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Promoting Character Strength Development in Youths Through Interactive Storytelling Online: A Pilot Project

Thomistic Institute: Seeking the Unity of Truth Through Science and Faith

Novel Cryogenic Methods for Fundamental Physics

Making Meaning in a Post-Religious America

Frequency distributions in complex organic molecular mixtures: A search for biological anomalies and their meaning

Why Justice and Forgiveness Go Hand In Hand

A Plasma Haloscope for the Post-Inflation Axion

TEX Fellowship: Unifying Mind and Machine: searching for new theories of physics with machine learning

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The Science of Forgiveness

It’s a grateful life: Grants explore the benefits of gratitude and humility

Sir John Templeton believed that the path to life’s blessings is paved with gratitude. Recent research has supported this intuition that gratitude and humility can, among other things, help forge stronger leadership, more productive workplaces, and better schools. But questions remain: Can we become more grateful and humble? Can scientific research help us design programs to instill the lessons about gratitude and humility? And how can we move this message from the laboratory and into the global community? With support from John Templeton Foundation, researchers are aiming to answer these questions. Scientists are only at the initial stages of work…

Two new grants aim to unravel the essence of hope & optimism

Some people are unflappable optimists. The gambler who just knows that the next roll will be a winner. The patient diagnosed with cancer who is sure he can beat it. Or the Cubs fan who knows that this year is the year. What makes us hopeful? When is optimism reasonable? Are hope and optimism good for us? Through two grants from the John Templeton Foundation, sociologists, philosophers, and scientists are seeking to explain precisely what constitutes hope and optimism, to probe what makes us hopeful and optimistic, and to discern when and where they are good for us. With support…

Faith, Politics, and Intellectual Humility

A public symposium on the prospects for civil discussion In the age of the internet comment, it gets harder and harder to imagine meaningful dialogue between people who disagree about topics as deeply held and divisive as faith and politics. On April 25 in Hartford, Connecticut a trio of speakers with divergent backgrounds but a common interest in revitalizing civic discourse will make the case for — and chart paths towards — just such conversations. At the event titled “Talking About Faith and Politics: Navigating Our Differences with Conviction and Humility," former presidential advisor David Gergen, interfaith youth activist Eboo…

WATCH: Did Science Invent Optimism?

What role did science play in the emergence of optimism? Join us in conversation with the Columbia University professor and chair of biology, Dr. Stuart Firestein. Author of two trade books on the surprising role of ignorance and failure in science, Dr. Firestein is at work on a new book on optimism, from which he shares a preview in this exclusive discussion with the John Templeton Foundation. His bold argument makes the sweeping claim that it was the emergence of science, and its discovery of technologies that enabled rapid improvement in quality of life, that first allowed people to feel…

Brian Greene Talks Black Holes at TEDSocial Event

New York, NY — Just hours after Templeton-backed researchers unveiled the first-ever picture of a black hole, renowned physicist Brian Greene appeared at a Foundation-sponsored event to discuss how black holes are revolutionizing our understanding of reality. “Black holes provide a number of theoretical puzzles that we are still trying to resolve,” said Greene, professor of mathematics and physics at Columbia University and co-founder of the World Science Festival. The TED Social event, “How Black Holes Change Our Picture of Reality,” was organized jointly by the John Templeton Foundation and Simons Foundation and brought together dozens of science-interested members from the…

Conversations With Grantees: Jeffrey Rosen

Please note: The information in this article reflects our strategic priorities at the time of writing and may change over time. To confirm our current funding interests, please view our Funding Areas. In this conversation with grantee Jeffrey Rosen, the President and CEO of the National Constitution Center, he speaks about the importance of intellectual humility, spreading "constitutional light," and preserving civil discourse in the age of social media. He also discusses the Center’s Interactive Constitution, an interactive platform sponsored by the John Templeton Foundation that explores modern implications of the Constitution’s history. “People are learning to debate issues…

How Grantees Are Helping With COVID-19

Templeton Grantees Respond to the Coronavirus At the beginning of 1665, a deadly plague shuttered Cambridge University and sent a 23-year-old Isaac Newton back to his family estate. There, in relative seclusion, Newton thought and wrote and calculated — making breakthroughs in calculus, motion, optics, and gravitation. Newton’s annus mirabilis has become an oft-repeated (and at times embellished) chestnut in the history of science, but it gets at the truth that when the world is turned upside-down and many possibilities are foreclosed, others can open up. Today, as then, tragedy, uncertainty, and massive shifts in the rules of everyday life…

Foundation-Supported Researchers Win Nobel Prize and MacArthur Fellowship

Two researchers who have received support from the John Templeton Foundation were announced this week as winners of the Nobel Prize and the MacArthur Fellowship. Jennifer A. Doudna of the University of California, Berkeley won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her work on developing a method for editing the genome. She received the award jointly with Dr. Emmanuelle Charpentier of France. Doudna was the co-leader of a John Templeton Foundation-supported project to convene discussions among scientists, ethicists, and civil and religious leaders on the challenges and opportunities of gene editing and to develop “a set of common principles to…

Conversations with Grantees: Angela Duckworth

Please note: The information in this article reflects our strategic priorities at the time of writing and may change over time. To confirm our current funding interests, please view our Funding Areas. In this conversation with grantee Angela Duckworth, founder and CEO of Character Lab and professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, she speaks about being a good person, advancing the science and practice of character development, and recognizing that you're not always right — a trait called intellectual humility. "Since there have been people, there has been this question of, how do I grow up to…

His Majesty King Abdullah II of Jordan Receives Templeton Prize

“Everything you honor me for simply carries onward what Jordanians have always done, and how Jordanians have always lived—in mutual kindness, harmony, and brotherhood” His Majesty King Abdullah II of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan was awarded the 2018 Templeton Prize in the presence of ambassadors, Jordanian and U.S. government officials, and Washington political leaders, faith leaders, the media, and society at a ceremony Tuesday evening at Washington National Cathedral. “Today, I am truly humbled to be recognized by all of you. But let me say, everything you honor me for simply carries onward what Jordanians have always done, and how…

Promoting Intellectual Humility in Classrooms

A new project will help gauge how students feel realizing the limits of their understanding — and ways they can positively respond Much of the goal of education is about getting students to know things — to be informed discussion participants or well-prepared test-takers. But for education to be successful, and for students to flourish in the classroom and beyond, it can be equally important to show students productive ways of not knowing. Intellectual humility, which might be defined as recognizing the limits of one’s knowledge and being open to learning from others, has emerged as one of the central…

Conversations with Grantees: Rabbi Geoffrey Mitelman

Please note: The information in this article reflects our strategic priorities at the time of writing and may change over time. To confirm our current funding interests, please view our Funding Areas. In this conversation with grantee Rabbi Geoffrey Mitelman, founding director of Sinai and Synapses, he speaks about the importance of intellectual humility, the Scientists in Synagogues program, bringing together science and religion, and how to nurture constructive — not destructive — conversations. "Imagine if, when we have disagreements, if we have different perspectives, that those conversations actually move us forward." Watch to learn more: This interview is…

Strategic Priority Q&A: Science of Virtues

Please note: The information in this article reflects our strategic priorities at the time of writing and may change over time. To confirm our current funding interests, please view our Funding Areas. This conversation is the third in a series of conversations about the Strategic Priorities that the John Templeton Foundation will be funding over the next five years. This interview with Sarah Clement, Senior Director, Character Virtue Development, was conducted and edited by Benjamin Carlson, Director, Strategic Communication. To get started, why don’t you share a little about your story – what brought you to the Foundation? What…

Video: Why Intellectual Humility Matters

What is intellectual humility? And how might practicing this virtue help to make people more thoughtful, open, and happy? A new video produced by the John Templeton Foundation in partnership with Freethink media company shares insights from the latest research and scholarship to shed light on these questions. Watch to learn more: "Intellectual humility goes back to one of the core purposes of what Sir John Templeton was trying to achieve," says Richard Bollinger, program officer in Character Virtue Development for the Foundation. "He believed the nature of reality was too big for any one person or one discipline to…

Five Steps to Opening Minds

A new $2.6M grant to help communities cultivate intellectual humility through online learning Admitting mistakes can be difficult — especially in a polarized society where certainty is prized — but learning to be intellectually humble may be key to fostering productive dialogue across the differences that divide us. Inspired by the need for such virtues, a team of researchers is now working to help communities learn to appreciate curiosity, open-mindedness, and constructive dialogue in a new, three-year, $3.8 million project led by Jonathan Haidt and Caroline Mehl. Created to address rifts within American society, the OpenMind Program aims to identify…

On Asking Open-Minded Questions: Heather Templeton Dill Interviewed on ‘Beyond Belief’

What inspired one of the world’s great pioneering global investors to devote his wealth to unlocking the mysteries of the universe and human nature? Heather Templeton Dill, president of the John Templeton Foundation and granddaughter of its founder, explored such questions and more in a wide-ranging interview on Beyond Belief, a weekly online show that features guests of diverse backgrounds exploring their views on spiritual and intellectual questions. Beyond Belief is produced by Aish, a Jewish community and content-focused organization. Host Rabbi Adam Jacobs interviewed Dill in a forty-five-minute conversation that covered the Foundation’s origins and the vision of Sir…

2018 TEMPLETON PRIZE CEREMONY TO HONORHIS MAJESTYKING ABDULLAH II OF JORDAN

CONTACT: Donald Lehr – The Nolan/Lehr Group +1 (212) 967-8200 / mob +1 (917) 304-4058 dblehr@cs.com / www.templetonprize.org FOR RELEASE: Tuesday, November 6, 2018 . 2018 TEMPLETON PRIZE CEREMONY TO HONOR HIS MAJESTY KING ABDULLAH II OF JORDAN His Majesty King Abdullah II of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan will receive the 2018 Templeton Prize in the presence of ambassadors, Jordanian and U.S. government officials, and Washington political leaders, faith leaders, and society on Tuesday, November 13, 7:00 PM, at a ceremony to be held at the Washington National Cathedral. Admission to the ceremony is strictly by…

The Alien Earths Initiative

Generosity: Is it Really Better to Give Than Receive?

Science reveals that generosity benefits the giver, too The old truism that “it’s better to give than to receive” isn’t just fodder for preschool and Sunday school lessons. A host of studies support the claim that generosity is not only good for the recipient, but the giver as well. However you practice generosity—tithing to a religious institution, volunteering at a food pantry, donating to nonprofits, or driving elderly relatives to the store—your quest to serve others is likely to result in personal rewards, too. Research shows that altruism between people reduces sadness and stress while increasing a sense of purpose…

More than a Feeling: How Hope Galvanizes Us Into Action

Strategic Priority Q&A: Intellectual Humility

This conversation is the first in a series of conversations about the Strategic Priorities that the John Templeton Foundation will be funding over the next five years. This interview with Richard Bollinger, program officer in Character Virtue Development, was conducted and edited by Benjamin Carlson, director of strategic communication. What is intellectual humility? Many people agree that the core definition has to do with recognizing and owning one’s own limitations and recognizing that one’s perspective is incomplete and at times even incorrect. Where there’s some disagreement is how much more you add to that concept. For example, some people include…

Is macroevolution testable? Comparative insights into convergent evolution

Marcelo Gleiser Wins 2019 Templeton Prize

MARCELO GLEISER AWARDED 2019 TEMPLETON PRIZE WEST CONSHOHOCKEN, PA. – Marcelo Gleiser, theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and a leading proponent of the view that science, philosophy, and spirituality are complementary expressions of humanity’s need to embrace mystery and the unknown, was announced today as the 2019 Templeton Prize Laureate. Gleiser, 60, the Appleton Professor of Natural Philosophy and a professor of physics and astronomy at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, has earned international acclaim through his books, essays, blogs, TV documentaries, and conferences that present science as a spiritual quest to understand the origins of the universe and of…

The Illumination Tour

OCTOBER 11–17, 2017 | BOSTON, SAN FRANCISCO, LOS ANGELES When what seems like “the ultimate curse” becomes “the ultimate state of being.” When Gordon Gund completely lost his sight at age 30 from the genetic disorder retinitis pigmentosa, his wife Lulie told him she would understand if he chose to end it all. But, she added, if he chose to persevere in the face of the disability, he should be all in: “If you want to do it,” she recalls telling him, “let’s go for it." Gordon Gund’s crisis, and the life that emerged out of it — a…

Hope and Grit: Companions on the Road to Change

Physicist and Cosmologist Marcelo Gleiser Awarded Templeton Prize at Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

“Science is a flirtation with the unknown, a recognition that we know little of the world around us…” Theoretical physicist and cosmologist Marcelo Gleiser was awarded the 2019 Templeton Prize at a ceremony Wednesday evening, May 29, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium in New York City. “Science is a flirtation with the unknown, a recognition that we know little of the world around us, which we can perceive only imperfectly,” Professor Gleiser said in his Templeton Prize address at the ceremony. “Yet, as it embraces the quest for knowledge, it lifts the human spirit and…

Spiritual Exemplars Program

Foundation Releases White Paper on Study of Hope and Optimism

A new report explores the benefits of two related virtues. A new paper published by the John Templeton Foundation explores the latest scientific and philosophical research on the related but distinct virtues of hope and optimism. The 45-page white paper, written by Michael Milona, a philosophy professor at Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada, examines findings on the benefits and risks involved in both hope and optimism. Milona’s summary gave particular focus to the results of another Templeton-funded initiative, “Hope & Optimism: Conceptual and Empirical Investigations,” a three-year, $4.4 million project led by Samuel Newlands at Notre Dame and Andrew Chignell…