Something Incredibly Wonderful Happens

Frank Oppenheimer, the younger brother of the physicist J Robert Oppenheimer used his own intellectual inquisitiveness to found the Exploratorium, a powerfully influential museum of human awareness in San Francisco that encourages play, creativity, and discovery - all in the name of understanding. The author investigates the man behind the museum.

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How do we reclaim our innate enchantment with the world? And how can we turn our natural curiosity into a deep, abiding love for knowledge? Frank Oppenheimer, the younger brother of the physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, was captivated by these questions, and used his own intellectual inquisitiveness to found the Exploratorium, a powerfully influential museum of human awareness in San Francisco that encourages play, creativity, and discovery - all in the name of understanding. In this elegant biography, K. C. Cole investigates the man behind the museum with sharp insight and deep sympathy. The Oppenheimers were a family with great wealth and education, and Frank, like his older brother, pursued a career in physics. But Frank's path as a scientist was much less conventional than that of his more famous older brother. His brief fling with the Communist Party cost him his position at the University of Minnesota, and he subsequently spent a decade ranching in Colorado before returning to teaching. Once back in the lab, however, Frank found himself moved to create something to make the world meaningful after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Inspired by European science museums, he dreamed of teaching Americans about science through participation. Thus was born the magical world of the Exploratorium, forever revolutionizing not only the way we experience museums, but also science education for years to come. Cole has brought this charismatic and dynamic figure to life with vibrant prose and rich insight into Oppenheimer as both a scientist and an individual.