Fred Kavli, founder and chairman of The Kavli Foundation, passed away peacefully on Thursday, November 21 at the age of 86.
A philanthropist, physicist and entrepreneur, Fred Kavli established The Kavli Foundation in 2000 to advance science for the benefit of humanity. The Foundation today includes an international community of basic research institutes in the fields of astrophysics, nanoscience, theoretical physics and neuroscience, including Yale’s Kavli Institute for Neuroscience, established in 2004.
The Foundation also supports an international program of conferences, symposia, endowed professorships, and other activities, including the Kavli Prizes, which recognize scientists for their seminal advances in three research areas: astrophysics, nanoscience and neuroscience.
“Fred was an extraordinary man who has left an imprint on science and technology that will never be forgotten,” says Pasko Rakic, who is both director of the Kavli Institute for Neuroscience at Yale and the 2008 Kavli Laureate in Neuroscience.
Rakic and Fred Kavli dined together in New Haven about ten years ago, and Fred Kavli explained what had inspired him to support basic science research: As a young man, he'd been fascinated by the immenseness of the universe (the domain of astrophysicists), consisting of the smallest particles (the stuff of nanoscience), but which could be understood only by the human brain, Rakic recalls.
“That is why he established the Kavli Institute for Neuroscience at Yale and called on us to seek answers to one of the most fundamental questions in science: understanding the crowning achievement of evolution, the cerebral cortex,” Rakic says.
“We’ll continue to strive to meet his challenge and honor his legacy by supporting exceptional multidisciplinary brain research.”
In addition to establishing institutes and prizes, the Kavli Foundation has brought together scientists at meetings that facilitate open dialogue and an exchange of ideas. These meetings have precipitated such major initiatives as the Brain Activity Map proposal, which was a major catalyst for President Obama's Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative announced in April 2013.
"This is a painful loss for the Foundation and for all of science," said Rockell N. Hankin, Vice Chairman of the Foundation. "We can only take comfort in his extraordinary legacy, which will continue advancing critically important research that benefits all of humanity, and supports scientific work around the globe."
During his lifetime, Fred Kavli was a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a member of the Norwegian Academy of Technological Sciences, and a member of the U.S. President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. His many honors included receiving the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy, which is given biennially to one or more individuals who, like Andrew Carnegie, have dedicated their private wealth to public good, and who have sustained impressive careers as philanthropists.
Fred Kavli contracted a rare form of cancer about a year ago. He is survived by two children, and nine nephews and nieces.
To learn more about Fred Kavli and his support for basic science research, see:
- The Kavli Foundation: In Memoriam
- A video interview with Alan Alda from 2007