FQX – Foundational Questions in Physics and Cosmology
The Biggest, Most Essential Questions Ever
A grant from the John Templeton Foundation established the Foundational Questions Institute (FQXi) and the Foundational Questions Consortium (FQXc) for networking, and the sponsoring of research grants, mini-grants, contests and conferences. Their focus is on questions at the foundations of physics and cosmology, particularly new frontiers and innovative ideas integral to a deep understanding of reality but unlikely to be supported by conventional funding sources.
FQX Insitute has five goals:
- To expand the purview of scientific inquiry to include scientific disciplines fundamental to a deep understanding of reality, but which are currently largely unsupported by conventional grant sources
- To redress incrementalism in research programming by establishing or expanding new "islands" of understanding via flexible funding of high-risk, high-reward research in these areas
- To forge and maintain useful collaborations between researchers working on foundational questions in physics, cosmology, and related fields
- To provide the public with a deeper understanding of known and future discoveries in these areas, and their potential implications for our worldview
- To create a logistically, intellectually, and financially self-sustaining independent Institute to accomplish these goals during and beyond the initial four year program beginning in 2006, thereby pioneering a new model of philanthropically-funded scientific research
