SAN MATEO, CALIFORNIA – November 12, 2009 –

Coyote Point Museum will host an engaging discussion and book signing with author K.C. Cole for her new book about Dr. Frank Oppenheimer, founder of The Exploratorium, Something Incredibly Wonderful Happens: Frank Oppenheimer and the World He Made Up.

Ms. Cole, a friend and colleague of Frank Oppenheimer’s, chronicles his path from growing up in a well-to-do Manhattan household to becoming a physicist and working on the atomic bomb to becoming blacklisted during the 1950s Red Scare and ultimately his founding of The Exploratorium in San Francisco. Much of the book focuses on Dr. Oppenheimer’s substantial impact on science museums around the world as someone who felt that science education should encourage play and experimentation and evoke a sense of joy and wonder.

“It is an honor to have Ms. Cole here to talk about Frank and his impact on informal science education,” says Rachel Meyer, Coyote Point Museum’s director, who worked closely with Dr. Oppenheimer during her tenure at The Exploratorium. “My experience working with Frank has directly influenced our approach to science education here at Coyote Point Museum.”

K.C. Cole is a professor at USC’s Annenberg’s School of Journalism and a long-time science writer for the Los Angeles Times. Her writing was featured in The Best American Science Writing 2004 and 2005 and The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2002. She has authored eight non-fiction books.

Ms. Cole will discuss her book and her experiences working with Frank Oppenheimer at an event open to the public at Coyote Point Museum on Friday, November 13, 6-8pm. For more information, go to http://coyoteptmuseum.org/activities/family-events/special-talk-book-sig....