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A society for science
The California Academy of Natural Sciences was founded in 1853, three years after California joined the United States, as the first society of its kind in the American West. It took its present name in 1868, opened its first museum in 1874 and moved to a larger building on Market Street in 1891.


Earthquake, fire and a new home
The 1906 earthquake and the fires that followed destroyed the Market Street building and almost all of its collections; the botanist Alice Eastwood saved the plant type specimens. In 1916 the Academy moved to Golden Gate Park, where the Steinhart Aquarium opened in 1923 and the Morrison Planetarium in 1952.
Rebuilt under a living roof
After the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake damaged its buildings, the Academy was rebuilt to a design by Renzo Piano. Construction began in 2005, and the new building opened on 27 September 2008, with a planted roof of about 2.5 acres and the aquarium, rainforest and planetarium under one roof.


