Caltech Receives $10 Million Grant fromSherman Fairchild Foundation
February 08, 2001
PASADENA, Calif.— The California Institute of Technology has received a $10 million grant from the Sherman Fairchild Foundation to establish an endowment for the existing Sherman Fairchild Postdoctoral Scholars Program in theoretical physics, theoretical astrophysics, and mathematics.
This endowment provides the best young scholars in these areas with three- to six-year postdoctoral appointments, along with infrastructure support. The goal of the endowment is to furnish postdoctoral scholars with a supportive, unencumbered research environment and allow for collaboration with an international network of premier scientists.
The endowment will facilitate advanced research in areas such as particle, nuclear, and string theory; theoretical astrophysics and relativity; condensed-matter physics; atomic physics and quantum computation; and mathematical physics.
The Sherman Fairchild Foundation has been a significant benefactor to Caltech for many years, establishing the Distinguished Scholars Program and providing seed funding for the Center for Computational Research in Biology, and for the Sherman Fairchild Library of Engineering and Applied Science.
According to Caltech president David Baltimore, "Caltech is fortunate to have a long relationship with the Sherman Fairchild Foundation through which many of our most outstanding scientists have benefited. The foundation's exceptional commitment and foresight have ensured that our postdoctoral scholars have sufficient resources available to them so that they can achieve their maximum potential."
The Sherman Fairchild Foundation was incorporated in 1955 by Sherman M. Fairchild, inventor of the Fairchild aerial camera, chairman of Fairchild Camera Instrument Co. and of Fairchild Hiller Corp., owner of Fairchild Recording Equipment Co., and a director of IBM.
