Celebrating 10 Years at The Tech Museum

Supported by HP

A High Tech Celebration!

SAN JOSE - More than 3,000 visitors converged on The Tech Museum Sunday, June 14th as part of a daylong 10th Anniversary celebration marked by music, balloons, cake and a commendation from San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed.

The iconic mango-colored museum served as the perfect backdrop for festivities that included a juggler who awed the crowd with gravity-defying acts and balloon sculptors who magically crafted bracelets, animals and hearts for endless lines of children who chomped on delicious slices of cake.

"The Tech Museum is one of the anchors of our downtown," said Reed as he presented a commendation that read in part: "I do hereby recognize and commend The Tech Museum on the special occasion of its 10th year anniversary and express thanks to Dr. Peter Friess, the Board of Directors and the Tech Staff for their leadership and positioning of The Tech Museum as a world-class San Jose landmark."

Among the guests were Board members Bob Grimm, Michael Hackworth, Marilyn Pratt and San Jose council members Rose Herrera, Ash Kalra, and Pierluigi Oliverio.

The 132,000-square foot museum is a dynamic learning center designed to bring science and technology to life. The museum challenges the minds of youth and their senses are treated to a richly unique assemblage of hands-on interactive exhibits ranging from genetics to space exploration.

In the 10 years since the museum opened its doors at South Market Street, 5 million visitors have streamed through. The Tech Museum has been a major contributor to San Jose's economic vitality, pumping $198 million in total economic impact in the last decade.

"This joyous celebration befits The Tech Museum," said Peter Friess, the museum's president since 2006. "This is the people's museum and the people have come out to celebrate in a big way. Their continued involvement and engagement in the museum will be critical as we move forward into the next ten years.""

"All of us became involved with The Tech Museum and its mission for very different reasons. Some of us were drawn to The Tech Museum's commitment to education; others admired the desire to provide a center for the cutting-edge technologies for the future. I felt most drawn to the project when I envisioned a scientist, sometime in the future accepting a Nobel Prize and citing The Tech Museum as a source of inspiration in her youth."

—- Ed Zschau, founding Board Chairman

About our beautiful orange building!

The three-level mango-azure building is designed by world-renowned architect Ricardo Legorreta from Mexico City. Prepare to be astounded by its only-in-Silicon-Valley design and cutting-edge use of light, color and geometric shapes.

Here is where the mind is challenged and the senses are treated to a richly unique assemblage of hands-on interactive exhibits ranging from genetics, presented in partnership with the Department of Genetics at Stanford University, to space exploration with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope.

We invite you to roam about our newest exhibits, The Tech Virtual Test Zone and View from Space and to visit our most popular exhibits such as Exploration, the Earthquake platform, Jet Pack Simulator and Life Tech.

And there's more! Like our 295-seat Hackworth IMAX Dome Theater, one of the top 10 attended in the United States. The theater houses a 9,000-square-foot screen and a 12,000-watt, 6-channel, all digital surround-sound system. Then there's the 2,000-square-foot TechStore stocked with gifts, gadgets, books and caps and T-shirts. Hungry? Try Café Primavera, which boosts an extensive menu of diverse meals, all at affordable prices.

Milestones 1998-2008

1998 - The permanent museum and Noyce Center for Learning open to regional acclaim

1999 - More than 800,000 visitors including 120,000 students flock to The Tech Museum in the first year

2000 - Endowment campaign raises $14 million

2001 - The Tech Awards: Technology benefiting humanity program launched

2002 - First new exhibition opens: Imagination Playground

2003 - Traveling exhibitions: Zap! Surgery Beyond the Cutting Edge and Grossology

2004 - Genetics: Technology with a Twist and NetPlanet open with $1 million lead grants from NIH and NSF

James C Morgan Global Humanitarian Award inaugurated
Winner: James C Morgan, chairman emeritus Applied Materials

2005 - New permanent exhibition about energy opens: Green By Design and View from Space, a permanent exhibition about environmental changes on the planet

James C Morgan Global Humanitarian Award Winner: Kristine Pearson, founder of Free Play Foundation

2006 - The Tech Challenge, The Tech Museum's annual team design challenge for youth in Grades 5-12, celebrates its 20th year

James C Morgan Global Humanitarian Award Winner: Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft

2007- The Tech Museum partners with the City of San Jose and Team San Jose to present Body Worlds 2 and the Three Pound Gem

James C Morgan Global Humanitarian Award Winner: Gordon Moore, co-founder Intel Corp.

2008- Free Field Trips program attracts more than 149,000 students
The Tech Museum is chosen as the world premier and exclusive U.S. venue for Leonardo: 500 Years into the Future

James C Morgan Global Humanitarian Award Winner: Professor Mohammad Yunus, micro-credit pioneer and founder of Grameen Bank

2009- Coming in August! New! Technology Benefiting Humanity, the only permanent museum exhibition on the West Coast that demonstrates how technological innovation is successfully used to solve global challenges in education, equality, environment, health and economic development.

James C Morgan Global Humanitarian Award Winner: Al Gore, former vice president and Nobel Prize laureate

Chairmen, Board of Directors 1998-2008

John Warnock
Tony Ridder
Ned Barnholt
Mike Hackworth
Frank Quattrone

Presidents 1998-2008