Schwinger foundation

Physics research for which other sources of money are scant is the focus of the new Julian Schwinger Foundation. Schwinger, who shared the 1965 physics Nobel Prize, died in 1994. His widow, Clarice Schwinger, set up the foundation according to his wishes and serves as its president.

Although the foundation will fund any area of physics research, priority will go to theoretical and experimental research on highly nonlinear processes giving rise to energy-concentrating phenomena—sonoluminescence is one example—which was of special interest to Schwinger. “We would like to help those people whose research is promising but not mainstream,” says the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Jack Ng, who studied under Schwinger and is the foundation’s secretary. The foundation also supports workshops, summer schools, and the like. The first grant, awarded last fall, went to a conference on elementary particles, astrophysics, and cosmology.

Initially, grants will be up to $25 000; this limit may eventually be lifted.