In the 1970s,
Saint Mary's College of California produced a mathematics contest that was popular with secondary schools throughout the
San Francisco Bay Area. In 2005, Nancy Blachman attended an education forum sponsored by the
Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (MSRI) and remembered how the Saint Mary's contest had inspired her as a student. Unfortunately, the contest no longer existed. Seeking to possibly resurrect the contest, Blachman and MSRI development director Jim Sotiros reached out to colleagues in the educational community. One response was from local high school math teacher Joshua Zucker, who also remembered the contest and even had saved a book of problems from it. Blachman felt that such a woman would provide a role model for young girls and would show that one need not be male to be a great mathematician. When they sent out invitations to local schools, the response was so overwhelming that, in order to have enough space, they prevailed upon
Google in nearby
Mountain View to host the first festival. A second festival was hosted in 2008 by
Pixar Animation Studios in
Emeryville. Enthusiasm and interest have spurred strong growth, and since then, there have been festivals at
Princeton University (and its greater community);
Stanford University; and
University of California, Berkeley, and throughout the United States, as well as in Europe and Asia. As of December 2019, JRMF will have hosted nearly 500 events in 25 states, the District of Columbia, one territory (Puerto Rico), and 15 foreign countries. In 2020, they hosted over 120 Festivals—an increase of more than 50% over 2018. The services JRMF offer continue to be free of charge. The Julia Robinson Mathematics Festival has been invited to host festivals and tables at events such as the Joint Mathematics Meeting and MAA Mathfest. In December 2019, they celebrated Julia Robinson's 100th birthday with a festival in her hometown. ==Programming==