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California Academy of Sciences history
California Academy of Sciences company history timeline
1853: A New Academy to Promote Natural Science The California Academy of Natural Sciences is founded on April 4th, when seven men meet in a Montgomery Street office.
California Academy of Sciences (CAS), in San Francisco, oldest scientific institution in the western United States (incorporated 1853). The academy is situated in Golden Gate Park.
The academy began life in 1853; only three years after California became a state, becoming the first society of its kind in the western United States, as a learned society and still carries out a large amount of original research, though its main role is now public education.
Each was made an honorary member of the Academy; Henry donated thousands of scientific books to the Academy's library, and addressed the annual meeting of the Academy in 1871.
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, and drew up to 80,000 visitors a year.
1891: A Grand Museum on Market Street Two years after laying the cornerstone, the Academy opens a new museum on Market Street, between 4th and 5th Streets.
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.
But when the Great Quake of 1906 struck the city, the Academy's home—and all but a handful of its specimens—were lost.
She created the collection of rare plants, which was saved when the Academy was destroyed in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake
However, only fifteen years later, the Market Street facility fell victim to the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and three days of fire, which also wiped out all but a wheelbarrow full of the Academy's library and specimen collections.
1909: Planning a New Museum Already, preparations are underway for building a new Academy museum in Golden Gate Park.
In 1916, the Academy moved to the North American Hall of Birds and Mammals in Golden Gate Park, the first building on the site that was to become its permanent home.
1923: Steinhart Aquarium Opens At last! After many years of planning, research, and travel to ensure “the best” for San Franciscans, the magnificent new aquarium opens to the public.
1932: Return to Galápagos Templeton Crocker funds an expedition to the Galápagos aboard his yacht, Zaca.
1934: Simson African Hall Dedicated on December 3, the Academy’s new African Hall is open to the public two days a week.
1941: The Academy’s War Effort The Academy is ready to contribute to the national welfare in the “present emergency.” Paleontologist G Dallas Hanna’s small instrument shop is enlarged to repair optical and navigational equipment for the United States Navy.
1948: In Search of “Living Fossils” The dawn redwood, long thought extinct, is rediscovered in China.
1950: Science, Live on TV! Embracing television as a promising new medium for teaching science, the Academy begins producing its own weekly TV program.
1952: Morrison Planetarium Opens After World War II, plans for a new planetarium looked bleak: Carl Zeiss Optics in Germany, the only source for planetarium projectors, is now behind the Iron Curtain.
1954: The First Bay Area Science Fair Waiting anxiously among the exhibits at the California Academy of Sciences, dozens of high school students agonize as scientists from the Academy, various industries, and Bay Area universities judge and rank their science projects.
1962: Gaining World-class Collections In terms of biological diversity, the Academy has one of the world’s largest natural history collections.
Executive Director since 1963, botanist George E. Lindsay fosters growth throughout the Academy.
1972: Commitment to Excellence The size and scope of research collections and curatorial staff expand rapidly, while dramatic increases are also seen in exhibition and education programs.
The Academy buildings were damaged significantly in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.
Publications include the quarterly magazine California Wild (since 1997; formerly the bimonthly Pacific Discovery).
2003: Transition, A Place to Test Ideas As the Academy celebrates its 150th anniversary, it also prepares to move out of Golden Gate Park and into a temporary home in downtown San Francisco while a new facility is built on the site of the original.
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.
2005: A Groundbreaking Moment Construction begins on a new Academy designed by renowned architect Renzo Piano to serve as a physical and conceptual extension of the Academy's mission to explore, explain, and sustain life.
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.
2007: Great Migration Academy staff pack up their offices—along with 20 million research specimens and 38,000 live animals—for the move back to Golden Gate Park.
The Academy reopened with a free day on September 27, 2008.
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.
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California Academy of Sciences competitors
| Company name | Founded date | Revenue | Employee size | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University | 1810 | $20.9M | 120 | - |
| American Museum of Natural History | 1869 | $310.3M | 1,382 | 28 |
| Denver Museum of Nature & Science | 1900 | $39.3M | 50 | 6 |
| Denver Botanic Gardens | 1951 | $34.6M | 100 | 14 |
| Exploratorium | 1968 | $65.1M | 200 | 8 |
| Cleveland Museum of Natural History | 1920 | $50.0M | 100 | - |
| Common Threads | 2003 | $3.2M | 50 | 17 |
| Carnegie Museum of Art | 1895 | $11.9M | 110 | - |
| Turtle Bay Exploration Park | 1996 | $7.1M | 50 | - |
| African American Museum in Philadelphia | 1976 | $5.0M | 50 | 2 |
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California Academy of Sciences may also be known as or be related to CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, California Academy Of Sciences, California Academy of Sciences and The California Academy of Sciences.