Your Eye

Gaze into the eyepiece at the blue light, looking for bright specks moving in short bursts against the background, and feeling your pulse as you watch them.

Where:   Gallery 4: Living Systems

Catenary Arch
Catenary Arch

Build an arch that supports itself.

Where:   This exhibit is not currently on view.

Colored Shadows
Colored Shadows

Step in front of this wall, and you’ll make shadows of various colors—yellow, magenta, cyan, red, green, blue, and yes, even black—that wiggle, jump, and dance along with you.

Where:   Bechtel Gallery 3: Seeing & Reflections

Corner Reflector
Corner Reflector

This reflector has you cornered: It always sends light back in the direction from which it came.

Where:   Bechtel Gallery 3: Seeing & Reflections

Coupled Pendulums
Coupled Pendulums

Start one of these two pendulums swinging and soon you’ll see the other pendulum start swinging, too. Keep watching and you’ll see the two pendulums take turns, alternately swinging energetically and coming to a near standstill.

Where:   Crossroads: Getting Started

Duck Into a Kaleidoscope
Duck Into a Kaleidoscope

Step inside—and reflect.

Where:   Osher Gallery 1: Human Phenomenon

Gray Step
Gray Step

With the rope hanging down, the left and right sides of the board appear identical. Lifting the rope shows the dramatic difference that your eyes missed—and continue to miss, as soon as you let the rope fall again.

Where:   Bechtel Gallery 3: Seeing & Reflections

Hot Spot
Hot Spot

This curved mirror focuses both light and heat.

Where:   Bechtel Gallery 3: Seeing & Reflections

Inverse Square Law
Inverse Square Law

Light gets dimmer the farther it travels–and a bit of simple math explains how.

Where:   Osher Gallery 1: Human Phenomenon

Pedal Generator
Pedal Generator

Power these appliances with your feet!

Where:   Gallery 2: Tinkering

Shadow Kaleidoscope
Shadow Kaleidoscope

How many shadows can you create?

Where:   Bechtel Gallery 3: Seeing & Reflections

Articles written by Frank Oppenheimer (PDFs)

 

Rationale For A Science Museum

Everyone Is You... Or Me

Museums, Teaching and Learning

The Exploratorium: A Playful Museum

Growing Up In The Arts

The Practical and Sentimental Fruits of Science

Adult Play

Jargon: Second Cousin Twice Removed

Aesthetics and the Right Answer

Exhibit Conception and Design

Exploration and Discovery

Teaching and Learning

Recollections

The Arts: A Decent Respect for Taste

Living a Fruitful Life

Watery Delights

The Aesthetic of Frank Oppenheimer

 

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