Science has lost a big proponent - Fred Kavli - who has succumbed to cancer.
Kavli launched a foundation that supports science research and awards prizes of $1 million to scientists. He died on Thursday, November 21, and was aged 86.
Per a statement by the Kavli Foundation, he passed away at his home in Santa Barbara because of complications from a surgery due to a rare type of cancer.
"This is a painful loss for the foundation and for all of science," said foundation vice chairman Rockell N. Hankin. "We can only take comfort in his extraordinary legacy, which will continue advancing critically important research that benefits all of humanity, and supports scientific work around the globe."
Born in 1927 in a small farm in Norway, Kavli was a naturalized U.S. citizen. Kavli studied physics at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, which was called Norwegian Institute of Technology at the time. He funded his education with revenue generated from the business Kavli and his brother ran during World War II.
In 1955, Kavli shifted to Canada and later on to the U.S. and founded Kavlico Corp. in 1958, which supplied sensors to the automotive and aerospace industries. He was the CEO and the sole shareholder till the company's sale in 2000.
Kavli created the Kavli Foundation in 2000, which supports basic research in astrophysics, neuroscience, theoretical physics and nanoscience. He was an entrepreneur, a physicist and philanthropist.
In 2008, the Kavli Foundation started awarding prizes worth $1 million in three fields: astrophysics, nanoscience and neuroscience. Apart from the cash prize, winners received a gold medal and a scroll every two years, which were presented every two years by the king of Norway in a ceremony in Oslo.
Kavli was divorced and is survived by two children, as well as nine nieces and nephews.
