Over the decades since Jim and Marilyn Simons established the Simons Foundation in 1994, the foundation has expanded humankind’s understanding of the universe. We have pioneered ideas and supported research that has driven scientific progress in everything from the search for the underlying causes of autism to uncovering the origins of the universe. Today, we remain steadfast in our mission to advance the frontiers of research in mathematics and the basic sciences.
The foundation’s scope has expanded dramatically since its inception. Today, our programs enable groundbreaking research, foster large-scale scientific collaborations, and engage the public with science. Our in-house research division, the Flatiron Institute, develops and deploys cutting-edge computational methods and tools that propel science forward.
We recognize the power of convening and cross-disciplinary collaboration. By bringing researchers together, we can find answers to fundamental questions about our world and improve lives for generations to come.
Our Co-Founders
Jim and Marilyn Simons built the Simons Foundation to reflect their enduring belief that mathematics and the basic sciences are long-term investments that will expand our knowledge and contribute to human progress.
Jim Simons was an accomplished mathematician whose award-winning research revolutionized fields from condensed matter physics to topology. In 1978, he founded what would become Renaissance Technologies, a hedge fund that pioneered quantitative trading. He was an inspired and generous philanthropist, giving billions of dollars to support important work in math and science through the Simons Foundation, Simons Foundation International, Math for America and other philanthropic efforts.
Jim Simons died on May 10, 2024. Active in the foundation’s work until the end of his life, he left behind a monumental legacy.
In addition to co-founding the Simons Foundation and serving as its founding president from 1994 to 2021, Marilyn Simons has had a decades-long career as a philanthropic leader. She is an advocate for increased investment in basic science research and improved education for underserved communities. She continues to guide the foundation as chair of its board of trustees and serves in leadership roles at other organizations, including chairing Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory’s board of trustees and founding and chairing the Stony Brook Women’s Leadership Council. She holds a doctorate in economics from Stony Brook University.
Our Impactful Work
When charting the foundation’s direction and forming its mission, Jim and Marilyn Simons knew that the most significant leaps in human knowledge arrive unexpectedly when great minds are free to explore new ideas. Much of the Simons Foundation’s support has always gone to mathematics, which forms the foundation’s intellectual core. Since the foundation’s earliest days, the Simons have generously funded elite mathematics centers around the world, understanding that math is the language of science and the universe.
As their funding of science increased, the Simons began to leverage the flexibility and speed of philanthropy to fill significant gaps in research funding. They began to back promising projects that would not otherwise have received funding, particularly innovative, higher-risk projects with incredible potential for discovery.
In 2003, Jim and Marilyn Simons began thinking about funding work on the science of autism. They wanted to invest in people and projects that could revolutionize understanding of the highly complex condition. As they would continue to do when planning large projects and investments, they gathered top experts from science, medicine and government to consult on how to make the most impactful funding decisions. That year’s meeting on autism planted the seeds and set the early direction of the foundation’s first major funding program, the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI).
Nearly 10 years after that roundtable, Jim and Marilyn Simons again convened top minds for what would become one of the most important gatherings in the foundation’s history. The 2012 Buttermilk Falls meeting brought 18 preeminent scientists to Milton, New York, to conceive and discuss exciting research funding possibilities with the Simons.
Out of this gathering came a new, targeted approach to math and science research. The foundation began funding 10-year, goal-oriented Simons Collaborations that would unite researchers — sometimes from across disciplines, sometimes competitors — to work on problems of fundamental scientific and mathematical importance.
An idea from that same Buttermilk Falls meeting led to the 2016 launch of the foundation’s Flatiron Institute as an in-house research hub to develop and leverage cutting-edge computational techniques to take on the increasing demands of data science. The Simons have said that creating the Flatiron Institute as an internal division brought things full circle for them. Their wealth — which provided the foundation’s funds — came from applying data science to financial markets. Now, those same funds support data analysis to advance basic science.
The foundation values open science as a way of supporting the scientific community and driving progress. The foundation has produced dozens of open-source software products, and its grantees are required to openly share their data. Data from the foundation’s groundbreaking studies of autism genetics and neuroscience are similarly freely available. The Flatiron Institute’s collaborative atmosphere, which focuses on openness and support of the larger scientific community, continues that legacy.
The foundation also recognizes the importance of inspiring, encouraging and supporting future mathematicians and scientists. Internal and external foundation programs, often with an eye to increasing diversity in math and science, support up-and-coming researchers and offer opportunities for all people to deepen their connections with science.
Our co-founders built the foundation to serve as a lasting champion of math and basic science that will support transformational work to benefit humankind for future generations. In that pursuit, the foundation preserves the goals and ideals of Jim and Marilyn Simons — finely honed strategies, elegance, innovation and intellectual rigor.
We continue their work to further their vision.
Foundation Milestones
Founding
Jim and Marilyn Simons start the Simons Foundation as a 501(c)(3) to facilitate their charitable giving to educational institututions and other causes. Marilyn begins serving as the foundation’s first president.
New York City
The Simons Foundation establishes its first physical offices at 126 East 19th Street in New York City. The foundation eventually moves to its current headquarters at 160 Fifth Avenue.
The agenda from the 2003 meeting on autism research.
Autism Research
The foundation organizes a daylong roundtable of scientists and other experts to discuss the state of autism research. Such roundtables become a template for launching future programs.
The Simons Array, which studies the universe’s origins, is just one of many projects funded by the Simons Foundation that seek answers to fundamental questions in math and basic science.
Mission
Jim and Marilyn Simons set the foundation’s mission to advance the frontiers of research in mathematics and the basic sciences.
Math for America Master Teachers gather for a workshop on the mastery-based learning approach.
Michael Lisnet for Math for AmericaMath for America
A founder-directed grant from the Simons Foundation helps establish Math for America, an organization that supports outstanding STEM teachers in New York City.
Gerald Fischbach addresses the crowd at the 2011 SFARI Annual Meeting.
John Smock for Simons FoundationAutism Research Initiative
Renowned neuroscientist Gerald Fischbach joins as scientific director to lead the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI). SFARI’s mission is to advance the basic science of autism and related neurodevelopmental disorders.
Since its launch, Spectrum — now a part of The Transmitter — has served as the go-to destination for the latest news and analysis about autism research.
Spectrum
SFARI launches what will later be called Spectrum, an editorially independent news division focused on autism research. Apoorva Mandavilli serves as the publication’s first editor-in-chief.
An illustration of a Calabi–Yau manifold.
Lunch/Wikimedia CommonsMathematics & Physical Sciences
Mathematician David Eisenbud joins the foundation to lead a Mathematics & Physical Sciences division.
The Simons Center for Geometry and Physics at Stony Brook University, established in 2008.
Mark Weinberg$150M Stony Brook Gift
The Simons Foundation donates $150 million to Stony Brook University, the largest donation in the university’s history.
Attendees of the June 2012 meeting at the Buttermilk Falls Inn pose for a photograph.
Buttermilk Falls
Over a two-day meeting at the Buttermilk Falls Inn in upstate New York, Jim and Marilyn Simons convene a panel of distinguished scientists to discuss opportunities to advance math and science research over the coming decade. The meeting leads to many of the Simons Foundation’s cornerstone projects, including the launch of Simons Collaborations and the creation of the Flatiron Institute.
Since launching as Quanta in 2013, the magazine has attracted a loyal audience through its core news features as well as interviews, columns, blog posts, videos, puzzles and podcasts.
Quanta Magazine
Thomas Lin serves as the first editor-in-chief of the digital science magazine, initially called Simons Science News. Rebranded as Quanta Magazine in 2013, the editorially independent publication strives to advance public understanding of science.
Ian Fisk, co-director of the Flatiron Institute’s Scientific Computing Core, works on the institute’s high-performance computing cluster.
Simons Center for Data Analysis
Leslie Greengard directs the Simons Center for Data Analysis. The internal center focuses on using innovative methods to analyze large and complex biological datasets. SCDA will later expand to become the Flatiron Institute, with the data analysis center rebranded as the institute’s Center for Computational Biology.
A microecosystem of marine bacteria (their tracks in blue) feeds off organic matter leaking from a much larger spiny white marine diatom (center).
ETH Zurich / Vicente Fernandez, Steven Smriga and Roman StockerLife Sciences
Marian Carlson begins a new Life Sciences division to support research into fundamental questions in biology.
Biophysicist Dieter Braun presents during the Simons Collaboration on the Origins of Life annual meeting.
Simons Collaborations
The Life Sciences division launches the Simons Collaboration on the Origins of Life. Such collaborations become a major focus of the foundation’s support of collaborative, cutting-edge research.
Attendees at the Simons Foundation’s flagship In the Path of Totality event in Austin, Texas, look up at the April 2024 solar eclipse.
Brynn OsbornScience, Education & Outreach
The foundation establishes a new division — later renamed Science, Society & Culture — dedicated to providing opportunities for people to forge connections to science. Foundation president Marilyn Simons oversees the new division.
Through their involvement with SPARK, the King family learned that their youngest son, Travis, has a rare change in his CUL3 gene that is known to cause autism.
A snapshot from a simulation of how the magnetic fields of a black hole can create intense flares.
B. Ripperda et al., Astrophysical Journal Letters 2022Center for Computational Astrophysics
Astrophysicist David Spergel joins the Simons Foundation to establish the Center for Computational Astrophysics at the Flatiron Institute.
Marilyn Simons, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Jim Simons cut the ribbon during the Flatiron Institute’s dedication ceremony. Joining them, from left, were center directors Leslie Greengard, David Spergel and Antoine Georges.
Flatiron Institute
In a special ceremony, the Flatiron Institute is officially dedicated. The institute launches with centers devoted to research in astrophysics, biology and quantum physics, as well as the Scientific Computing Core, which serves as the institute’s technical backbone. The institute will later expand to include new centers focused on mathematics and neuroscience.
The software SpikeForest developed at the Flatiron Institute benchmarks the performance of various spike sorting algorithms used in the analysis of neural activity data.
Center for Computational Mathematics
Leslie Greengard, previously head of the Flatiron Institute’s Center for Computational Biology, serves as founding director of the institute’s new Center for Computational Mathematics.
The cover art from the Simons Foundation’s 25th anniversary book.
25 Years
The Simons Foundation commemorates a quarter century of supporting math and science research.
Microbiologist Jennifer Macalady of Pennsylvania State University descends into Italy’s Frasassi Caves in search of mysterious slimes created by microbes. In The Most Unknown, Macalady kicks off a chain of encounters between researchers tackling some of science’s biggest questions.
Photo courtesy of VICE/MotherboardSandbox Films
Sandbox Films launches as an editorially independent subsidiary of the Simons Foundation with a mission to illuminate the art and beauty of scientific inquiry. The production company’s creation follows a string of successful science documentaries funded by the Simons Foundation, including 2018’s The Most Unknown.
A specimen of Megaphragma viggianiiI, a parasitic wasp the size of some single-celled organisms such as amoebas. The tiny insect exhibits complex behaviors such as flight despite its small stature and brain, making it a useful tool for understanding how brains work.
Center for Computational Neuroscience
The Flatiron Institute announces its fifth center, the Center for Computational Neuroscience. Led by computational neuroscientist Eero Simoncelli, the center uses and develops computational tools to understand how the brain works.
David Spergel became the Simons Foundation’s second president in 2021.
New President
David Spergel, director of the Flatiron Institute’s Center for Computational Astrophysics, is inaugurated as the Simons Foundation’s second president. Marilyn Simons, the foundation’s president from the time of its formation in 1994, becomes co-chair of the foundation’s board of trustees.
From left, Quanta Magazine Executive Editor Michael Moyer, Senior Editor Natalie Wolchover, former Editor-in-Chief Thomas Lin, Art Director Samuel Velasco, Senior Video Producer Emily Buder and Senior Engagement Editor Matt Carlstrom at the Pulitzer Prize awards ceremony at Columbia University.
Eileen Barroso/Columbia UniversityPulitzer Prize
The staff of Quanta Magazine, notably senior editor Natalie Wolchover, win the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for explanatory writing “for coverage that revealed the complexities of building the James Webb Space Telescope.”
Simons Foundation President David Spergel, Marilyn Simons, Jim Simons, Stony Brook University President Maurie McInnis and Justin Fincher, executive director of the Stony Brook Foundation, at the announcement of the $500 million gift.
John Griffin$500M Stony Brook Gift
The $500 million contribution from the Simons Foundation and Simons Foundation International is the largest unrestricted endowment gift to a higher education institution in American history.
The Transmitter provides essential news, insights and resources across neuroscience disciplines and career stages.
The Transmitter
The team behind Spectrum launches The Transmitter, a publication covering the latest developments in neuroscience research. Spectrum’s autism research coverage anchors the new publication.
Simons Foundation co-founder and chair emeritus Jim Simons.
Béatrice de GéaJim Simons’ Legacy
The Simons Foundation announces the death of its co-founder and chair emeritus, James Harris Simons, on May 10, 2024, at the age of 86. He leaves an incredible legacy as an award-winning mathematician, a legend in quantitative investing, and an inspired and generous philanthropist.