Julian Schwinger Fellowship at UCLA
(January 2014, October 2018)

A $1.2 million gift from JSF established a first-of-its-kind graduate fellowship in the UCLA College of Letters and Science. This comprehensive fellowship will enable Ph.D. students to focus on their research without undue financial pressure. The fellowship provides, for a maximum of four years, full tuition and fees, a generous stipend, and a research allowance.

The inaugural Julian Schwinger graduate fellowship was awarded in March 2014 to an outstanding graduate student interested in pursuing research in the field of physics.

The Directors of JSF are convinced that knowledge creation is the key product of a leading university, such as UCLA, and this fellowship will enable generations of young physicists to pursue their passions and make a difference. We can think of no better way to honor the monumental legacy left by Julian Schwinger, one of the finest physics scholars of the 20th century.

“The Julian Schwinger Fellowship is a game changer for the department,” said Joseph Rudnick, dean of Physical Sciences and senior dean of the College of Letters and Science. “This fellowship will allow the department to compete with the best programs in the world, recruit the finest minds in physics and lead to discoveries that could change the world. This tremendous gift not only emphasizes the strength of our physics program here at UCLA, but also highlights the philanthropic spirit of our faculty."

A second gift in 2018, of $1.5 million, created an additional three graduate fellowships.

See news release of January 2014 and the news release of October 2018 by UCLA.

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Julian Schwinger Workshops at IPAM
(March 2017)

JSF gifted $750,000 to the Institute for Pure & Applied Mathematics, an NSF Math Institute at UCLA, which has been matched by UCLA's Division of Physical Sciences, to form an endowment of $1,500,000. Funds generated by this endowment will be used to support an annual series of IPAM workshops on multiscale physics or theoretical physics. Support of this kind is part of JSF's mission.

The first Julian Schwinger Workshop was held in October 2017.

JSF President Seth Putterman, who is also Professor of Physics at UCLA, notes that "Julian Schwinger was fascinated by multiscale issues, and would have enthusiastically supported these workshops. IPAM is the perfect place for them, because of its history of promoting the interaction of mathematics with physics and other disciplines."

JSF hopes that its two gifts to UCLA, this workshop gift to IPAM and the earlier fellowship gift to the Department of Physics and Astronomy, establish a template for donations from other individuals and organizations.

See the news release by IPAM.

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Julian Schwinger Graduate Fellowships at Columbia University
(April 2023)

Julian Schwinger had a special place in his heart for Columbia University, from which he received his undergraduate and Ph.D. degrees under the guidance of statesman and scientist I. I. Rabi. A $900,000 gift from JSF now commemorates Columbia’s role in Julian Schwinger’s life and education.

The gift will enable the creation of the Julian Schwinger Graduate Fellowships at Columbia, intended to support brilliant Columbia physics graduate students pursuing or intending to pursue Ph.D. dissertation research in theoretical or experimental physics with a clear connection to experimentally observable physical phenomena. Each Fellowship will cover all educational and living expenses for a Columbia Ph.D. student for two full years.

"This is a major quantum gift to Columbia that will enable our students in the Physics Department to carry on Julian Schwinger’s outstanding legacy," said Dmitri Basov, Chair of the Columbia University Physics Department.

To mark the gift, Columbia will rename a lecture space in the Department of Physics for Julian Schwinger and hold a biannual lecture series in his honor.

See the news release by Columbia University.

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