The Foundational Questions Institute, styled FQxI (formerly FQXi), is an organization that provides grants to "catalyze, support, and disseminate research on questions at the foundations of physics and cosmology."[1] It was founded in 2005 by cosmologists Max Tegmark and Anthony Aguirre.[2] It is currently run by chief scientific officer David Sloan and chief operating officer Kavita Rajanna.[3]
Best known for its Zenith Grants program, FQxI has awarded 234 grants in ten grant rounds since 2006, totaling $27M.[4] Sample grant round topics include the Nature of Time (2010), Physics of Information (2013), Physics of the Observer (2016), Agency in the Physical World (2018), and Information as Fuel (2019).[5] It also runs frequent essay contests open to the general public with $40,000 in prizes awarded by a jury panel and the best texts published in book format.[6]
FQxI is an independent, philanthropically funded non-profit organization, run by scientists for scientists.[7]
FQxI has been funded by a variety of individual donors and institutes since its inception, most notably the John Templeton Foundation, Fetzer Institute,[8] The Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation,[9] and Templeton World Charity Foundation.[10]
The $6.2 million seed funding was donated by the John Templeton Foundation, whose goal is to reconcile science and religion. Tegmark has stated that the money came with "no strings attached"; The Boston Globe stated FQxI is run by "two well-respected researchers who say they are not religious. The institute's scientific advisory board is also filled with top scientists."[11] Critics of the John Templeton Foundation such as Sean Carroll have also stated they were satisfied that the FQxI is independent.[12][13]
Notable members
All FQXi members are listed on its website.[14]
Five FQxI Members are awardees of the Nobel Prize in Physics: Gerard 't Hooft, Anthony Leggett, Frank Wilczek, Roger Penrose, and Anton Zeilinger.[15]
FQxI's Scientific Advisory Council "shares a wide range of expertise on FQxI’s scientific programs and helps with scientific planning."[16] The council members are:
- Jim Al-Khalili
- Adam Brown
- Jeremy Butterfield
- Sean Carroll
- David Chalmers
- Bob Coecke
- Lidia del Rio
- Joshua Deutsch
- George F. R. Ellis
- Surya Ganguli
- Alan Guth
- Jenann Ismael
- Robert Lawrence Kuhn
- Fotini Markopoulou
- Hiranya Peiris
- Chanda Prescod-Weinstein
- Martin Rees
- Carlo Rovelli
- Susan Schneider
- Lee Smolin
References
External links
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