LA JOLLA, Calif. — The newly launched Wertheim Laureate Prize invites Nobel laureates across all six fields from the last five years to direct charitable funds to the causes they believe “will do the most good.” Inspired in part by relationships with Scripps Research scientists, the prize also brings laureates to Wertheim institutions and affiliates around the world to share their knowledge with students, professors and researchers through an international lecture and visitation program.
The Dr. Herbert Wertheim Trust for Humanity is awarding millions of dollars in directed philanthropy to a total of 74 Nobel laureates through the Wertheim Laureate Prize. Among the honorees is Scripps Research professor Ardem Patapoutian, who received the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discoveries in how the body senses physical and chemical forces, as well as Scripps Research professor K. Barry Sharpless, who has won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry twice: in 2001, for his work on chirally catalyzed oxidation reactions, and in 2022, for his pioneering work in “click” chemistry and bio-orthogonal chemistry.
Patapoutian and Sharpless will each receive $250,000 to donate to a qualified charitable organization of their choosing.
The Trust was founded by Dr. Herbert (“Herbie”) Wertheim, an optometric physician, inventor, entrepreneur and philanthropist known as “the catalytic philanthropist.” A member of the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame for pioneering ultraviolet- and blue-light-absorbing tint protection for eyeglass lenses, Dr. Wertheim is also a recipient of the Horatio Alger Award and has received many academic accolades, including honorary doctorates from several universities. Dr. Wertheim has contributed more than $300 million to Florida higher education alone and is a signatory of The Giving Pledge.
Dr. Wertheim has served on the Scripps Research Board of Directors since 2021, a role that has allowed him to form close relationships with Patapoutian and Sharpless both.
“Spending time with Ardem and Barry at Scripps showed me what happens when a great scientist walks into a room of young researchers,” said Dr. Wertheim in the organization’s press release. “The Nobel Prize honors what these scientists have already given humanity. The Wertheim Laureate Prize asks what they will give next. No one is better qualified to direct philanthropy in medicine and science than the men and women the world has just honored, and our students, faculty and researchers will be the richer for hearing them.”
