A Museum for the Techie Tourist

It may seem like preaching to the choir, but Silicon Valley techies just gained a major resource to learn more about the industry that put the valley on the map.

The newly constructed, $95-million Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose enjoyed its grand reopening Saturday. The mango-and-azure-domed site is expected to draw students and out-of-towners to what is not normally viewed as a prime tourist destination.

“Our goal is to put real technologies in people’s hands and to give young people a chance to see how exciting it is to use and develop these technologies,” said Peter Giles, the museum’s chief executive.

The new-gadget heaven features 240 hands-on exhibits on the effects of microelectronics, biotechnology, communications and robotics on daily life. One exhibit, for example, is on “the anatomy of a wafer pod” (the ultra-clean processing rooms for making microprocessors); another features “robot art” (in which a robot draws your portrait).

Giles’ favorite exhibit: “If you saw the movie ‘Titanic,’ they have that little undersea robot that looked through the ship. We have one in a 7,700-gallon tank,” he said.

Visitors can control the sub during its explorations of a simulated sea floor. “It’s like your own little piece of ocean,” Giles said.