- Science, Reason, and Truth
Dr. Marco Bersanelli, President
This grant supported a symposium of scholars that was held during the annual Rimini Meeting in Italy. Symposium participants explored key interdisciplinary issues such as the capacity to attain the truth, the relationship between scientific inquiry and other methods for reaching truth, and the boundaries of human reason.
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March 2007 |
$151,021 |
- Events Series Partnership for "Big Questions about Humanity and the Universe"
Baroness Susan Greenfield CBE
Director of the Royal Institution of Great Britain
Fullerian Professor of Physiology
Senior Research Fellow, Lincoln College
Honorary Fellow, St. Hilda's College
University of Oxford (Oxford, United Kingdom)
The project supports 6 public events over 2 years at the Royal Institution of Great Britain to stimulate public interest in big questions about the universe, human nature and human purpose. Possible lecture themes include human cooperation, the limits of knowledge, freedom, creativity, the emergence of life, belief and consciousness, and the relationship between science and religion. Events will be webcast and the videos will be archived online.
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February 2008 |
$176,446 |
- The World Science Festival: Big Ideas Series
Professor Brian Greene, Department of Physics
Columbia University (New York, New York)
Chairman, World Science Festival Foundation
- This grant supported a series of events focusing on big questions in science during the inaugural World Science Festival. The Festival aims to transform public perceptions of science, illuminate critical global issues informed by science, and enhance the public discourse around our common transcendent search for a deeper understanding of our origins and place in the universe. Event topics included big questions in cosmology, quantum physics, faith and science, human uniqueness, and the search for ultimate explanations.
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February 2008 |
$750,000 |
- Deep Beauty: Mathematical Innovation and the Search for an Underlying Intelligibility of the Quantum World
Professor Hans Halvorson
Department of Philosophy
Princeton University (Princeton, New Jersey) Pamela Contractor, President
Ellipsis Enterprises, Inc.
- This grant supported a symposium held in Princeton (October 2007) and a subsequent research volume, both in honor of the 75th anniversary of the publication of John von Neumann's classic text, The Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics. The purpose of the program was to better understand the nature of quantum mechanics and thereby probe further into the nature of the universe. Twelve scholars participated in the symposium and will contribute to the research volume which is set to be published in Spring 2009.
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March 2007 |
$272,400 |
- Infinity and the Openness of Time
Dr. Wolfgang Achtner, Founder and Director,
Transscientia Institute fur Interdisziplinare
Chaplain, University of Giessen Dr. Stefan Kunz,
Theologian affiliated with Transscientia Institute fur Interdisziplinare
- This book project supports Dr. Stefan Kunz as he investigates questions about ultimate reality and the direction of time. Dr. Kunz will write a book, utilizing current understandings in physics, mathematics, philosophy and theology, to propose a new ontological understanding based on possibility instead of reality.
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September 15, 2007 |
$18,349.96 |
- Life, The Universe, Everything - And More
Professor Richard D. Mohr
Department of Philosophy
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Urbana IL)
- The conference grant, looking at many philosophical, theological and scientific aspects of Plato's 'Timaeus', brings together an international list of speakers from a range of disciplines. Key scientists and philosophers include Sir Anthony Leggett, Sean Carroll, Alexander Nehamas and Julia Kristeva. Parmenides Publishing has agreed to publish the proceedings and JTF funds support less than 20% of the total cost.
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January 2007 |
$12,000 |
- FQX Foundational Questions in Physics and Cosmology
Professor Max Tegmark
Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge MA) Professor Anthony N. Aguirre
Department of Physics
University of California Santa Cruz (Santa Cruz CA)
- This grant established the Foundational Questions Institute (FQXi) and the Foundational Questions Consortium (FQXc) for networking, and the sponsoring of research grants, mini-grants, contests and conferences. Their focus is on questions at the foundations of physics and cosmology, particularly new frontiers and innovative ideas integral to a deep understanding of reality but unlikely to be supported by conventional funding sources.
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March 2006 |
$8,812,078 |
- Science and Transcendence Advanced Research Series [STARS]
Robert J. Russell, Ian G. Barbour Chair in Theology and Science
Founder and Director, Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences [CTNS]
Professor of Theology and Science in Residence, Graduate Theological Union - The
goal of STARS is to help fund research by small interdisciplinary teams of
scientists, philosophers, and theologians. Research will emphasize questions
concerning the nature, character, and meaning of ultimate reality.
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June 2005 |
$3,040,000 |
