Exceptional Campaign

Ever since the Medici family empowered the genius of Galileo, philanthropy has been the bedrock of the scientific revolution. Now we are entering a new age of giving, as visionary philanthropists look for the best ways to create lasting change.

The London Institute’s Exceptional Campaign is raising a £60m endowment to support in perpetuity the work of its researchers: uncovering new scientific principles that unleash new insights, new predictions and new technologies.

The philanthropist Ben Delo has pledged a lead gift of £20m. That’s £10m already given, and a second gift of up to £10m, matching the sum of our next two largest gifts. The income from a £30m fund will support us at our current size. With £60m, we can hire more world-class scientists and pursue more ambitious research.

To learn more about the Exceptional Campaign, or to make a donation, contact our Director of Development Sarah Myers Cornaby at smc@lims.ac.uk.

Our mission

With a £60m fund, we can hire more world-class scientists, tackle more ambitious projects and bring discovery back to the Royal Institution.

World-class scientists · Our team of scientists consists of theoretical physicists and mathematicians from Russia and Ukraine, Texas and Taiwan. Their research—ranging from reductionist physics to pure maths—has been published in journals including Nature, Physical Review Letters and Science Advances.

Ambitious projects · At the London Institute we do theoretical fundamental research. Our work is analytical—we don’t do experiments or intensive computation. We have four broad themes: the elegant universe; life, learning and emergence; mathematics that unifies; and the theory of human enterprise.

Discovery at the RI · From Michael Faraday to Sir Lawrence Bragg, the record of discovery at the Royal Institution is unparalleled. Yet in recent decades that tradition dwindled. Since we took over our rooms on the second floor, we have increased the building’s output of discovery by a factor of five.

Testimonials

Our mission to revolutionise the way the world does science is supported by entrepreneurs, philanthropists, physicists and mathematicians.

Lord Willetts, chair of the Foundation for Science and Technology, and former science minister: “Britain gains from a diverse network of scientific research institutes. They do not all have to be either in the public sector or in universities. The London Institute for Mathematical Sciences is an excellent example, and this independent funding gives it an important boost.”

Ben Delo, philanthropist and co-founder of BitMEX: “I am tremendously optimistic about humanity’s capacity for scientific progress. I am confident that with the backing of this endowment—and other funders who I am hoping will join the cause—the London Institute will be in a position to drive forward its cutting-edge research.”

Prof. Thomas Rosenbaum, physicist and President of Caltech: “Support for fundamental science empowers innovation and discovery, creating knowledge for the ages and technologies to improve people's lives. Ben Delo’s backing of the London Institute makes a welcome statement about the importance of unfettered research at a critical juncture.”

Sir John Beddington, former Chief Scientific Advisor to the Government: “The London Institute is a genuinely independent institute for physics and maths. Its home in the Royal Institution affords the possibility of significant communication of difficult ideas to a wide audience. The quality of the work is extremely high and the vision extraordinary.”

Prof. Minhyong Kim, director of the International Centre for Mathematical Sciences: “The London Institute has made enormous progress in supporting new ideas and independent thinking in physics and maths. It produces numerous cutting-edge results while tirelessly encouraging diverse groups of young scientists to think and prosper outside established boundaries.”

Tom Walton-Pocock, tech entrepreneur and governor of the London Institute: “With AI exploding, where are the Top Gun aces to pilot it? Thomas Fink has an answer: he has formed an elite cadre of researchers and placed them in an environment of focus and unconstrained ambition, where they can make breakthroughs at the cutting edge of physics and maths.”