Foundational Questions Institute

At the John Templeton Foundation’s Berkeley symposium honoring the 90th birthday of Charles Townes in October, MIT cosmologist Max Tegmark launched the Foundational Questions Institute (FQXi). A consortium for funding “visionary and pioneering researchers in physics, cosmology, and related fields” worldwide, FQXi is directed by Tegmark and seeded by a donation from the Templeton Foundation. The foundation is known for promoting reconciliation between science and religion, for example through its Templeton Prize. This year’s prize was awarded to Townes (see April 2005, page 28 ). “But FQXi’s choice of grantees will be fully independent of the Templeton Foundation’s philosophical and religious interests,” says Tegmark. “The institute is run by scientists, for scientists.”

During the program’s initial four years, about $6 million will be made available by the foundation in grants to theorists and experimenters. There will also be international conferences, essay contests, and “low-hassle minigrants” for travel and workshops. The emphasis, says Tegmark, will be on novel approaches to fundamental questions that are less likely to get governmental support than more conventional work. The first grant opportunities will soon be announced. Information is available at www.fqxi.org .