The Novo Nordisk Foundation is one of the philanthropic organizations funding research, such as that at the Niels Bohr Institute, Copenhagen. Credit: Novo Nordisk Foundation Jim Simons, a US hedge-fund manager, used mathematical modelling and algorithms to make huge returns on financial investments. By the time Simons died in 2024, he was worth an estimated US$31 billion. In 1994, he and his wife, the economist Marilyn Simons, established the Simons Foundation, a major philanthropic funder of mathematics and basic science in the United States. By contributing billions of dollars to the foundation and other philanthropic causes during his lifetime, he hoped to continue generating scientific returns on his investment for many years after his death. For decades, philanthropic organizations have been growing in importance as a source of science funding.…