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Something Incredibly Wonderful Happens: Frank Oppenheimer and the world he made up Hardcover – August 4, 2009

by K. C. Cole (Author)

28 customer reviews

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A biography of Exploratorium founder Frank Oppenheimer. Covers his wealthy childhood, his career in physics, his work with his brother Robert on the Manhattan Project, the creation of a museum that revolutionized science education, and more.

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Product Description
As a young man Frank Oppenheimer followed in his famous brother's footsteps growing up in a privileged Manhattan household, becoming a physicist, working on the atomic bomb. Tragically, Frank and Robert both had their careers destroyed by the Red Scare. But their paths diverged. While Robert died an almost ruined man, Frank came into his own, emerging from ten years of exile on a Colorado ranch to create not just a multimillion dollar institution but also a revolution that was felt all over the world. His Exploratorium was a "museum of human awareness" that combined art and science while it encouraged play, experimentation, and a sense of joy and wonder; its success inspired a transformation in museums around the globe. In many ways it was Frank's answer to the atom bomb. K.C. Cole a friend and colleague of Frank's for many years has drawn from letters, documents, and extensive interviews to write a very personal story of the man whose irrepressible spirit would inspire so many.

A Look Inside Something Incredibly Wonderful Happens
(Click on Images to Enlarge)


Frank and Robert Oppenheimer, approximately 1915	Frank Oppenheimer with gyro, late 1950s

Frank in the empty Exploratorium, late 1960s	Frank with pendulums, 1980s

From Publishers Weekly

Many visitors to the world-famous Exploratorium in San Francisco probably know little about its founder, Frank Oppenheimer (1912–1985). Like his brother, physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, Frank both worked on the Manhattan Project and was a victim of the 1950s Red Scare. Blacklisted and unable to find a university professorship, he taught high school in Colorado, turning out scores of science prize winners. After moving to California, Oppenheimer drew on his teaching experience to found the Exploratorium, a hands-on science museum that continues to influence others in the field. In this fond memoir, well-regarded science writer Cole (The Universe and the Teacup), who knew Oppenheimer well, capably surveys his early career, but the book's true subject is his work at the Exploratorium and his philosophy, not just of science education but of life. This constitutes most of the second half of the book, which may frustrate readers looking for pure biography, but it offers much that is provocative for those interested in science education. 8 pages of b&w photos.(Aug. 4)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Product details

Hardcover: 416 pages
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Trade; 1 edition (August 4, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0151008221
ISBN-13: 978-0151008223
Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.2 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
Average Customer Review: 28 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #754,153 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1754 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Professionals & Academics > Scientists

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Gerhard Stoltz Jr.

Thriving after a communist witchhunt : A How To.

July 27, 2013

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

The story about Robert Oppenheimer is truly an inspiring one. Especially so for anybody wondering just how much can be done after having been rebuked by any form of the supposed establishment.
It displays just how much a man can accomplish when made an outcast by a paranoid/secretive science research community, and how rewarding such a life can be.

It is also an inspiration for anybody in education wondering about how to get children involved an excited about topics. It seems the solution is simple : let them actually try/use/build something.

Highly recommended for anyone searching for inspiring tales from both the worse aspects of american hysteria in the late forties and early fifties and the world of conveying science understanding/excitement to the general populace.

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January 17, 2011

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Wonderful biography of Frank Oppenheimer, one of the fathers of the Atomic Bomb and instigator of science museums anywhere, but most note worthy, the Exploritorium in San Francisco, CA. Adds to one's understanding of the McCarthy era as well....and makes you want to be politically active so that we won't have a re occurrence of this horrible historic episode. This man could make teen agers love learning and also make you wish that the whole educational system was under his control. Highly recommend this biography.

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RLB

A good read about the life and work of Frank Oppenheimer

August 24, 2014

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

A good read about the life and work of Frank Oppenheimer, including his ups, downs, difficulties, and successes. I recommend it if you're interested in physics, museums, science, education, the atomic bomb, the post-war era, ranching, San Francisco, and perhaps coffee . . .

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Ryan Essex

Science writing and biography at their best. Can't wait to head up to San Francisco ...

July 17, 2014

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Science writing and biography at their best. Can't wait to head up to San Francisco to see the Exploratorium now -- though after reading this I feel like I've already spent hours experiencing it.

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Becca B

Physicist with a wonderful personality

March 27, 2010

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

This book transports you into a time where science was exciting. This man saw the world as a wonderful place to observe and teach from everyday events. It's a very interesting book with a look at the person behind the science.

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Samuel Beal

Get yourself thinking

April 6, 2010

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

This is a wonderful book on so many levels. About science and its place in the world, but one does not need to be even remotely a scientist to appreciate it.

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Jonah Cohen

Incredibly Wonderful Creation, So-So Book

October 18, 2009

Format: Hardcover

I work in the science center field, and have been to dozens of science centers. Definitely my favorite is San Francisco's Exploratorium. It's every bit as amazing as KC Cole's book makes it out to be (and the book will make a lot more sense if you've been there).

This book is a biography of Exploratorium founder Frank Oppenheimer, whom the author worked for and was good friends with. His story is indeed an interesting one, from his wealthy childhood, his career in physics, work (along with more famous brother Robert) on the Manhattan Project, his post war fears of nuclear proliferation, victim of McCarhtyism, rebirth as a teacher, and creation of a museum that really did revolutionize science education. Cole has no shortage of personal accounts from herself and other associates, and many parts of the book are inspiring, and very thought provoking.

The downside, and it's a big one, is that Cole could have used a little more journalistic distance from her subject. The tone of much of the book often goes into gushing, verging on worshipful.

One example: Treating every utterance of Frank's as received wisdom doesn't help the book. When Frank angrily lambastes a worker for using glue to seal together part of an exhibit, Cole treats this as yet another example of what a wonderful visionary Frank was. Oppenheimer's reason for the rant was that he wanted all the functions of how exhibits worked to be visible and understandable to visitors - no black boxes, no hidden devices making this function, and he deemed glue too mysterious. That's a good m.o. that serves the Exploratorium well, ergo he wanted screwss, "no glue!". But I couldn't help but think that this could have been the genesis of another educational Exploratorium set of exhibits: how the heck DO things get held together? Screws, nails, velcro, glue, tape... all use different methods, and it seems like these topics would have nicely complement other Exploratorium exhibits that involve electromagnetism or water (which use their own ways to attract).

A promising avenue for exploration? Maybe. But my main point is: the idea apparently never occurred to Oppenheimer because of dogmatic thinking, the kind he normally opposed. And pointing out that this (or anything) might have been a shortcoming of his never occurs to Cole. Everything, down to his extramarital affairs, is yet another example of how wonderful Frank was.

And overall, he certainly was. It's just that Cole's attempts to ignore anything to the contrary - even if it doesn't change the overall conclusion - takes away from the book. Especially a book focused on science, where such evidence cherry-picking is not supposed to occur.

It's a decent book, though if you want a somewhat drier but more objective one, try finding Hilda Heine's "Exploratorium".

Or better yet, take some advice from Oppenheimer himself. "Learning science without stuff", he said, "is like learning how to swim without going into the water." No book can make you appreciate him like checking out the Exploratorium itself.

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