Need help fueling your inferiority complex? Check out the 2016 MacArthur Geniuses.The 23 MacArthur Genius Grant Winners for 2016 were announced on Thursday and already we’re all feeling a bit inferior. This year’s winners include playwrights, art historians, graphic novelists, microbiologists, bioengineers, computer scientists, and a “financial services innovator.”
One of the nation’s largest independent foundations, the MacArthur Foundation has been giving out grants beginning in 1978 and since then has reportedly donated over five billion dollars in the United States and almost 50 other countries. Since 1981, 942 people have been named MacArthur Fellows, with the youngest individual being 18 years old.
The current MacArthur grant are described as “no-strings-attached awards” and total $625,000 paid over five years. According to the foundation, “although nominees are reviewed for their achievements, the fellowship is not a lifetime achievement award, but rather an investment in a person’s originality, insight, and potential.”
MacArthur foundation president Julia Stasch described this year’s winners as “extraordinary individuals” who “are breaking new ground in areas of public concern, in the arts, and in the sciences, often in unexpected ways. Their creativity, dedication, and impact inspire us all.”
These are some of the most notable 2016 grant winners (but remember, they’re all ‘geniuses’):
Source: The Daily Beast | Amelia Warshaw
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