The Cold War raged, and the Soviet Union stunned America and the world by beating us into space with Sputnik.
Calls rang out for a nationwide mobilization to catch up.
The Thacher School, in cooperation with Caltech, Pomona, and UCLA, developed the Summer Science Program. The best way to turn bright teenagers into young scientists is to have them team up with their peers to solve a difficult, interesting scientific problem. Forty years later, much has changed. Global competition is more economic than military. Government funding for science education waxes and wanes like the moon.