Since its inception in 1993, the France-Berkeley Fund (FBF) has fostered interdisciplinary bi-national collaborations of the highest caliber. Among its past grantees are individuals who have shaped their academic fields and are Nobel Prize laureates in several categories.
Charles H. Townes was one of these grantees. His research in quantum electronics was integral in advancing maser and laser technologies. Townes, received an FBF grant in 1994 for his project “Étude de la perte de masse des étoiles évoluées” with French co-PI Jean Lefèvre from Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur URA 1361 CNRS. Townes received the nobel prize in physics in 1964. He was appointed University Professor at U.C. Berkeley in 1967, where he focused on radio astronomy research.
Another such grantee, Gerard Debreu, native of Calais, France, received his grant in 1995 and the Nobel prize in Economic Sciences in 1983. The title of his FBF project was “Economic Mathematics.” His co-PI Bernard Cornet was from Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. He became a professor at UC Berkeley in 1962. His research centered on the theory of general equilibrium in the principles of supply and demand in market economy.
George Smoot received three FBF grants in 2000, 2003, and 2008 respectively. He completed his 2000 project: “Precision Cosmology from CMB Data Processing” with James Bartlett from Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées, Toulouse. His 2008 project: “Empowering the CMB: Measuring Power Spectra from the Planck Mission” was completed with French co-Pi James G. Bartlett of Dép. Physique, Université Paris 7 Denis-Diderot, Paris. He did his 2003 FBF project: “Precision Cosmology from CMB Analysis” with the same co-PI. Smoot received the Nobel prize in physics in 2006. First an astrophysicist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory since 1974, he became a U.C. Berkeley Physics Professor in 1994. His research centers on experimental astrophysics and observational cosmology.
Randy Sheckman and co-PI Bruno Antonny of CNRS Institut de Pharmacologie Moléculaire et Callulaire received a FBF grant in 2005 for their “Architecture of the COPII coat and mechanisms of vesicle formation” project. Scheckman was awarded the Nobel prize in Physiology and Medicine in 2013. His laboratory researches vesicular transport in eukaryotic cells. He also serves as the Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board for the Aligning Science Across Parkinson’s (ASAP) research initiative, which mobilizes research efforts to find a cure for Parkinson’s.
Saul Perlmutter received multiple FBF grants, including for his 1997 project: “Measurement of the cosmological parameters using type ia supernova” with Raynald Pain from LPNHE, Universités Paris VI & VII, Paris, his 2001: “Nearby Supernova Factory project” with Pierre Antilogus from Institut de Physique Nucleaire de Lyon, and his 2008 project: “The Nearby Supernova Factory” with Gérard Smadja from Institut de Physique Nucléaire de Lyon, Villeurbanne. His research led to the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the Universe. He was awarded the Nobel prize in Physics in 2011. He teaches physics at UC Berkeley and is a senior scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Among other endeavors, he is the Lead Scientist of the international Supernova Cosmology Project.
Saul Perlmutter Randy Scheckman George Smoot Gerard Debreu Charles Townes