New Class of 51 Pegasi b Fellows Announced Share By Heising-Simons Foundation on 1/31/2018 on 1/31/2018 Today, the Heising-Simons Foundation is pleased to announce the eight recipients of this year’s 51 Pegasi b Fellowships. These fellows are amongst the most promising and gifted researchers working in the field of planetary astronomy. Recipients will receive a research grant of up to $375,000 over three years to pursue innovative independent research ideas, take risks, and tackle challenging questions that will accelerate the field.
Physics Today: Foundation Director on the Draw of Science Philanthropy Share By Heising-Simons Foundation on 11/30/2017 on 11/30/2017 “Sleuthing for potentially brilliant research ideas to fund turns out to be a fun cultural shift after a decades-long lab career.” In its regular question-and-answer series with leaders in the world of physics, Physics Today, the magazine of the American Institute of Physics, spent time with Cyndi Atherton, program director for science at the Heising-Simons …
Discovery Opens New Paths for Astronomy Share By Heising-Simons Foundation on 10/16/2017 on 10/16/2017 Among the thousands of scientists involved in the discovery of the merger of two neutron stars is a team led by astronomer Ryan Foley at UC Santa Cruz. With support from the Heising-Simons Foundation, Foley’s team captured the first images of the event in a galaxy 130 million light-years away utilizing the 1-meter Swope Telescope at the Carnegie Institution’s Las Campanas Observatory in Chile.
Study Finds Latinos Highly Engaged with Climate Change Issue Share By Heising-Simons Foundation on 10/10/2017 on 10/10/2017 Self-identified Latinos in the United States are more convinced that global warming is happening and that it is caused by human activity, according to a national study conducted by grantee the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. Latinos are also more worried about climate change, more supportive of climate change policies, and more willing to demand political action than non-Latinos.
Taking on Gender Disparities in Physics and Astronomy Share By Heising-Simons Foundation on 9/26/2017 on 9/26/2017 Inside Philanthropy explores the “disturbing decline” of female physics and astronomy students who are on the path from students to professionals in those fields, and what the Heising-Simons Foundation is doing to try “to turn around some of these troubling stats in laboratories and academic departments.” The goal of the Foundation’s women in physics and …
On the Fair Treatment of Women in Science Share By Heising-Simons Foundation on 9/20/2017 on 9/20/2017 The Heising-Simons Foundation’s Science program is committed to addressing gender imbalances and inequities in the fields of physics and astronomy, both in colleges and in academic and research careers in the United States. One of our closest thought partners in this work has been UC Berkley’s Chancellor Emeritus and Silverman professor of physics Robert Birgeneau, who recently co-wrote a letter about this subject in the September 2017 Science magazine issue.
Science Explained: Watch MinutePhysics’ Video on Neutrinos Share By Heising-Simons Foundation on 6/16/2017 on 6/16/2017 Explaining complex science concepts in simple and entertaining ways for a general audience can be a hard task, but theoretical physicist Henry Reich has carved out a special place in the YouTube-sphere doing exactly that. In its latest video, supported by the Heising-Simons Foundation’s Science program, MinutePhysics explains the surprising characteristics of “neutrino oscillations.”
New AAAS Mass Media Fellows Ready to Communicate Science Share By Heising-Simons Foundation on 5/15/2017 on 5/15/2017 For the third year, the Heising-Simons Foundation is excited to support the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in its competitive fellowship program that connects scientists and journalists to better communicate complex science ideas to all audiences.
51 Pegasi b Fellow Jason Dittmann Discovers Temperate Super-Earth Exoplanet Share By Heising-Simons Foundation on 4/21/2017 on 4/21/2017 In a remarkable discovery, researchers have found a new exoplanet 39 light-years away that shows promise for life beyond our solar system. Jason Dittmann, lead author of the paper in Nature and an inaugural 51 Pegasi b Fellow, calls the discovery “the most exciting exoplanet I’ve seen in the last decade.” The new rocky exoplanet, …