Billionaire hedge fund guru James Simons and his wife Marilyn are donating $60 million to SUNY Stony Brook for a new Physics center at the school. Simons was the former chairman of SUNY Stony Brook’s math department and has made significant gifts to the school in the past…
James and Marilyn Simons announced the
gift, the largest ever to a school within the SUNY system, at a press conference
yesterday with Governor Spitzer in Manhattan. The donation will go toward the
creation of the Simons Center for Geometry and Physics, where scholars will
study subjects at the cutting edge of physics, including string theory, which
scientists believe could yield valuable insights into the properties of the
universe."We believe there is a chance that
work accomplished at the center will significantly change and deepen our
understanding of the physical universe and of its basic mathematical
structure," Mr. Simons said.
Mr. Simons has served as the chairman of
the math department at Stony Brook and made several multimillion-dollar
donations to the Long Island school, including a $25 million gift in 2006. That
same year he and private donors from his company, Renaissance Technologies, gave
Stony Brook $13 million to continue physics research at the university after the
federal government cut its budget. Overall, he and his foundation have donated
more than $85 million to Stony Brook. Mrs. Simons also received a Ph.D. in
economics from the university.
Billionaire Donates $60M To SUNY for Physics Center – New York Sun
Tags: Hedge funds, Jim Simons, Philanthropy, Renaissance Technologies
