Something Incredibly Wonderful Happens

K. C. Cole, who knew Frank Oppenheimer for many years as a friend and colleague, writes about her mentor, the physicist who founded the Exploratorium in San Francisco. Like his older brother, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Frank grew up in a wealthy Manhattan household, became a physicist and worked on the atomic bomb. A brief membership in the Communist Party cost him his post at the University of Minnesota, and he then spent a decade ranching in Colorado. Back in teaching, and inspired by European science museums, he created a participatory museum that combined art and science and encouraged play and experiment, and it went on to change museums worldwide. Cole draws on letters, documents and extensive interviews.

Patrick Collison includes it on the Bookshelf page where he lists books.