No Accounting for Talent
How a MacArthur genius spends $500,000. Every fall, Chicago’s MacArthur Foundation anoints about 25 new “geniuses” it deems worthy of a onetime gift of $500,000. There are no strings attached; in fact, recipients—who are paid quarterly over a five-year period—never have to contact the foundation again. So what does $100,000 a year before taxes mean to people “of outstanding talent,” as the foundation describes them?
David Goldstein, 56
Photo by Peter Arkle
Day job: Natural Resources Defense Council, San Francisco
How genius: He promotes energy-efficient refrigerators.
Where his half-million went: Financed a book on environmental protection and economic growth.
Daniela Rus, 44
Photo by Peter Arkle
Day job: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston
How genius: She builds robots.
Where her half-million went: Created a prototype cow collar (complete with G.P.S. and a recording of dog barks) to track and control the animals’ grazing patterns.
Janine Jagger, 57
Photo by Peter Arkle
Day job: University of Virginia, Charlottesville
How genius: She helps protect health-care workers.
Where her half-million went: Hired a staffer for the International Health Care Worker Safety Center.
Brian Tucker, 61
Photo by Peter Arkle
Day job: GeoHazards International, Palo Alto, California.
How genius: He’s an expert on earthquake readiness.
Where his half-million went: Traveled with his family to earthquake-prone spots including Turkey, Italy, and India.
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