The establishment of the Exploratorium, known as the pioneer of the science center movement, reflects the social history of science education in the United States during the 1960s. Frank Oppenheimer (1912-1985), the founder of the museum, realized the gap between experts and the public while he participated in the Manhattan Project and found the answer from science education in a museum setting. As scientist and educator, Oppenheimer developed his own philosophy of science education, which emphasized the pleasure of discovering nature by tinkering with laboratory apparatus. With his plan to build a new museum, Oppenheimer arrived in San Francisco in 1967, when he soon encountered obstacles in leasing the museum site, “the Palace of Fine Arts.” To obtain the site over many competitors, he strategically contacted the local media, utilized personal connections to eminent physicists, and emphasized the importance of art in the proposed museum. In this process, Oppenheimer devised a “curious alliance” of science, art, and human perception, which became the distinctive characteristic of the Exploratorium. Through the early history of the Exploratorium, this study traces Oppenheimer’s invention of a new type of science museum within the context of the experience of scientists in Cold War America.