Begun in 1956, it gained additional funding and emphasis in the wake of the Sputnik crisis of 1957, and within ten years half of the country's high school physics students were using the PSSC curriculum of textbooks and experiments.
This initiative started in 1956, receiving increased funding and attention after the Sputnik crisis of 1957, and by the end of a decade, nearly half of the nation's high school physics students had adopted the PSSC curriculum's instructional resources and hands-on activities.