Yuri Milner is something of a visionary. He sees that while there are many good causes and pressing problems, ultimately our chances of thriving as a species depend on tending and feeding the precious flame of knowledge.
His investments take the long view. Shifting the culture toward one more committed to science and its virtues of curiosity and reason. Supporting fundamental but underfunded quests, such as the search for life in the universe and a path to interstellar travel. Moon-shot projects that may take decades but, if they succeed, will transform our relationship to the cosmos.
At the core of his vision is a sense of scale. A deep respect for the universe, in its immensity, and for human beings, whose minds can somehow span it.
Hawking, a theoretical physicist, is collaborating with Milner on Breakthrough Starshot, a project to develop the technology necessary to send a spacecraft to Alpha Centauri, a star system 4.37 light-years away from Earth
- Succession Was a Race to the Bottom, And Everybody Won
- What Erdoğan’s Victory Means for Turkey—and the World
- Why You Can't Remember That Taylor Swift Concert All Too Well
- How Four Trans Teens Threw the Prom of Their Dreams
- Why Turkey’s Longtime Leader Is an Electoral Powerhouse
- The Ancient Roots of Psychotherapy
- Drought Crisis Spurs U.S.-Mexico Collaboration
- Florence Pugh Might Just Save the Movie Star From Extinction
