History

Announced in 1994, GLOBE (Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment) began operations on Earth Day 1995. Today, the international GLOBE network has grown to include representatives from more than 120 participating countries coordinating GLOBE activities that are integrated into their local and regional communities.
 

Key dates in the history of The GLOBE Program

1994: Earth Day, U.S. Government announces The GLOBE Program as a multi-agency effort.

1995: Earth Day, The GLOBE Program launches (with 11 protocols); 33 countries join the program.

1998: Finland hosts the first GLOBE Learning Expedition in Helsinki.

2000: USA hosts second GLOBE Learning Expedition in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

2003: Croatia hosts third GLOBE Learning Expedition, held in Sibenik.

2004: GLOBE receives the Goldman Sachs Award for being an "outstanding program that makes use of media/technology to educate students or teachers about other world regions and cultures, or international issues.”

2005: Earth Day; GLOBE celebrates its 10th birthday, with 15,000 schools in 106 countries.

2008: South Africa hosts fourth GLOBE Learning Expedition in Cape Town.

2009: GLOBE established Regional Offices in Africa, Asia and Pacific, Europe and Eurasia, Latin America and the Caribbean, Near East and North Africa, and North America to support professional development workshops, capacity building and regional sustainability efforts; data in GLOBE database reaches 20 million.

2011: GLOBE launches concept of Student Research Campaigns.

2014: India hosts fifth GLOBE Learning Expedition in New Delhi.

2015: Earth Day, GLOBE celebrates its 20th birthday! GLOBE launches new mobile data entry app; offers 51 protocols; data reaches 128 million measurements.

2016: GLOBE provides online eTraining; hosts International Virtual Science Fair and six regional U.S. science fairs and various student scientific campaigns.

2017: Data reaches over 140 million measurements; International Virtual Science Symposium increases in number of submitted projects and worldwide representation; new mosquito protocol launched.

2018: Ireland hosts the sixth GLOBE Learning Expedition in Killarney; data reaches over 150 million measurements; U.S. Department of State initiative on mosquito education launched; all six GLOBE regions entered over one million measurements into the GLOBE database.

2019: GLOBE (through the GLOBE Zika Education and Prevention Project) connects with Google Voyager to highlight GLOBE’s story, “Stopping the Spread of Zika”; Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Task Force established; NASA appoints Dr. Allison Leidner as GLOBE Program Manager.

2020: The GLOBE Program celebrates its 25th Anniversary! The COVID-19 pandemic disrupts everything. For the first time, the GLOBE Annual Meeting goes "virtual."