94 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM JOURNEY OF A CURIOUS KID As Frank was launching his groundbreaking museum in San Francisco, George was coming of age on the opposite coast. Growing up in Manhattan, “when it was a safe city in the ’60s,” George describes a free-range childhood, punctuated by subway rides all over New York and collecting Good Humor popsicle sticks so he could build things out of them. “I was the kid who took apart his bicycle and then put it back together, but would always have like three or four parts that were left over,” he smiles. “I wasn’t a great reader, but I was a good visual learner and a good learner with my hands.” Initially studying economics at Harvard, George took a year off to work in construction, netting enough to spend six months hitchhiking through Europe. When he returned to Harvard, he switched his major to physics, which led to summer work as a research assistant for an engineering professor at Stanford University. After graduation, he moved out to Silicon Valley to join a solar company, then earned a MBA from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business. In 1989, George launched his consulting career with Bain & Company, where he became a partner and opened the firm’s Silicon Valley office. THE EXPLORATORIUM’S ORIGIN STORY Understanding George’s contribution requires backing up a bit—to the tale of a different man, with a notable last name: Oppenheimer. In this case, Dr. Frank Oppenheimer. The younger brother of J. Robert Oppenheimer and also a Manhattan Project physicist, Frank could be considered the “uncle” of the atomic bomb. After being barred from scientific pursuits during the McCarthy era, Frank turned to cattle ranching and teaching. Not a fan of rote memorization, he championed a hands-on approach to science education through exploration and experimentation. In 1969, Frank channeled his passion into the founding of a new kind of museum located in San Francisco’s iconic Palace of Fine Arts. Filling it with an eclectic mix of found, built and donated objects, Frank created many of the Exploratorium’s early exhibits himself. Although ostensibly promoting tinkering, discovery and play, Frank envisioned the Exploratorium as serving a deeper purpose: providing a foundation to fight the misuse of technology. “Frank wasn’t necessarily trying to teach people to be scientists,” George explains, “but to help normal citizens have enough confidence to engage in scientific and technological topics—to ask the questions and question the answers.” PHOTOGRAPHY: COURTESY OF NANCY RODGERS - EXPLORATORIUM / COURTESY OF GAYLE LAIRD - EXPLORATORIUM
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTcxMjMwNg==