World Science Day for Peace and Development
Next: November 10, 2026
Thank someone who made you curious.
The story
Where it comes from
World Science Day for Peace and Development grew out of the 1999 World Conference on Science in Budapest, organised by UNESCO and the International Council for Science, which called for a new commitment between science and society. UNESCO's General Conference proclaimed 10 November as the Day in 2001, and it was first celebrated worldwide on 10 November 2002. Its aim is to show how much science shapes daily life, and to bring the public into debates on new scientific questions.
How it's celebrated
Governments, universities, research institutes, professional associations, UNESCO National Commissions, science teachers and schools hold lectures, open labs, debates and science fairs. In 2025 the International Science Council counted more than 80 events by its members and partners, from Argentina to Tanzania and India. A simple way to take part is to thank the teacher or scientist who first made you curious.
Did you know
- UNESCO's oldest prize, the Kalinga Prize for the Popularization of Science, was created in 1951 with a gift from the Indian industrialist Biju Patnaik.
- In Jordan, the SESAME laboratory, built under UNESCO's auspices and opened in 2017, lets scientists from Cyprus, Egypt, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Pakistan, Palestine and Turkey share one particle accelerator.
- The Day sits beside an older UN observance, the International Week of Science and Peace, proclaimed in 1988 for the week in which 11 November falls.
Coming up next
- Singles' Day · November 11, 2026
- Origami Day · November 11, 2026
- Remembrance Day · November 11, 2026
- Philae Lands on a Comet · November 12, 2026
- World Kindness Day · November 13, 2026
- Children's Day (Bal Diwas) · November 14, 2026