“I hold that the popularization of science is successful if, at first, it does no more than spark the sense of wonder.”

– Carl Sagan

Wonderfest, the San Francisco Bay Area Beacon of Science, is a non-profit educational corporation with 501(c)(3) tax exempt status. Wonderfest was founded by Tucker Hiatt (tucker@wonderfest.org) in 1997, and he currently serves as Executive Director. Eric Yao (eric@wonderfest.org) is Technical Director. Neeti Sonth is Assistant Technical Director and Wonderfest Science Editor. Wonderfest headquarters are located just north of San Francisco—in Marin County—at 47 Alta Way, Corte Madera, CA 94925.

• Wonderfest’s Mission is to inspire and nurture a deep sense of wonder about the world. Wonderfest programs stimulate curiosity, promote careful reasoning, challenge unexamined beliefs, and encourage life-long learning. Wonderfest achieves these ends through public science gatherings in the San Francisco Bay Area and through online science discourse & video that reach around the world.

Science for whom?

The scientific endeavor has universal appeal. Every inquisitive person, regardless of culture or gender or income, is improved by the intellectual challenge and reward that science offers. Wonderfest presentations reach people of diverse ages, too; they appeal to the student in all of us, no matter how old. After all, if you’re through wondering, … you’re through! Wonderfest events are suitable for students in high school, in college, in the school of hard knocks, and in retirement communities.

Why?

…to celebrate the scientific spirit! The rational investigation of our world is the grandest human adventure, with the most significant long-term implications imaginable. Nevertheless, our science is fragile. It’s a small flame nourished in each of us by skepticism, by humility, and, above all, by wonder.