Kavli Foundation (United States)

The Kavli Foundation, based in Oxnard, California, is a foundation that supports the advancement of science and the increase of public understanding and support for scientists and their work.

The Kavli Foundation was established in December 2000 by its founder and benefactor, Fred Kavli, a California business leader and Philanthropist whose foundation is currently actively involved in establishing research institutes at universities throughout the United States and in Europe.

To date, The Kavli Foundation has made grants to establish Kavli Institutes on the campuses of 15 major universities. In addition to the Kavli Institutes, six Kavli professorships have been established: two at University of California Santa Barbara, one each at University of California Los Angeles, University of California Irvine, Columbia University, and California Institute of Technology.

The Kavli Prize

The Kavli Prizes recognize scientists for advances in three research areas: astrophysics, nanoscience and neuroscience. Consisting of a scroll, medal and cash award of one million dollars, a prize in each of these areas is to be awarded every two years beginning in 2008. The Kavli Prizes are presented in cooperation with the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research, and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. (Norway is Kavli's native country)

The recipients are to be chosen by three prize committees comprised of distinguished scientists recommended by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the French Academy of Sciences, the Max Planck Society, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and The Royal Society. After making their selection for Award recipients, the recommendatons of these prize committees are to be confirmed by the Norwegian Academy of Arts and Sciences.

The Kavli Institutes

Astrophysics

• The Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara
• The Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology at Stanford University
• The Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, University of Chicago
• The Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• The Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics at Peking University
• The Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics China at the Chinese Academy of Sciences
• The Kavli Institute for Cosmology at the University of Cambridge

Nanoscience

• The Kavli Nanoscience Institute at Caltech
• The Kavli Institute at Cornell for Nanoscale Science
• The Kavli Institute of Nanoscience at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands
• The Kavli Nanoscience Institute at the California Institute of Technology

Neuroscience

• The Kavli Institute for Neuroscience at Yale University focuses on the cerebral cortex
• The Kavli Institute for Brain Science at Columbia University probes the complex network of brain cells and their connections.
• The Kavli Institute for Brain & Mind at the University of California, San Diego advances understanding of the origins, evolution and mechanisms of human cognition.
• The Kavli Institute for Bionano Science and Technology at Harvard University * The Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology is dedicated to advancing our understanding of neural circuits and systems in the brain.

References and external links

• The Kavli Foundation Website

Additional articles

• BBC News, "$1m prizes to complement Nobels," September 10, 2007
• Time Magazine, "The Next Nobel?" August 2, 2007
  
• Symmetry Magazine, "Donors Dream Big," August, 2007
  
• The Associated Press, "Kavli Strives to Leave Mark on Science," November 13, 2006
  
• Scientific American, "Scientific American 50: Policy Leader of the Year," November 21, 2005
  
• Scientific American, "He'll Pay for That," July, 2005
• The New York Times, "A Philanthropist of Science Seeks to Be Its Next Nobel," April 19, 2005