Short answers, pulled from the story.
Henry Steel Olcott (the 2nd of August 1832 - the 17th of February 1907) was an American military officer, journalist, lawyer, and co-founder of the Theosophical Society. He is significant as the first well-known American of European ancestry to formally convert to Buddhism, and as a major revivalist of Buddhism in Sri Lanka.
Olcott formally converted to Buddhism on the 19th of May 1880, when he and Helena Blavatsky took the Five Precepts at the Wijayananda Viharaya in Weliwatta, Galle, Sri Lanka. They became the first Westerners to receive the Three Refuges and Five Precepts in the traditional ceremony.
The Buddhist Catechism is a text Olcott wrote in 1881 that outlines the basic doctrines of Buddhism, including the life of the Buddha, the Dharma, the Sangha, and the relationship between Buddhist teachings and contemporary society. It is formatted as questions and answers, similar to Christian catechisms, and remains in use in Sri Lanka today.
The Theosophical Society under Olcott's leadership built Ananda College in 1886, Dharmaraja College Kandy in 1887, Maliyadeva College Kurunegala in 1888, and Mahinda College Galle in 1892. These schools were part of Olcott's broader effort to revive Buddhist education under British colonial rule.
Protestant Buddhism is a term scholars use for the modernist, rationalist interpretation of Buddhism shaped by Western Protestant Christian assumptions. Olcott is considered its most prominent early figure because his Presbyterian upbringing led him to frame Buddhist teachings through liberal, scientific, and individualist categories derived from his Protestant background.
Two major streets in Colombo and Galle are named Olcott Mawatha in his honor, and statues of him stand in both cities. The date of his death, the 17th of February, is still observed by Buddhist centers and Sunday schools across Sri Lanka. A statue was also unveiled near Princeton, New Jersey on the 10th of September 2011.