The Fannie and John Hertz Foundation in Pleasanton, California, has announced a $5 million endowment gift to launch a fellowship honoring Nathan Myhrvold, who received a Hertz Fellowship in 1979. 

The gift from an anonymous donor will fund the doctoral education of students in the applied physical and biological sciences, mathematics, and engineering. The initial recipients of the Nathan P. Myhrvold Fellowship will be announced in May 2023.

As a Hertz Fellow, Myhrvold earned a doctorate in theoretical and mathematical physics from Princeton University. In his postdoctoral research, he worked on quantum theories of gravity with renowned cosmologist Stephen Hawking and pursued a range of other notable intellectual and personal pursuits in fields ranging from paleobiology, climate science, and astronomy, to nature and wildlife photography. Myhrvold also served as chief technology officer at Microsoft and is the founder and CEO of Intellectual Ventures.

“It is a rare and profound honor to see this new endowment for Hertz Fellowships launched. I am hoping that the Hertz fellows whose education is funded by these fellowships will have even more illustrious careers than I’ve managed to have,” said Myhrvold. “When I survey the tremendous contributions to science and our society from the Hertz Fellows I’m acquainted with—and the many more who I do not know personally but admire greatly—it’s hard to think of a grant program that delivers a bigger bang for the buck.”

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