Lawrence Hall of Science

In Berkeley, California, the Lawrence Hall of Science offers practical science exhibitions, curriculums, professional development and services for students of all ages after school. The Hall was set up in 1968 in honor of the first Nobel Prize winner at the University of California, physicist Ernest Orlando Lawrence (1901-1958). It is located less than a mile uphill from the University's Botanical Garden in the hills overlooking the University of California, Berkeley campus.

 

Educational

​

The Hall has a large educational division that offers youth and family classes and day camps all year round. A broad range of topics are the focus of courses such as biology , chemistry, astronomy, mathematics, robotics and sculpture. In addition to on-site courses, in various locations in California residence summer camps are held.

In the 1970s and 1980, a program calledThe Friday Project or FRID gave talented teenagers free access to computer systems. That was important at the time, since computers were not readily available at home, so computers were only available at school otherwise. In order to become a "FRID boy," a project plan must be submitted and approved by its members. Hewlett-Packard's 2000B computer systems, Data General's Nova and Eclipse and PLATO internet-like systems were all included, providing a groundbreaking online panel system that includes forums, message boards, online testing, email addresses.

 

NOBEL PRIZE Display

​

The Lawrence family selected Lawrence Hall of Science in 2003 to house the 1939 Nobel Prize for Physics, after the death of Lawrence 's wife, Molly Laurence. The medal was placed in the E.O. Lawrence Memorial Room, which is a permanent exhibit showing his life and work artifacts for almost 40 years. 

On 1 March, 2007 the Nobel Prize medal was missing from his locked display case by a member of Lawrence Hall of Science Exhibits staff. The UC Police Department was immediately notified and a medal theft investigation began.

 

Permanent Exhibits

• Science on a Sphere 

• Forces That Shape the Bay

• Sunstones 

• Nano

• KidsLab

• Ernest O. Lawrence Memorial

• A seismograph connected to UC Berkeley's Seismographic Station

• Insect Zoo

• The Animal Discovery Room

• Ingenuity Lab

• Math Around the World

• Pheena the Fin Whale

• A larger-than-life DNA sculpture

 

Travel Exhibit

The Lawrence Hall of Science contains a continuous rotation of travel exponents, as well as its permanent exhibits. Exhibits from past travel include:

• Tony Hawk Rad Science

• Dinosaurs Unearthed

• Scream Machines: The Science of Roller Coasters

• RACE: Are We So Different?

• Facing Mars

• Animal Grossology

• Waterworks

• Engineer It

• Speed

• Wild Music: Songs and Sounds of Life,

• Circus! Science at the Big Top

• Grossology

• My Home

• Planet Earth

• Big Dinos Return

• Candy Unwrapped

• Math Midway