The gift will be used to create the Fred Kavli Professorship, which will support a faculty member working in one of two research areas -- understanding the universe or understanding the brain and the human condition, with a preference for a faculty member working to understand the universe.
The Kavli Institute has made a separate gift to upgrade Caltech's Cosmic Background Imager, an astronomical instrument located at the Llano de Chajnantor Observatory in the Chilean Andes.
"We are delighted to have the Fred Kavli Professorship at Caltech," said David Baltimore, Caltech president. "Fred's gifts will help Caltech do what it does best -- to explore and understand the universe. We are very pleased that Caltech is a beneficiary of his philanthropy."
Kavli received his education in physics at the Norwegian Institute of Technology, financing his studies with proceeds from a business venture he and his brother ran as teenagers during World War II -- making wood briquettes for automotive fuel. He came to the United States in 1956 to launch a business and founded the Kavlico Corporation, in Moorpark, California, two years later. Under his leadership, the company became one of the world's largest suppliers of sensors for aeronautic, automotive, and industrial applications. The company received many distinguished awards, and Kavli patented numerous technological breakthroughs. He remained CEO and sole shareholder of the company until he divested his interest to C-MAC Corporation in 2000.
Since then, he has established the Kavli Foundation and the Kavli Institute to support scientific research aimed at improving the quality of life for people around the world. The Foundation will establish chairs at leading universities worldwide and give prizes to promote and recognize excellence in research focusing on specific areas. These include expanding our knowledge and understanding of the cosmos; life and the human being, including the aging process and expanding human life spans; the technology field, with emphasis on nano-quantum-biotechnology; and methods of making education more effective worldwide. The work of the Foundation is enhanced by research and educational seminars conducted at the Kavli Institute.
Founded in 1891, Caltech has an enrollment of some 2,000 students, and a faculty of about 290 professorial members, 54 research members and some 550 postdoctoral scholars. The Institute has more than 20,000 alumni. Caltech employs a staff of more than 2,400 on campus and 4,800 at JPL. Over the years, 29 Nobel Prizes and four Crafoord Prizes have been awarded to faculty members and alumni. Forty-seven Caltech faculty members and alumni have received the National Medal of Science; and eight alumni (two of whom are also trustees), two additional trustees, and one faculty member have won the National Medal of Technology.
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