A foundational gift from the Leinweber Foundation is naming the Stanford Institute for Theoretical Physics in the School of Humanities and Sciences, expanding its reach at a moment of extraordinary promise for the field.
The gift is part of a cross-institutional collaboration that includes the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Institute for Advanced Study, the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Chicago, and the University of Michigan – bringing the total investment by the Leinweber Foundation in theoretical physics to more than $100 million, one of the largest private commitments to fundamental science. The first-of-its-kind network will give theorists new opportunities to accelerate discovery in areas ranging from quantum gravity, dark matter, and early-universe cosmology to emergent behaviors of quantum materials, biological ecosystems, and neural networks.
“Scientific advances thrive on the exchange of ideas – on conversations that unfold across institutions, generations, and disciplines,” said Stanford President Jonathan Levin. “By helping establish a national network of premier research centers, Larry Leinweber is creating new pathways for collective discovery. We’re proud to be part of this vision for science that values collaboration, bold thinking, and the freedom to explore questions that reach beyond what is known.”
The gift for the newly named Leinweber Institute for Theoretical Physics at Stanford, in the Department of Physics, will provide significant support for postdoctoral researchers as well as graduate students in theoretical physics. It will also create new opportunities for visiting scholars and joint programs that connect research groups across the country.
“Postdoctoral researchers are a lifeblood for discovery in theoretical physics,” said Debra Satz, the Vernon R. and Lysbeth Warren Anderson Dean of the School of Humanities and Sciences. “They bring fresh perspectives and intellectual energy to some of science’s deepest questions. The new fellowships created through this gift will help foster the kind of intellectual environment where breakthrough ideas can take root.”
Investing in scientific infrastructure
The Leinweber Foundation was founded by software entrepreneur Larry Leinweber, the founder and former CEO of New World Systems. A lifelong enthusiast of physics, Leinweber has long expressed interest in questions about the fundamental nature of the universe.
“Theoretical physics has always captured my imagination,” Leinweber said. “Stanford already has an extraordinary reputation in physics, and we’re proud to help build on that foundation. Our goal in creating this network is to give brilliant minds the freedom to pursue bold, long-term ideas – on their own campuses and across institutional lines. With Stanford’s addition, the potential for discovery and collaboration is even greater.”
Larry Leinweber, founder of the Leinweber Foundation. | Courtesy Leinweber Foundation
Leinweber has described his philanthropic approach as focused on long-term investments in scientific infrastructure. His vision for a cross-institutional network echoes the spirit of the early 20th-century Solvay Conferences, where Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, and Marie Curie gathered to debate the field’s most foundational questions.
The power of pure inquiry
Stanford’s theoretical physicists are known for breakthroughs that have helped define modern physics. Their research spans fundamental questions including quantum information and entanglement, cosmology and black hole physics, the statistical physics of evolution and learning, quantum materials, and novel particle physics experiments. The Leinweber gift will strengthen this uniquely interdisciplinary environment at a time of extraordinary promise for the field.
“As we work to understand problems ranging from the emergent behaviors of complex systems to the structure of spacetime, the ability to pursue ambitious, deeply focused inquiry is essential – and that’s exactly what this support makes possible,” said Eva Silverstein, the Wells Family Director of the Leinweber Institute for Theoretical Physics at Stanford and professor of physics.
The postdoctoral fellows and graduate students supported by the gift will be known as Leinweber Physics Fellows. They will join the cohort of Leinweber Physics Fellows across all six institutions.
Peter Graham, professor of physics and incoming director of the Leinweber Institute for Theoretical Physics at Stanford. | Linda A. Cicero
Despite its abstraction, theoretical physics has long served as a quiet engine for real-world innovations – from quantum mechanics to semiconductors, from relativity to GPS, from particle physics to MRI.
“If history is any guide, the lessons that we learn about how the universe works, or the world, or particle physics, will eventually come together to create new applications, new technology,” said Leonard Susskind, the Felix Bloch Professor of Theoretical Physics, who founded the institute in the late 1970s. “But that’s not why we do it. We do it for two reasons: first, simply, out of curiosity, and second, for the chase of discovery and the excitement that comes from it.”
Writer
Anna Morrison
