Oakland
Tribune
March
23, 2007
by: By Kristin Bender
BERKELEY -- Astrophysicist
George Smoot, who last year won the Nobel Prize for his work confirming
the "Big Bang" theory of the origin of the universe,
is donating his winnings to science education.
Smoot is the second University of California, Berkeley, Nobel prize
winner to convert his prize money into a charitable fund at the
Oakland-based East Bay Community Foundation.
The foundation manages nearly $270 million in charitable funds
for individuals, families, businesses and other organizations.
His money will go into a "donor-advised fund" held in
the name of the giver, who recommends making grants to charities.
It will go to further science education and training by funding
fellowships for graduate and postdoctoral students.
"I thought it would be good to make it possible for the next
generation to come along," he said Thursday.
Smooth also has arranged with the University of California, Berkele,
Foundation for matching grants to set up a center providing science
training for high school students as well as continuing cosmology
research, East Bay Community Foundation officials said Thursday.
In 2000, economics Nobel Laureate Daniel McFadden converted his
prize winnings into a donor-advised fund at the foundation. McFadden
was awarded the prize for his work in microeconometrics, the study
of how individuals and households make economic choices.
The foundation's vice president for development, Chris Nicholson,
said the scientists, who both shared their awards with co-winners,
gave a "substantial" portion of their prizes to the organization.
Prizes vary by year because of currencyfluctuations but were worth
$1.4 million last year. In 2000, the prize was smaller. Smoot paid
for the trip to Sweden in December to accept his award but donated
the remainder.
"We commend Professor Smoot for his generosity," foundation
interim president Karen Stevenson said in a statement.
Smoot joins five other professors and scientists at UC Berkeley
and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory doing philanthropic
work with the foundation.
For Smoot, the donation is a continuation of his efforts to make
the science of the cosmos more accessible.
"There's the research and then there's the education and then
there's the outreach," he said Thursday.
Filling the public in on his work is important "because they're
funding the research," he said, "but also, we live in
a technical society, so people have to understand science and feel
comfortable about it."
Wire services contributed to this report.
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