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Into the Impossible With Brian Keating

Marilyn Simons: Legion of Honor! ​(#215)

Into the Impossible With Brian Keating

Brian Keating

Science, Physics, Natural Sciences

4.71.1K Ratings

🗓️ 24 February 2022

⏱️ 62 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Dr. Marilyn Hawrys Simons received a B.A. and Ph.D. in Economics from SUNY, Stony Brook and has volunteered in the non‑profit sector for the last thirty years. In 1994, she co‑founded the Simons Foundation together with her husband, Jim Simons, and served as its President until June 2021. Asteroid 10701 Marilynsimons is named after her! The Simons Foundation is a charitable organization that was founded to fund basic research and educational programs in mathematics, physical and life sciences. The Foundation’s vision and generosity in also underwriting symposia, visiting lectureships and initiating programs at underserved institutions in the United States and abroad has helped to advance knowledge in a diverse spectrum of fields. She recently retired as President of the Simons Foundation and received the Legion d'Honaire, the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte, it has been retained by all later French governments and régimes. Her primary focus being education, Marilyn has served for the past eight years as the President of the Board of Learning Spring Elementary School, a school for children with autistic spectrum disorders. She also sits on the board of the East Harlem Tutorial Program, an after-school teaching program in East Harlem. In 2008, Dr. Simons joined the Cold Spring Harbor Board of Trustees. At a personal level, Marilyn Simons has supported programs promoting an increased diversity and improved equity in science and economics. In 2013, she was awarded the Carnegie Medal for Philanthropy, for her extraordinary and pre‑eminent role in philanthropy. Marilyn is involved in various education initiatives and serves as a board member for many prestigious scientific institutions, including the American National Museum of Mathematics. Through the Simons Foundation, Marilyn Simons has played an essential role in supporting the Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques's (IHÉS) ambition to develop greater financial independence. Over the course of two decades, the Simons Foundation has given more than $25 million to both specific projects, such as the building of the conference center that carries the names of Marilyn and Jim Simons, and to the Institute’s endowment, for example for the creation of the Simons Foundation Biology Fund at IHES. The Simons recently pledged an additional €25 million to support the institute over the next ten years. In 2021, in recognition of her contributions and achievements, the French Ambassador to the U.S. Philippe Etienne awarded Marilyn Simons the French Legion of Honor during a special ceremony Watch this fireside chat with Marilyn Simons held at the Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques (IHÉS) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkfi6ZMMphk Please Visit our Sponsors: LinkedIn: LinkedIn.com/impossible to post a job for FREE Athletic Greens, makers of AG1 which I take every day. Get an exclusive offer when you visit https://athleticgreens.com/impossible AG1 is made from the highest quality ingredients, in accordance with the strictest standards and obsessively improved based on the latest science. All 33 Chairs. My All33 Chair is the ideal chair for all of us ‘knowledge workers’ suffering through unending Zoom calls. Sitting still is bad for you. All33 chairs are my choice because they allow your pelvis to move the way it does while you walk — so all 33 vertebrae align into perfect posture. The result? Better breathing, better blood flow, and relief from pain. It’s crazy what you can do when you set your body to it. To get $100 off your order, visit https://all33.com/impossible Search for The Jordan Harbinger Show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you listen to podcasts, or go to jordanharbinger.com/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

0:07.0

So everybody, it is a distinction from magic.

0:10.0

So everybody, it is a delight to welcome a friend who's known me pretty much my whole life maybe even before I was born I don't know and that's Dr. Marilyn Simons who is now currently I think she's

0:28.0

unemployed I mean you were the president of a Simons Foundation and we're speaking in December right after you

0:35.1

received the highest honor awarded to to human beings by the French government

0:41.1

called the Lejeune the honor honor. Now Marilyn I got a C- minus in high school French like 30 years ago.

0:47.0

So please don't hold me to account. I know you've been practicing, but first of all how how are you doing today, Maryland?

0:53.4

And congratulations.

0:55.8

I'm doing great today.

0:57.2

It's great to see you and be here with you, Brian.

1:01.5

And one comment comment I was never officially employed by the Simons Foundation as a donor that would kind of make me have a conflict of interest, but I was, did have the title of president, but never received a salary.

1:22.0

And now I'm in the same position for our private foundation.

1:27.6

So in the same employed, not employed row.

1:34.0

And when I think about you, the first thing that comes to mind is curiosity.

1:40.0

When I think about all the different things you're so interested in, I'll relate a very quick story, when we were in Chile in 2019 to do the groundbreaking for the Simon's Observatory, you, after we were up at 17,200 feet, you scampered up there almost from sea level by yourself, like a lovely mountain goat.

2:00.0

When you got there, you did the groundbreaking better than the strapping young men we were with.

2:05.5

And then we came down, we did some late night observations of the heavens using optical

2:11.0

telescopes and it was really delightful for me to get to show you

2:14.6

you know everything that's been my childhood passion and I thought I could impress upon

2:18.6

you you know how much I know about astronomy since you knew me as a kid. And there you are looking at Jupiter and telling me all the

2:25.4

names of the moons and all the names of the different objects we were seeing and I was like,

2:30.0

I can't even, I can't even like one up her in this. she has to beat me in crossword puzzles and and it was it was frustrating but I do want to commend you on this this radical curiosity that you have and I want to start maybe with your beginning

...

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