organised by eiroforum, a collaboration of european research organisations, the initiative science on stage began in 1999 as physics on stage (pos), with financial support from the european commission [pos was half funded by eiroforum]. eiroforum launched the initiative to address the decreasing numbers of young physicists. the first physics on stage festival was at cern in geneva, switzerland, in 2000. over the course of an inspiring week, more than 500 teachers from 22 countries shared activities and projects in a fair, in workshops, in performances and in presentations showed that physics can be fun. on the back of this success, physics on stage 2 was arranged in 2002 at esa in noordwijk, the netherlands. physics on stage 3 followed a year later at the same location.