A science festival is a public event featuring a variety of science- and technology-related activities—from lectures, exhibitions, workshops, live demonstrations of experiments, guided tours and panel discussions to cultural events such as theater plays, readings and musical productions, all with the aim of involving the general public in explorations of the different facets of science. Many science festivals are annual events, and for most of them, the actual festival takes place over a period between a few days and more than a week.
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Modern science festivals have a number of different roots. The British Association for the Advancement of Science's Festival of Science evolved out of the society's annual meetings, first held in 1831, which were originally meant to provide a discussion forum for scientists, but later became a public showcase of science.[1] The oldest science festival in the modern sense appears to be the Edinburgh International Science Festival, which was first held in 1988.[2] More annual science events appeared following the success of Edinburgh, most notably the Cheltenham Science Festival in 2002.
As science organizations and funding bodies put ever more emphasis on outreach to foster public understanding both of the results and the wider relevance of science, recent years have seen the creation of a number of new science festivals. Since 2002, there is an umbrella organization for European science festivals and similar events, the European Science Event Association.
The US has been something of a latecomer as far as regular science festivals are concerned, although the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science includes a number of public events. Focusing on one particular science, the physics festival "Mastering the Mysteries of the Universe", was held in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1999 in association with the centennial of the American Physical Society.[3] Since 2004, there has been a science festival in Pittsburgh (the SciTech festival; from 2005 on known as the SciTech Spectacular), and new science festivals have been held in Cambridge, Massachusetts (the Cambridge Science Festival, first held in April 2007)[4] and in New York City (the World Science Festival held at the end of May 2008)[5] and in March 2009, San Diego hosted the first west coast science festival, the San Diego Science Festival founded by Larry Bock.
As of 2009 the Science Festival Alliance, a consortium of major festivals formed with a 3-year NSF grant, has supported the growth of independent regional science festivals, with an initial emphasis on celebration in communities throughout the US.
In late October 2010, the USA Science and Engineering Festival was the "country’s first national science festival."[6] This national emphasis was based partly on encouraging local events to coincide with the major event in Washington DC.
Festivals can vary greatly in size and scope. A university might stage a small festival in its hometown; on the other end of the scale, the 2006 British Association Festival of Science held on September 2–9 in Norwich, England, was attended by more than 174,000 visitors.[7]
Science festivals feature a great variety of events. A classic format is to have a series of lectures, with topics ranging from cutting-edge research to unusual perspectives on science. For instance, the 2007 Edinburgh festival Big Ideas series includes talks on what makes racing cars fast, the molecular basis of food preparation, the neurobiology of love and beauty and the properties of quarks. Most science festivals include hands-on activities similar to those found in science centers. Another popular theme is the interaction of science and culture.
Science festivals are also aimed at playing an important, if informal part in secondary science education. Many have events specifically aimed at students and/or teachers, such as workshops or offering curriculum-linked workshops and science shows to regional schools throughout the year.