Each year holds a wealth of weird, wacky, and interesting -- yet under-celebrated -- days for science, like World Weather Day and World Water Day. I decided to put together a calendar of annual science holidays and special events that celebrate science so that we could enjoy them together.
National events listed here refer to the United States, unless otherwise noted. Of course, if you live outside of the US, you are more than welcome to celebrate with us! (And I'll admit, some of these holidays are a little less "official" than others.) I expect to update this post in the future, so feel free to send me your special day and I'll add it to the list. Thanks!
* * * *
January
5 - National Bird Day
17 - Kid Inventors' Day
Last Saturday of the month - National Seed Swap Day
February
2 - World Wetlands Day
11 - National Inventors' Day
12 - Darwin Day
mid-month - Great Backyard Bird Count (four days)
third week - National Engineers Week (includes Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day)
March
12 - National Agriculture Day
12 - Plant a Flower Day
14 - Pi Day
22 - World Water Day
23 - World Weather Day
on or near Spring Equinox - Sun-Earth Day
National Wildlife Week
April
12 - Yuri's Night (The World Space Party)
13 - International Plant Appreciation Day
14 - Citizen Science Day
22 - Earth Day
second full week - National Robotics Week
last week - National Environmental Education Week
Earth Month
May
4 - Star Wars Day (May the 4th be with you!)
8 - National Rain Day (Australia)
12 - National Lab Day
22 - International Day of Biodiversity
23 - World Turtle Day
third Friday - Endangered Species Day
first full week - National Wildflower Week
June
5 - World Environment Day
6 - National Butterfly Awareness Day
8 - World Oceans Day
first Saturday - National Trails Day
National Pollinator Week
July
20 - Moon Day
August
fourth Sunday - World Kitchen Garden Day
National Water Quality Month
September
14 - Protect Your Groundwater Day
18 - International Observe the Moon Night
18 - World Water Monitoring Day
25 - Nature Rocks Day
26 - World Rivers Day (Canada)
third Saturday - World Tree Day
last Saturday of the month - National Public Lands Day
24-30 Take a Child Outside Week
October
10 - Powers of Ten Day
14 - No Child Left Inside Day (new!) (date varies, part of Earth Science Week)
15 - National Fossil Day (date varies, part of Earth Science Week)
17 - Geologic Map Day (date varies, part of Earth Science Week)
20 - World Statistics Day
23 - National Mole Day (celebrating Avogadro's number)
4 - 10 World Space Week
week containing the 10th day - National Metric Week
second full week - Earth Science Week
third full week - National Chemistry Week
Waste Reduction Week (Canada)
November
15 - America Recycles Day
30 - Computer Security Day
December
(No listings yet.)
[Last updated - 3/16/18: Added Citizen Science Day and National DNA Day; 3/28/14: Added Star Wars Day and No Child Left Inside Day, corrected dates. 10/20/12 - Added Geologic Map Day. 1/29/11 - Added National Seed Swap Day; edited link for Sun-Earth Day. 10/4/10 - Added World Space Week. 9/17/10 - Added International Observe the Moon Night, National Metric Week. ]
Photo credit: SantaRosa OLD SKOOL via flickr // CC BY 2.0
10 comments:
I like this list.
Thanks, CricketB. It took me a while to put it together, but it was fun looking for the holidays. :) I need to update this soon and add National Metric Week (not that it does much to convince us down here to give up our feet and inches!).
Mama Joules--
Great post! As my hubby and I face the fall and winter holidays, which largely revolve around religious celebrations, we long for alternative science related days to celebrate. Thanks for gathering this info!
Jody
Richmond, VT
Hi Jody, thanks for stopping by. If you come across any good science holidays for December, be sure to drop back by & let me know so that I can add them to the list.
You might be interested in Agnostica (December 14th) - http://www.agnostica.com/
It would seem to fit your list.
Thanks for the list, all those days some are fun but others good to remember, happy holidays from my buenos aires apartment
I found something for December: http://csedweek.org/
Computer Science Education Week
Hi NH Science fan: Thanks for the tip. I will look into it. :)
Also, thanks for stopping by yumitori & Angelica. Sorry it's taken me so long to get back to you!
It would be cool to have the birthdays/anniversaries of the rovers in here as a side list. Curiosity is 5 now, Opportunity and Spirit are 13ish, even if Opportunity is not functioning anymore.
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