Local Science Research Supporter Dies

Fred Kavli, who launched a foundation to support science research and award prizes of $1 million to scientists, has died in California. He was 86.

The Kavli Foundation said Kavli died Thursday at his home in Santa Barbara. Kavli was a philanthropist, physicist and entrepreneur.

In 2000, he founded a foundation bearing his name that supported basic research in astrophysics, nanoscience, neuroscience and theoretical physics.

In 2008, the foundation began awarding prizes to recognize scientists. Winners received a scroll, gold medal and $1 million.

A naturalized U.S. citizen, Kavli was born in 1927 on a small farm in Norway. He studied physics at the Norwegian Institute of Technology, now known as the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

In 1955, he moved to Canada and then to the United States. He founded the Kavlico Corp., a supplier of sensors.