Kavli Foundation establishes science awards to rival Nobel Prizes

Kavli Foundation establishes science awards to rival Nobel Prizes

A year after investing $75 million to endow ten scientific research institutes at colleges around the country and abroad, Fred Kavli has announced plans to create his own version of the Nobel Prizes, according to a story in the New York Times reports.

Starting in 2008, the Kavli Foundation in Santa Barbara, CA will sponsor three annual prizes worth $1 million each in the fields of astrophysics, neuroscience, and nanoscience.

Kavli's plan, the details of which will be soon announced in Oslo, is to have the prizes awarded by the Norwegian Academy of Sciences in September, a month before the Nobels are announced. "The point is to create visibility for science," said Kavli, who was born in Norway. "The Nobels do a good job. It might take us one hundred years to catch up."
When asked if he was concerned about possible competition between his and other international prizes—including Sweden's $500,000 Crafoord Prize, the $200,000 Gruber Prizes, and the $1.5 million Templeton Prize—Kavli said that they all have their own agendas. "The main thing is to create networks of support for the institutes," he added.

Source: Philanthropy News Digest, April 26, 2005, Vol 11, No. 17: Summary of Overbye, Dennis. "A Philanthropist of Science Seeks to Be Its Next Nobel." New York Times 4/19/05