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South Coast University Gets Major Grant To Fund Efforts To Solve Major Physics Question

A million dollar grant from an anonymous donor is going to help researchers at a South Coast university try to tackle one of the biggest mysteries in the field of physics.

The issue is trying to develop a quantum theory of gravity. The new UC Santa Barbara effort is intended to try to solve the conflict between Einstein’s theory of general relativity and quantum theory.

An anonymous Japanese donor gave a million dollars to UCSB’s Department of Physics to create a new postdoctoral program called Fundamental Physics Fellows.

The money will fund Fellows for three years of research, with the potential for two year extensions if their work shows promise. It’s expected the first Fellows will being work in the fall of 2018.

Lance Orozco has been News Director of KCLU since 2001, providing award-winning coverage of some of the biggest news events in the region, including the Thomas and Woolsey brush fires, the deadly Montecito debris flow, the Borderline Bar and Grill attack, and Ronald Reagan's funeral.