National Science Olympiad History
The National Science Olympiad held its first tournament in 1985 after organization by John C. Cairns and Dr. Gerard J. Putz. This tournament was held at Michigan State University, though not before years of planning and development took place. While this tournament was the first organized by what is now known as Science Olympiad Inc., multiple local Science Olympiad tournaments had taken place before that point.
Early History
The first recorded competition that called itself Science Olympiad was held in 1974 at St. Andrews Presbyterian College in North Carolina. Fifteen schools participated in this original competition, though the event format was very different from what would eventually become Science Olympiad. Demonstrations were given on topics such as glassblowing, and many events were more relaxed and less competitive. John C. Cairns, at Dover High School in Delaware caught wind of this tournament, and was placed at the head of a committee to organize the 1977 Delaware Science Olympiad Tournament. Representatives from high schools, colleges and the state government created the event, the first of its kind held at a state-wide level, to address concerns of waning student interest in science fairs. The competition had 12 competitive events (unlike the modern 23 events) with a high diversity of scientific topics. A total of 20 schools and 301 students participated in this competition.
Prompted by an article regarding the Delaware Science Olympiad, Dr. Gerard J. Putz formulated a plan to expand the program further. Putz and Cairns shared the Science Olympiad concept with Macomb County educators in March 29th, 1982. After two successful workshops, two successful tournaments were held at Southeastern Michigan, at Lawrence Institute of Technology (April 1983) and Oakland University (May 1984). The results of these early tournaments are displayed on the Michigan state page as the 1983 and 1984 state tournaments.
National Science Olympiad
The Science Olympiad program was presented at the National Science Teachers Association Conference in Boston in 1984, where the United States Army decided to sponsor the program after a National Leadership Seminar demonstrating high interest for the program. The first National Tournament was held in 1985 at Michigan State University, after two prior years of a Michigan state tournament. 19 teams from Division B and 26 teams from Division C attended the first national tournament, representing states including Delaware, North Carolina, Ohio, South Dakota, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Minnesota, and North Dakota, among others.
The National Tournament grew quickly, stabilizing near 50 teams per division in the late 1980s. The number of teams has increased occasionally, with a de facto standard of 54 teams per division in the late 1990s and early 2000s (with the exception of 2002 where there were 60 teams per division), and eventually settling at 60 teams per division in 2005, where it has remained ever since. In the first year, some states (including Michigan and Ohio) were allowed to send three teams per division - the current bid allocation system was implemented the following year. Teams from all 50 states and the District of Columbia send teams to the National Tournament, and even some international teams are invited to tournaments throughout the country.
For more information about the current Science Olympiad format, see National Tournament#Current Format.
The Journal of College Science Teaching
At the same time as Putz and Cairn were developing the pitch for a national Science Olympiad, an article was published in The Journal of College Science Teaching detailing some select Science Olympiad events. These events were as follows:
- Build a Body
- Bridge Bust
- Calculator Contest
- Compound Identification
- Computer Programming
- Model Airplane Race
- Name That Organ
- Rutherford Scattering
- Science Bowl
- Titration Race
Many of these events were also events held at the 1977 tournament in Delaware, such as Science Bowl. Some of these concepts continued to evolve over time, either inspiring or being used as official Science Olympiad events in the future.