The Lawrence Hall of Science
The public science center of the University of California, Berkeley.
Open Daily 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
Bring your students to The Lawrence, or bring our inquiry-based science programs to you.
We partner with school districts to support science learning. We offer district-wide elementary, middle, and high school programs, either virtually or in-person.
We collaborate with a range of partners to innovate in science education. Together, we go further.
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Kick off our series of Summer Science Fundays with a celebration of our sun and other stars. Search for sunspots, learn how dust particles come together to form planets and stars, and explore how solar eclipses work.
Explore building in two and three dimensions and discover the engineering properties of sturdy structures including bridges, roller coasters, and more! We’ll provide the building materials, you supply the creativity!
What does a boat need to float and sail? Join us in our Forces That Shape the Bay exhibit, where we’ll be engineering our own small boats out of recycled materials. Discover what it takes to design and build a sail that works and a boat that floats.
Investigate and experiment with the forces that govern our world, with activities from our hands-on Phenomenal Physics festival and GSK Science in the Summer™.
On National Ice Cream Day, we celebrate the sweetest of the seven basic tastes, the one made possible by sugars. Make your own ice cream and learn about the science behind this tasty treat.
Join us for two activities exploring the surprising properties of light and investigating the chemical structure of matter. Compared to microscopes, these techniques can teach us different things at an even smaller scale. The first activity uses laser diffraction to study the structure of bird feathers. The second activity uses polarized light to study how materials respond to being put under stress.
Celebrate the human body and what it can do when put to music! Les Aerielles will return this summer with their incredible young trapeze arts performers. Performance times at 12:00 noon, 1:00, and 2:00. p.m.
A visitor favorite, Bug Bonanza is a celebration of bugs! SaveNature will bring their awesome insect zoo to The Lawrence from 12:00-2:00 p.m. Learn about the lives of these fascinating creatures and even touch them…if you dare! We’ll also conduct bug hunts in the Outdoor Nature Lab, where we’ll have magnifying glasses available to explore our backyard up close.
Experience the rhythm of traditional taiko drumming in a performance by UC Berkeley’s Taiko band. Berkeley students will play massive drums made from animal skins and ancient tree trunks. This troupe of youthful and energetic drummers will channel the heartbeat and spirit of their homeland and will talk about this cultural tradition that traces its roots back more than 1,000 years in Japan.
Join us for a celebration of the science and math of games!
Our friends at Les Aerielles are returning once again with their incredible young trapeze arts performers.
Learn to make your own ice cream treat…with science!
From rollers to resistors, from magnets to mirrors, our tabletop demonstrations help you explore the forces of motion and energy of our universe.
Look carefully… Six legs? Eight legs? Fourteen? Let’s observe bugs up close and see what we can learn!
We’re making boats out of recycled materials all day long!
Come celebrate with The Lawrence as we open our first expansion in over 20 years–the brand new Robert and Elizabeth Karplus Outdoor Nature Lab!
Kick off the summer with our first Sunday Funday! Join us for a celebration of our sun and other stars.