PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM 93 With a mop of wavy hair and thick rectangular glasses, George Cogan carries on like any kid let loose in San Francisco’s Exploratorium. “Look! You can high-five yourself!” he exclaims, as he demonstrates the optical illusion created by a giant spherically-shaped mirror. Bounding over to a wall of lockers, he taps out a tune on the musically-enabled handles. “If you touch two, you get a different note!” he grins. Next, he’s pressing his arm against a metal shape to reveal a fleeting star-shaped tattoo only discernible by infrared camera: “Cool, right?” In a shadow box exhibit, George kicks up his heels, a flash of light capturing his exuberant silhouette on a phosphorescent screen. This epicenter of science, art and human perception is Tripadvisor’s No. 1-ranked San Francisco museum, so George’s behavior isn’t unusual. But he’s also not your typical kid. Despite having the zeal of a six-year-old, he’s an accomplished management consultant in his mid-sixties. Although George lives on the Peninsula (Palo Alto, Menlo Park and now a longtime Atherton resident), the Exploratorium is unquestionably his second home. Which is not surprising, given the profound role he’s played in reimagining this world of infinite curiosity. George Cogan at Pier 15 during Exploratorium construction in 2010.
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