The NextEinstein initiative intends to make it possible for an African to emerge as the next boundary-breaking scientist; the spiritual successor to Albert Einstein. It was created by Neil Turok in 2008 as his "wish to change the world" using the $100 000 TED prize.
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The initiative
Next Einstein serves as a fund raising mechanism to create offshoots of the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) located in Muizenberg, South Africa. Fifteen other centres are to be established over the next decade, including the existing centres in South Africa, Senegal, Ghana and Cameroon.
The intention is to raise an endowment sufficient to fund 50 annual bursaries at an eventual 15 AIMS centers; $10 million per center for a total of $150 million. Matching funding from governments, educational institutions and philanthropic sources is to cover the running costs of each center....
Support
The project was launched in Cape Town in May 2008 with a programme of events including lectures by Stephen Hawking, David Gross and George Smoot. Support has also been pledged by Paul Kagame, Mark Shuttleworth, Forest Whitaker and Bob Geldof.