California Academy of Sciences facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Quick facts for kids
California Academy of Sciences


Lua error in Module:Location_map at line 420: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
Established	1853 (1853)
Location	Golden Gate Park San Francisco, California, United States
Type	Natural history
Accreditation	AAM ASTC
Visitors	1.34 million (2016)
Architect	Renzo Piano
Public transit access	9th and Irving Bus: 44, 5, 7

The California Academy of Sciences is a huge natural history museum and research center in San Francisco, California. It's one of the biggest natural history museums in the world. It holds more than 46 million specimens, which are like samples of plants, animals, and rocks.

The Academy started in 1853 as a group for learning and research. It still does a lot of important scientific studies today. You can find this amazing place in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. The main building was completely rebuilt in 2008. It covers a huge area of about 400,000 square feet (37,000 m²).

You can get to the museum easily by public transit. The N Judah train line has a stop about half a mile away. Several Muni bus lines, like the 44, 5, and 7, also stop near the museum.

What is the California Academy of Sciences?
- Research at the Academy: IBSS
What Can You See at the Museum?
What Kind of Research Do Scientists Do Here?
A Brief History of the Academy
How the New Building Helps the Environment
- The Green Roof
Gallery
See also

What is the California Academy of Sciences?

The California Academy of Sciences is the oldest museum and research place for natural sciences in California. It is guided by a group of 41 trustees. These trustees are chosen by the Academy's "Fellows." Fellows are scientists nominated by their peers and they are members for life. The trustees then pick the leaders who manage the Academy's daily operations.

Research at the Academy: IBSS

Besides being a public museum, the Academy also has a special research part called the Institute for Biodiversity Science and Sustainability (IBSS). This institute studies things like how living things are classified (taxonomy) and how they are related (phylogenetics). They also study the variety of life on Earth (biodiversity).

While some of their work can be seen in the museum's "project lab," most of their research happens in labs behind the scenes. In fact, almost half of the Academy's building is used for research and offices.

What Can You See at the Museum?

The 90-foot (27 m) wide glass dome that holds the rainforest exhibit.

View of the Amazonian flooded forest inside the rainforest exhibit. You can see fish like Arapaima and catfish from a special underwater tunnel.

The museum focuses on natural history. Here are some of the main parts you can explore:

Kimball Natural History Museum – This is most of the museum, except for the planetarium, rainforest, and aquarium. It includes:
- Africa Hall – This is the Academy's oldest exhibit.
- East Wing – Here you can see a Foucault pendulum, which shows how the Earth rotates.
- West Wing – This area has exhibits about Earth's geology and forces.
Morrison Planetarium – This features a huge 90 feet (27 m) wide dome. It has a 75 feet (23 m) screen that shows amazing digital space shows.
Rainforests of the World – This exhibit is inside a 90-foot (27 m) glass dome. It lets you experience a real rainforest environment.
Steinhart Aquarium – This part has exhibits with coral reefs, tide pools, and swamp habitats.

A rare albino American alligator named Claude.

An albino reticulated python named Lemondrop.

One of the smaller coral exhibits in the aquarium.

Penguin Habitat – Here you can watch a group of African penguins playing and swimming.

The California Academy of Sciences also offers many programs for the public. These include educational events and community outreach activities.

What Kind of Research Do Scientists Do Here?

Scientists at the Academy's Institute for Biodiversity Science and Sustainability study many different fields. They do research on how living things are classified (systematics) and how to protect them (conservation biology). Their work covers:

anthropology (the study of humans)
marine biology (ocean life)
botany (plants)
entomology (insects)
herpetology (reptiles and amphibians)
ichthyology (fish)
invertebrate zoology (animals without backbones)
mammalogy (mammals)
ornithology (birds)
geology (Earth's structure)
paleontology (fossils and ancient life)

There's a big focus on environmental issues. All the departments work together to study biology and biodiversity. Academy researchers travel all over the world. For example, in 2011, an expedition to the Philippines found about 300 new species! The Academy also publishes scientific journals and papers.

A Brief History of the Academy

How it Started

The California Academy of Natural Sciences began in 1853. This was just three years after California became a state. It was the first group of its kind in the Western US. Their goal was to explore California and collect samples of its unique plants and animals. In 1868, its name was changed to the California Academy of Sciences.

The Academy was very open-minded about women in science. From its first year, it welcomed women to help in all areas of natural science. This led to many women being hired as botanists and entomologists in the 1800s. At that time, there were very few science jobs for women. In 1892, Alice Eastwood, a botanist, joined the Academy. She worked there until 1949 and built a collection of rare plants. This collection was saved when the Academy was destroyed in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.

The Academy's first public museum opened in 1874 in what is now Chinatown. It attracted up to 80,000 visitors each year. To handle more visitors, the Academy moved to a bigger building on Market Street in 1891. This new building was paid for by James Lick, a wealthy San Francisco businessman.

However, just 15 years later, the Market Street building was destroyed. This happened during the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and the fires that followed. Almost all of the Academy's library and specimen collections were lost. Scientists and staff could only save a small cart of items. Luckily, a scientific trip to the Galápagos Islands was already happening. When it returned seven months later, it brought new collections to replace what was lost.

Moving to Golden Gate Park

In 1916, the Academy moved to Golden Gate Park. This became its permanent home. The first building there was the North American Hall of Birds and Mammals. Later, the Steinhart Aquarium was added in 1923, and the Simson African Hall in 1934.

During World War II, the Academy helped the war effort. Its workshops repaired optical and navigation equipment for United States Navy ships. San Francisco was a very important port during the Pacific War.

After the war, many new buildings were added. The Science Hall opened in 1951, and the Morrison Planetarium in 1952. The Morrison Planetarium was one of the first in the U.S. It had a special star projector built by Academy staff. This projector made stars look more natural, not just perfectly round.

More additions came in 1959, including the Malliard Library. In the 1960s, many universities gave their old specimen collections to the Academy. This made the Academy's collections grow very quickly. In 1969, Cowell Hall was added. New galleries opened in 1976, and the "fish roundabout" in 1977.

Before the old building was torn down in 2005, it had a "Life through Time" gallery. This showed a big exhibit on evolution and paleontology. There was also a Gem and Mineral Hall, a section about Earthquakes, and a Gary Larson exhibit.

Earthquake Damage and a New Building

The Academy of Sciences in 2003, two years before it was rebuilt.

The Academy buildings were badly damaged by the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. The Bird Hall building had to be closed for safety. The Steinhart Aquarium also had serious damage from the earthquake.

When plans were made to fix the damage, it became clear that a lot of work was needed. The buildings had to be made much safer against earthquakes. This led to the idea of completely rebuilding the Academy. So, the main site was closed.

Construction on the new $500 million building began on September 12, 2005. The exhibits were moved to a temporary museum while the new building was being built.

The new Academy reopened on September 27, 2008, with a free day. Thousands of people waited in line for a long time to get in!

How the New Building Helps the Environment

The main entrance area is filled with natural light.

The famous architect Renzo Piano designed the new museum. His design won awards for being excellent and for being sustainable. One critic even called the building a "blazingly uncynical embrace of the Enlightenment values of truth and reason."

The new building is designed to be very environmentally friendly. This fits with the Academy's focus on protecting nature. It earned the highest level of certification (Platinum) from the LEED program. This project was even shown on TV shows like Extreme Engineering and Man-Made.

Here are some of the environmentally friendly features of the new building:

It uses 50 percent less water than before.
It collects and reuses rainwater for watering plants.
It has 60,000 photovoltaic cells (solar panels) to make electricity.
It has a green roof that covers 2.5 acres (1.0 hectare).
It uses natural light in 90 percent of its spaces.
It was built with over 20,000 cubic yards (15,000 m³) of recycled concrete.
It includes 11 million pounds (5,000 t) of recycled steel.
Its wall insulation is made from recycled denim scraps.

The Green Roof

A close-up of the green, living roof in 2009.

The green roof of the California Academy of Sciences has many eco-friendly features. Renzo Piano was inspired by San Francisco's seven main hills. The living green roof is planted with 1.7 million California native plants.

The museum's central area has a huge glass ceiling in the roof. This ceiling opens to let cool night air flow into the building. By using this natural ventilation instead of air conditioning, the building saves a lot of energy. Renzo Piano and SWA Group won an award for their design of this roof.