150 Years: A Timeline — 1848-1905 | 1906-1941 | 1942-1976 | 1977-2003

The dawn redwood, long thought extinct,
is rediscovered in China. The Academy mounts
a joint expedition to the site with China’s
Lingnan University.

Led by entomologist J. Linsley Gressit, the team hopes to find insects that evolved with the ancient trees. Researchers return with thousands of specimens, plus dawn redwood seeds and seedlings — some of which grow today at Strybing Arboretum.

Embracing television as a promising new
medium for teaching science, the Academy begins producing its own weekly TV program. Science in Action features Steinhart Aquarium’s director, Earl Herald, with guest scientists.

The popular educational program remains
on the air for sixteen years — a generation grew up with it!

After World War II, plans for a new
planetarium looked bleak: Carl Zeiss Optics in Germany, the only source for planetarium projectors, is now behind the Iron Curtain.

Undaunted, skilled Academy Instrument Shop technicians and a small group of amateur astronomers construct a unique and excellent star projector for San Francisco.

Waiting anxiously among the exhibits at the California Academy of Sciences dozens of high school students agonize as scientists from the Academy, industry and Bay Area universities judge and rank their science projects.

In terms of biological diversity, the Academy has one of the world’s largest natural history collections.

It doubles and triples in size as the Academy acquires “orphan” collections: As universities move into molecular biology, many no longer want to keep specimen collections.

Appreciating their value, the Academy makes room for them.

The size and scope of research collections and curatorial staff expand rapidly, while dramatic increases are also seen in exhibition and education programs.

Executive Director since 1963, botanist George E. Lindsay fosters growth throughout the Academy.