Foundational Questions Institute

Nonprofit organization

The Foundational Questions Institute, styled FQxI (formerly FQXi), is an organization that provides grants to "catalyze, support, and disseminate research on questions at the foundations of physics and cosmology."^[1] It was founded in 2005 by cosmologists Max Tegmark and Anthony Aguirre,.^[2] It has run multiple worldwide grant competitions (in 2006, 2008, 2010, 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019), the first of which provided US$2M to 30 projects.^[3] It also runs frequent essay contests open to the general public with $40,000 in prizes awarded by a jury panel and the best texts published in book format.^[4]

FQxI is an independent, philanthropically funded non-profit organization, run by scientists for scientists.

The $6.2 million seed funding was donated by the John Templeton Foundation, whose goal is to reconcile science and religion. Tegmark has stated that the money came with "no strings attached"; The Boston Globe stated FQxI is run by "two well-respected researchers who say they are not religious. The institute's scientific advisory board is also filled with top scientists."^[5] Critics of the John Templeton Foundation such as Sean Carroll have also stated they were satisfied that the FQxI is independent.^[6]^[7]

Notable members

FQXi members include^[8]

Scott Aaronson
Anthony Aguirre
Yakir Aharonov
John Carlos Baez
Julian Barbour
John D. Barrow
Jacob Biamonte
Raphael Bousso
Sean Carroll
David Chalmers
Paul Davies
David Deutsch
George F. R. Ellis
Nicolas Gisin
Brian Greene
Sabine Hossenfelder
Robert Lawrence Kuhn
Seth Lloyd
Roger Penrose
Lisa Randall
Martin Rees
Carlo Rovelli
Lee Smolin
Leonard Susskind
Gerard 't Hooft
Max Tegmark
Vlatko Vedral
Steven Weinberg
Frank Wilczek
Stephen Wolfram
Anton Zeilinger
Wojciech Zurek

Among others

References

^ About the Foundational Questions Institute
^ Schwarzchild, Bertram (December 2005). "News notes: Foundational Questions Institute". Physics Today. 58 (12): 31. Bibcode:2005PhT....58T..31F. doi:10.1063/1.2169440.
^ Merali, Zeeya (2007-11-15). "Is mathematical pattern the theory of everything?". New Scientist. Reed Business Information.
^ "Essay Contest page". fqxi.org. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
^ "Initiative will join physics, theology". Boston Globe. 31 July 2006. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
^ Epstein, David (1 August 2006). "Separation of Church and Science". Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
^ "Foundational Questioners Announced". Sean Carroll (blog). 31 July 2006. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
^ "FQxI Membership". Retrieved 27 January 2020.