The California Academy of Sciences is a research institute and

natural history museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history scientific collection, collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, Fungus, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleo ...

San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, 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 in Golden Gate Park on the

West Side West Side or Westside may refer to: Places Canada * West Side, a neighbourhood of Windsor, Ontario * West Side, a neighbourhood of Vancouver, British Columbia United Kingdom * West Side, Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland * Westside, Birmingham ...

of 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 41-member board of trustees who are nominated and chosen by the California Academy of Sciences Fellows. 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 is 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 a 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 viewing 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.

Exhibits

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 (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. If a long and heavy pendulum suspended from the high roof above a circu ...

, 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 planetariums is ...

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

rainforest Rainforests are forests characterized by a closed and continuous tree Canopy (biology), canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforests can be generally classified as tropi ...

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

*Penguin Habitat – features a colony of

African penguin The African penguin (''Spheniscus demersus''), also known as Cape penguin or South African penguin, is a species of penguin confined to southern African waters. It is the only penguin found in the Old World. Like all penguins, it is flightless, ...

s. 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 introduced by an inaccuracy inherent to the system Economy * Systematic trading, a way of defining trade goals, risk control ...

and

conservation Conservation is the preservation or efficient use of resources, or the conservation of various quantities under physical laws. Conservation may also refer to: Environment and natural resources * Nature conservation, the protection and manage ...

research in several different fields, including

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, society, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...

marine biology Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms that inhabit the sea. Given that in biology many scientific classification, phyla, family (biology), families and genera have some species that live in the sea and ...

botany Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

entomology Entomology (from Ancient Greek ἔντομον (''éntomon''), meaning "insect", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study") is the branch of zoology that focuses on insects. Those who study entomology are known as entomologists. In ...

herpetology Herpetology (from Ancient Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is a branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, salamanders, and caecilians (Gymnophiona)) and reptiles (in ...

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, 35,800 species of fish had been described as of March 2 ...

, invertebrate

zoology Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...

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 systems. The archive of number of mammals on earth is constantly growi ...

ornithology Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip ...

geology Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth ...

, and

paleontology Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure ge ...

. There also is a strong emphasis on environmental concerns, with all the various departments collaborating closely to focus on systematic

biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

and

biodiversity Biodiversity is the variability of life, life on Earth. It can be measured on various levels. There is for example genetic variability, species diversity, ecosystem diversity and Phylogenetics, phylogenetic diversity. Diversity is not distribut ...

. Academy researchers study life around the world: a 2011 expedition to the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

discovered an estimated 300 species new to science. There is also research pertaining to new technology being used by the general public. Mushroom identification applications were being used which may have caused an increase of poisonings. To combat this Academy researchers studied the accuracies of three of the most popular applications. 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 Western States, the Far West, the Western territories, and the West) is census regions United States Census Bureau As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the mea ...

. 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 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 This is a list of botanists who have Wikipedia articles, in alphabetical order by surname. The List of botanists by author abbreviation is mostly a list of plant taxonomists because an author receives a standard abbreviation only when that aut ...

entomologists Entomology (from Ancient Greek ἔντομον (''éntomon''), meaning "insect", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study") is the branch of zoology that focuses on insects. Those who study entomology are known as entomologists. In ...

, 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 __NOTOC__ Alice Eastwood (January 19, 1859 – October 30, 1953) was a Canadian American botanist. She is credited with building the botanical collection at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. She published over 310 scient ...

, a

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

, 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 Chinatown ( zh, t=唐人街) is the catch-all name for 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, Asia, Africa, O ...

, 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 James Lick (August 25, 1796 – October 1, 1876) was an American real estate investor, carpenter, piano builder, land baron, and patron of the sciences. The wealthiest man in California at the time of his death, Lick left the majority of his es ...

, a 19th-century San Francisco real estate mogul,

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

, and

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

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

1906 San Francisco earthquake At 05:12 AM Pacific Time Zone, Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, the coast of Northern California was struck by a major earthquake with an estimated Moment magnitude scale, moment magnitude of 7.9 and a maximum Mercalli inte ...

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 specimen In biology, a type is a particular wikt:en:specimen, specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally associated. In other words, a type is an example that serves to ancho ...

s. The 1905–1906 scientific collecting expedition to the

Galápagos Islands The Galápagos Islands () are an archipelago of volcanic islands in the Eastern Pacific, located around the equator, west of the mainland of South America. They form the Galápagos Province of the Republic of Ecuador, with a population of sli ...

(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 is an urban park between the Richmond District, San Francisco, Richmond and Sunset District, San Francisco, Sunset districts on the West Side (San Francisco), West Side of San Francisco, California, United States. It is the Lis ...

, 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 World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the Academy contributed to the American war effort by using its workshop facilities to repair optical and navigational equipment for

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

ships; San Francisco was a major port for the

Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War or the Pacific Theatre, was the Theater (warfare), theatre of World War II fought between the Empire of Japan and the Allies of World War II, Allies in East Asia, East and Southeast As ...

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 AG, Carl Zeiss Jena co ...

, 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 Silicon carbide (SiC), also known as carborundum (), is a hard chemical compound containing silicon and carbon. A wide bandgap semiconductor, it occurs in nature as the extremely rare mineral moissanite, but has been mass-produced as a powder a ...

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 Molecular biology is a branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecule, molecular basis of biological activity in and between Cell (biology), cells, including biomolecule, biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactio ...

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. Before the old building being torn down in 2005, there was a ''Life through Time'' gallery, housing a large display on

evolution Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...

and

. There was a Gem and Mineral Hall, a section on Earthquakes, and a

Gary Larson Gary Larson (born August 14, 1950) is an American cartoonist who created ''The Far Side'', a single-panel cartoon series that was syndicated internationally to more than 1,900 newspapers for fifteen years. The series ended on January 1, 1995, ...

exhibit.

Earthquake damage and new building

The academy buildings were damaged significantly in the

1989 Loma Prieta earthquake On October 17, 1989, at 5:04 p.m. Pacific Time Zone, PST, the Loma Prieta earthquake occurred at the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California. The shock was centered in The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park in Santa Cruz Cou ...

. 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

building A building or edifice is an enclosed Structure#Load-bearing, structure with a roof, walls and window, windows, usually standing permanently in one place, such as a house or factory. Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and functions, a ...

s 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 COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, 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 An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

for the museum replacement project was

Renzo Piano Renzo Piano (; born 14 September 1937) is an Italian architect. His notable works include the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris (with Richard Rogers, 1977), The Shard in London (2012), Kansai International Airport in Osaka (1994), the Whitney ...

. 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 Foundation Awards for Sustainable Construction is an international competition that showcases projects that contribute to sustainable construction and the transformation of the building sector. A total of USD $1 million in prize mo ...

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 c ...

design, in keeping with the academy's focus on ecological concerns and environmental sustainability. It received

Platinum Platinum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a density, dense, malleable, ductility, ductile, highly unreactive, precious metal, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name origina ...

certification under the

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

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 that is best known for its ongoing reality television shows and promotion of pseudoscience. It init ...

Extreme Engineering ''Extreme Engineering'' is a documentary television series that aired on the Discovery Channel and the Science Channel. The program featured future and ongoing engineering projects. After ending of season 3 it airs under the ''Build It Bigger'' ...

'' 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 network and flagship channel owned by the National Geographic Global Networks unit of Disney Enter ...

''Man-Made'' series in July 2008, and

Smithsonian Channel The Smithsonian Channel is an American pay television channel owned by Paramount Global through its media networks division under MTV Entertainment Group. It offers video content inspired by the Smithsonian Institution's museums, research facil ...

'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 cell A solar cell, also known as a photovoltaic cell (PV cell), is an electronic device that converts the energy of light directly into electricity by means of the photovoltaic effect.

s *Supports a

green roof A green roof or living roof is a roof of a building that is partially or completely covered with vegetation and a growing medium, planted over a waterproofing membrane. It may also include additional layers such as a root barrier and drainage ...

with an area of *Uses natural lighting in 90 percent of occupied spaces *Was constructed of over of recycled

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of aggregate bound together with a fluid cement that cures to a solid over time. It is the second-most-used substance (after water), the most–widely used building material, and the most-manufactur ...

*Construction includes 11 million pounds (5,000 t) of recycled

steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...

*Wall insulation made from

scrap Scrap consists of recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap can have monetary value, especially recover ...

s of recycled

denim Denim is a sturdy cotton warp-faced textile in which the weft passes under two or more Warp (weaving), warp threads. This twill weave produces a diagonal ribbing that distinguishes it from cotton duck. Denim, as it is recognized today, was f ...

Green roof

Living roof at the California Academy of Sciences

The California Academy of Sciences green roof has several environmentally friendly features and a

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 Downs ...

Nob Hill Nob Hill is a neighborhood of San Francisco, California, United States that is known for its numerous luxury hotels and historic mansions. Nob Hill has historically served as a center of San Francisco's upper class. Nob Hill is among the highe ...

Russian Hill Russian Hill is a neighborhood of San Francisco, California. It is named after one of San Francisco's 44 hills, and one of its original "Seven Hills". Location Russian Hill is directly to the north (and slightly downhill) from Nob Hill, to t ...

Rincon Hill Rincon Hill ( Spanish ''Rincón'', meaning "corner") 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 Stre ...

Mount Sutro Mount Sutro is a hill in central San Francisco, California. It was originally named Mount Parnassus. Geography The low mountain is in elevation. Mount Sutro is one of the List of San Francisco, California Hills, many named hills within San Fran ...

Twin Peaks ''Twin Peaks'' is an American Surrealist cinema, surrealist Mystery film, mystery-Horror film, horror Drama (film and television), drama television series created by Mark Frost and David Lynch. It Pilot (Twin Peaks), premiered on American Broad ...

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 on the roof, which opens to allow cool night air to flow into the building below; by using this kind of

natural ventilation Passive ventilation is the process of supplying air to and removing air from an indoor space without using mechanical systems. It refers to the flow of external air to an indoor space as a result of pressure differences arising from natural for ...

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 The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) is a professional association for landscape architects in the United States. The ASLA's mission is to advance landscape architecture through advocacy, communication, education, and fellowship. ...

(ASLA) Award in design in 2009.

Notable people

Notable staff members of the academy include: *

(botanist), 1892–1949 *

Frank Talbot Frank Hamilton Talbot, (3 January 1930 – 15 October 2024) was a South-African-born Australian ichthyologist and marine biologist. He was director of the Australian Museum and the only Australian to have become director of the Smithsonian Nat ...

(

ichthyologist 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, 35,800 species of fish had been described as of March 2 ...

and marine biologist), director, 1982–1989

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 ''Tyrannosaurus'' () is a genus of large theropoda, theropod dinosaur. The type species ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' ( meaning 'king' in Latin), often shortened to ''T. rex'' or colloquially t-rex, is one of the best represented theropods. It live ...

'' 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