The California Academy of Sciences is a research institute and natural history museum in San Francisco, California, that is among the largest museums of natural history in the world, housing over 46 million specimens. The Academy began in 1853 as a learned society and still carries out a large amount of original research. The institution is located at the Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. Completely rebuilt in 2008, the Academy's primary building in Golden Gate Park covers . In early 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic, the California Academy of Sciences had around 500 employees and an annual revenue of about $33 million.

Governance

The California Academy of Sciences, California's oldest operating museum and research institution for the natural sciences, is governed by a forty-one member Board of Trustees who are nominated and chosen by the

California Academy of Sciences Fellows California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. The Academy Fellows are, in turn, " minated by their colleagues and appointed by the Board of Trustees...the Fellows remain members of the Fellowship for life." The Board of Trustees are then responsible for appointing the executive management of the Academy, who in turn are responsible for overseeing the Academy's overall operation and the hiring of its other managers and employees.

Institute for Biodiversity Science and Sustainability (IBSS)

Besides its function as source of public science education through its museum, the California Academy of Sciences also operates the ''Institute for Biodiversity Science and Sustainability'' (IBSS) as its research arm, conducting research in the fields of taxonomy, phylogenetics, and biodiversity studies. Although one aspect of the IBSS is available for view by museum patrons at the science "project lab" exhibit, most of the research happens in laboratories and facilities "behind the scenes" and not observable by the public. In fact, unbeknownst to most patrons, research and administrative facilities occupy nearly 50% of the Academy's physical structure.

Public Education

California Academy of Sciences Indoor Rainforest

California Academy of Sciences rainforest scene

The main thrust of the exhibits is natural history. The venues of the museum include the following: *Kimball Natural History Museum - generally encompasses the entire museum outside the planetarium, rainforest, and aquarium, and includes Africa Hall (the Academy's oldest running exhibit), the East Wing (which includes a

Foucault pendulum The Foucault pendulum or Foucault's pendulum is a simple device named after French physicist Léon Foucault, conceived as an experiment to demonstrate the Earth's rotation. A long and heavy pendulum suspended from the high roof above a circular a ...

, also a carry-over exhibit from the older, pre-2008 renovation of the Academy), the West Wing (which housed several geophysical exhibits), as well as several smaller exhibits distributed throughout the remainder of the Academy building. *Morrison Planetarium - features a digitally controlled

planetarium A planetarium ( planetariums or ''planetaria'') is a theatre built primarily for presenting educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navigation. A dominant feature of most planetarium ...

dome measuring in diameter with a diameter screen. *Rainforests of the World -

rainforest Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfores ...

exhibit enclosed in a glass dome. *Steinhart Aquarium - includes exhibits of coral reefs, tidepools, and swamp habitats. Albino Alligator 2008

Besides its museum programs, the California Academy of Sciences offers many educational and community outreach programs to members of the public at large.

Research

Academy scientists, under the Academy's Institute for Biodiversity Science and Sustainability, conduct

systematic Systematic may refer to: Science * Short for systematic error * Systematic fault * Systematic bias, errors that are not determined by chance but are introduced by an inaccuracy (involving either the observation or measurement process) inheren ...

and conservation research in several different fields, including anthropology,

marine biology Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms in the sea. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology classifies s ...

, botany,

entomology Entomology () is the science, scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such ...

herpetology Herpetology (from Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is the branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, toads, salamanders, newts, and caecilians (gymnophiona)) and rept ...

ichthyology Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish ( Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish (Agnatha). According to FishBase, 33,400 species of fish had been described as of Octob ...

, invertebrate zoology,

mammalogy In zoology, mammalogy is the study of mammals – a class of vertebrates with characteristics such as homeothermic metabolism, fur, four-chambered hearts, and complex nervous system In biology, the nervous system is the highly complex part o ...

, ornithology, geology, and paleontology. There also is a strong emphasis on environmental concerns, with all the various departments collaborating closely to focus on systematic biology and biodiversity. Academy researchers study life around the world: a 2011 expedition to the Philippines discovered an estimated 300 species new to science. The Academy publishes the peer-reviewed journal '' Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences'', as well as ''Occasional Papers'', ''Memoirs'', and ''Special Publications''.

History

Early years

The ''California Academy of Natural Sciences'' was founded in 1853, only three years after California joined the United States, becoming the first society of its kind in the

Western US The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the Wes ...

. Its stated aim was to undertake "a thorough systematic survey of every portion of the State and the collection of a cabinet of her rare and rich productions." It was renamed as the more inclusive ''California Academy of Sciences'' in 1868. The Academy had a forward-thinking view towards women in science, passing a resolution in its first year of existence that the members "highly approve of the aid of females in every department of natural science, and invite their cooperation." This policy led to several women being hired into professional positions as botanists, entomologists, and other occupations during the 19th century, when opportunities for women in the sciences were limited, and often, those that existed were restricted to menial cataloging and calculation work. In 1892, Alice Eastwood, a

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

, was hired by the Academy and worked there until she retired in 1949. She created the collection of rare plants, which was saved when the Academy was destroyed in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake The Academy's first official museum opened in 1874 at the corner of California and Dupont Streets (now Grant Avenue) in what is now

Chinatown A Chinatown () is an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Austra ...

, and drew up to 80,000 visitors a year. To accommodate its increasing popularity, the Academy moved to a new and larger building on Market Street in 1891, funded by the legacy of James Lick, a 19th-century San Francisco real estate mogul, entrepreneur, and

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

. However, only fifteen years later, the Market Street facility fell victim to the

1906 San Francisco earthquake At 05:12 Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, the coast of Northern California was struck by a major earthquake with an estimated moment magnitude of 7.9 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (''Extreme''). High-intensity sha ...

and three days of fire, which also wiped out all but a wheelbarrow full of the Academy's library and specimen collections. In the widespread destruction occurring in the aftermath of the quake, Academy curators and staffers only were able to retrieve a single cart of materials, including Academy minute books, membership records, and 2,000 type specimens. The 1905-1906 scientific collecting expedition to the Galápagos Islands (the first of several sponsored by the academy to the archipelago) already was underway, and it returned seven months later, providing replacement collections for those lost.

Golden Gate Park site

In 1916, the Academy moved to the North American Hall of Birds and Mammals in

Golden Gate Park Golden Gate Park, located in San Francisco, California, United States, is a large urban park consisting of of public grounds. It is administered by the San Francisco Recreation & Parks Department, which began in 1871 to oversee the development ...

, the first building on the site that was to become its permanent home. In 1923, the Steinhart Aquarium was added, followed in 1934 by the Simson African Hall. During World War II, the Academy contributed to the American war effort by using its workshop facilities to repair optical and navigational equipment for United States Navy ships; San Francisco was a major port for the

Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vast ...

arena. The post-war years saw a flurry of new construction on the site; the Science Hall was added in 1951, followed by the Morrison Planetarium in 1952. The Morrison Planetarium was the seventh major

to open in the United States and featured a one-of-a-kind

star projector A planetarium projector, also known as a star projector, is a device used to project images of celestial objects onto the dome in a planetarium. Modern planetarium projectors were first designed and built by the Carl Zeiss Jena company in Germa ...

, built by Academy staff members (in part using the expertise gained doing the optical work for the US Navy during World War II). The Academy Projector projected irregularly shaped stars, rather than the circular stars projected by many optical star projectors. The irregular shapes were created by placing variously sized grains of silicon carbide onto the glass star plates by hand, then aluminizing the plates, and brushing away the silicon carbide grains. In 1959, the Malliard Library, Eastwood Hall of Botany, and Livermore Room all were added. Throughout the 1960s, universities concentrating on the new field of molecular biology divested themselves of their traditional specimen collections, entrusting them to the Academy and leading to a rapid growth of the Academy's holdings. In 1969, another new building, Cowell Hall, was added to the site. In 1976, several new galleries were opened, and the following year, in 1977, the "fish roundabout" was constructed. Prior to the old building being torn down in 2005, there was a ''Life through Time'' gallery, housing a large display on evolution and paleontology. There was a Gem and Mineral Hall, a section on Earthquakes, and a Gary Larson exhibit.

Earthquake damage and new building

The Academy buildings were damaged significantly in the

1989 Loma Prieta earthquake The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake occurred on California's Central Coast on October 17 at local time. The shock was centered in The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park in Santa Cruz County, approximately northeast of Santa Cruz on a section of t ...

. Subsequently, the Bird Hall building was closed to ensure public safety. The inadequately engineered Steinhart Aquarium suffered dramatic seismic damage from the 1989 earthquake, as well. As plans were made to repair the damage and make the buildings seismically stable, it was realized that a considerable amount of work would be needed to bring the buildings up to modern standards. This led to the idea of giving the Academy a complete overhaul, thus motivating the closing of the main site. Construction began on the new $500 million building on September 12, 2005, while the exhibits were moved to 875 Howard Street for a temporary museum. The Academy reopened with a free day on September 27, 2008. For most of the day the line for admittance was over a mile (nearly two kilometers) long, and although over 15,000 people were admitted, several thousands more had to be turned away. In May 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Academy announced that it would lay off 105 of its then 504 employees, furlough 96 others, and enact pay cuts among part of the rest. Due to the COVID-19 lockdown's effect on ticket sales, the organization was expecting its revenue to decrease by around $12 million (36%), in the next fiscal year.

Environmental design of new building

Piazza behind the Main Entrance of the California Academy of Sciences

The design architect for the museum replacement project was Renzo Piano. His design was awarded the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Award for Excellence for the Americas region in 2008, as well as the

Holcim Award The Holcim Awards is an international competition that seeks projects and visionary concepts in sustainable construction – irrespective of scale. A total of USD $2 million in prize money is awarded in each three-year cycle. Eligible for en ...

Silver for sustainable construction projects in the North America region in 2005. One critic praised the building as a "blazingly uncynical embrace of the

Enlightenment Enlightenment or enlighten may refer to: Age of Enlightenment * Age of Enlightenment, period in Western intellectual history from the late 17th to late 18th century, centered in France but also encompassing (alphabetically by country or culture): ...

values of truth and reason", and a "comforting reminder of the civilizing function of great art in a barbaric age". The new building emphasizes

environmentally friendly Environment friendly processes, or environmental-friendly processes (also referred to as eco-friendly, nature-friendly, and green), are sustainability and marketing terms referring to goods and services, laws, guidelines and policies that clai ...

design, in keeping with the Academy's focus on ecological concerns and environmental sustainability. It received Platinum certification under the

LEED Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a green building certification program used worldwide. Developed by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), it includes a set of rating systems for the design, construction ...

program. This project was featured on the

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Channe ...

'' Extreme Engineering'' series in 2006, the

National Geographic Channel National Geographic (formerly National Geographic Channel; abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo or Nat Geo TV) is an American pay television television network, network and flagship (broadcasting), flagship channel owned by the National Geograp ...

''Man-Made'' series in July 2008, and Smithsonian Channel's ''How Do They Build That?'' in August 2022. The new building includes an array of environmentally friendly features: *Produces 50 percent less waste water than previously *Recycles rainwater for irrigation *Uses 60,000 photovoltaic cells *Supports a green roof with an area of *Uses natural lighting in 90 percent of occupied spaces *Was constructed of over of recycled concrete *Construction includes 11 million pounds (5,000 t) of recycled

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...

*Wall insulation made from

scrap Scrap consists of Recycling, recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap Waste valorization, has monetary ...

s of recycled denim

Green roof

The California Academy of Science green roof has several environmentally friendly features, as well as

sustainable design Environmentally sustainable design (also called environmentally conscious design, eco-design, etc.) is the philosophy of designing physical objects, the built environment, and services to comply with the principles of ecological sustainability ...

. Renzo Piano was inspired by seven major hills of San Francisco, which typically refers to:

Telegraph Hill A telegraph hill is a hill or other natural elevation that is chosen as part of an optical telegraph system. Telegraph Hill may also refer to: England * A high point in the Haldon Hills, Devon * Telegraph Hill, Dorset, a hill in the Dorset Down ...

, Nob Hill,

Russian Hill Russian Hill is a Neighborhoods in San Francisco, California, neighborhood of San Francisco, California. It is named after one of List of San Francisco, California Hills, San Francisco's 44 hills, and one of its original "Seven Hills". Location ...

Rincon Hill Rincon Hill is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California. It is one of San Francisco's many hills, and one of its original " Seven Hills." The relatively compact neighborhood is bounded by Folsom Street to the north, the Embarcadero to the e ...

, Mount Sutro, Twin Peaks and Mount Davidson. The living green roof was planted with 1.7 million

California native plants California native plants are plants that existed in California prior to the arrival of European explorers and colonists in the late 18th century. California includes parts of at least three phytochoria. The largest is the California Floristic ...

. The museum's central piazza lies beneath a massive glass ceiling in the roof, which opens to allow cool night air to flow into the building below; by using this kind of natural ventilation instead of air conditioning to regulate interior temperature, the building becomes more energy efficient. Renzo Piano and SWA Group won the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) Award in design in 2009.

Gallery

File:CA Academy of Sciences sign.JPG, Main entry File:The Academy of Sciences (5956930306).jpg, Entrance lobby lit from skylights File:California Academy of Sciences 04.JPG, Skeleton of '' Tyrannosaurus rex'' File:CA Academy of Sciences Living Roof 1.JPG, Gardener reveals scale of the roof landscape File:CAS Living Roof - Sarah Stierch 1.jpg, Native vegetation, during the dry season File:The Academy of Sciences (5956927082).jpg, Roofscape resembles a hilly meadow File:CAS-Front of California Academy Building.JPG, Overhead solar cells shade the entry facade File:Solar Roof.JPG, Solar cells, viewed from outdoors visitor waiting area File:Waiting to get into CAS 2009-04-14 5.JPG, Visitor line on a monthly free admission day File:BulbCAS.JPG, Rainforests of the World enclosure File:Rainforests of the World 201 2013-03-28.jpg, Interior of Rainforests of the World File:CAS African Hall.JPG, African Hall File:CAS-Display Area.JPG, Exhibits on climate change File:CAS-Galapagos Tortoise.JPG, Exhibit about evolution File:California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco (2013) - 22.JPG, Nature resource center File:California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco (2013) - 32.JPG, Whale skeleton above large raised relief globe File:Nature Hacking Playshop California Academy of Sciences San Francisco (2015-02-07 13.00.35 by Mitch Altman).jpg, Nature Hacking Playshop File:Steinhart Aquarium 5 2013-03-27.jpg, Steinhart Aquarium File:Philippine Coral Reef at the California Academy of Sciences.jpg, Philippine coral reef tank File:CAS Steinhart Aquarium.jpg, Part of the Philippine coral reef File:CAS Steinhart Aquarium giant clams (Tridacna spp.).jpg, Giant clams in reef shallows

References

External links

* * *
Calacademy.org: PDFs on national media reports of Academy's construction

California Academy of Sciences at Google Cultural Institute

{{DEFAULTSORT:California Academy Of Sciences 1853 establishments in California 2000s architecture in the United States Association of Science-Technology Centers member institutions Buildings and structures burned in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake Buildings and structures completed in 2008 Expressionist architecture Futurist architecture Golden Gate Park Institutions accredited by the American Alliance of Museums Museums in San Francisco Natural history museums in California Organizations established in 1853 Ove Arup buildings and structures Planetaria in the United States Postmodern architecture in California Renzo Piano buildings Science and technology in the San Francisco Bay Area Science museums in California