Congrats To The Local Geniuses! (Not Us)

Dang it, another year has gone by and we still haven't won a genius grant. However, three folks in the area are pleased as punch, having gotten the legendary call out of nowhere that they've won half a million dollars for just doing whatever it was that they were doing anyways.

Our local winners are: Victoria Hale, who runs the nonprofit biotech company OneWorld Health, devoted to developing pharmaceuticals for Third World countries; Claire Tomlin, who makes computerized models of motion (for planes as well as biological cells); and Jim Fruchterman, who is currently developing a database monitoring human rights abuses through his company, Benetech.

Full list of winners here. You know, we've met one of this year's winners, math professor Terry Tao. The last time we saw him, he was about 20 years old and wholly absorbed in a vigorous game of Magic: The Gathering. Awesome.

Pictures of grant sponsors John T. and Catherine D. MacArthur.