Science that would not have happened without philanthropists

Science Drives the World Forward, but It’s Often Funded by Philanthropists

Science propels the world forward, yet behind many breakthroughs stand not only scientists but also those who invest in the future. From Lavoisier’s chemical laws to space telescopes, philanthropic support has given humanity the opportunity for great discoveries.

Today, philanthropists invest in a wide range of fields—from medicine and biotechnology to artificial intelligence, climate change, and pandemic response technologies. During the COVID-19 pandemic, private donors played a crucial role in accelerating vaccine development, and in the face of global challenges, their investments in ecological and innovative technologies are becoming increasingly vital.

• The Role of Oxygen in Combustion

French chemist and philanthropist Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier believed that public education should be based on “scientific communicability” and philanthropy. In 1775, Lavoisier demonstrated that oxygen bonds with combustible materials during burning, and in 1783, he and Laplace discovered that burning hydrogen produces pure water. These discoveries laid the foundation for modern scientific understanding of combustion.

At the time, securing state funding for science was extremely difficult, so Lavoisier used his own financial resources to open an advanced and expensive laboratory in France, where aspiring scientists could study without seeking funding for their research.

He also advocated for public education in science. He founded two organizations—the Lycée and the Museum of Arts and Crafts—as educational institutions for the public. Today, Lavoisier is considered a key figure in the Chemical Revolution.

• Thirty Meter Telescope

The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) is an astronomical observatory currently under construction. It will feature a 30-meter segmented mirror composed of 492 hexagonal segments, each 1.4 meters in diameter, with a total area of 664 square meters. This design will allow it to collect nine times more light than the largest existing ground-based telescopes. Compared to the Hubble Space Telescope, images from the new telescope will be about 10-12 times sharper. When completed, it will be the second in a new generation of Extremely Large Telescopes.

The construction of TMT was made possible thanks to philanthropist Gordon Earle Moore, who donated $200 million to its development.

• COVID-19 Vaccine and Tuberculosis Testing

Bill and Melinda Gates are actively involved in vaccine initiatives for various diseases, including COVID-19, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and polio. Their foundation provided the Global TB Vaccine Foundation, Aeras, with over $280 million for the development and licensing of an improved tuberculosis vaccine for high-risk countries.

In August 2012, the foundation, in partnership with PEPFAR, USAID, and UNITAID, announced a deal to reduce the cost of the commercial tuberculosis test (GeneXpert system). This test replaces the smear microscopy method first developed in the 1880s by Robert Koch. Smear microscopy often fails to detect tuberculosis in individuals co-infected with HIV, whereas the GeneXpert system can identify TB in co-infected patients. Additionally, the system determines whether a tuberculosis strain is resistant to the bactericidal antibiotic rifampicin, which is a common indicator of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis.

Since 2020, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has allocated hundreds of millions of dollars to public health initiatives addressing the COVID-19 crisis. For example, they invested in the German company BioNTech, which developed the first vaccine in partnership with the American pharmaceutical company Pfizer. In addition to supporting vaccine development, the foundation is focused on ensuring vaccine distribution in low-income countries.

• Advances in Immunotherapy

In 1953, Howard Hughes used his personal funds to establish the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) in the United States. The institute’s goal is to conduct fundamental biomedical research, including efforts to understand, as Hughes put it, “the very genesis of life.”

In 2017, HHMI researcher Christopher Garcia and his colleagues, after nearly 20 years of fundamental molecular immunology research, developed a screening technology that could eventually lead to more effective immunotherapy—using the body’s immune system to fight cancer.

This was made possible due to their 2014 discovery that T-cell receptors are far more specific to their targets than previously thought. The team achieved this breakthrough by developing a biochemical method for screening millions of antigens that T-cell receptors can detect. In a new study, they applied a similar method to tumor samples from two colorectal cancer patients, searching for the actual targets of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes.

This material was prepared in collaboration with Inscience.