The University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) has detailed a massive donation it has received from an alumnus in the form of $3 million – around R43.9 million at the time of writing – from Doctor David Fine.
As the University explains in its research news announcement here, the money will be used to establish the “Angela and David Fine Chair in Innovation” that will look to continue innovation in the country and abroad.
“Dr Fine graduated from Wits with an honours degree in chemistry in 1964. He later read for a PhD from Leeds University in the United Kingdom, before leaving for the US to run the Combustion Lab at MIT. He worked for 28 years at Thermo Electron (now Thermo Fisher) before establishing two companies of his own – CyTerra in 2000, and Vero-BioTech in 2006,” the university writes.
More innovations from Fine are listed, including plastic explosive sniffers, a detection method for the carcinogenic nitrosamine and an innovation in handheld detectors for buried landmines.
This donation is also part of the ongoing Wits Centenary Campaign which has the lofty goal of raising R3 billion for various efforts including infrastructure development, research, teaching and, of course, innovation.
This will end in the Homecoming Weekend between 2nd and 4th September which is closer to the actual “birthday” of the university.
This has been given the label “#Wits100” and Professor Zeblon Vilakazi, Wits Vice-Chancellor and Principal, says that Fine’s donation will “go a long way” towards further research at the school.
As for Fine himself, pictured below, he hopes that his contribution won’t just help South Africa, but also this entire region of the world.
“Innovators are problem solvers. They can think practically across multiple technical disciplines, and who use accessible and inexpensive methods and material to build products and services, that have real-life impact. South Africa needs a culture of innovation. My hope is that the Chair in Innovation will help place Wits at the leading edge of innovation in the Global South,” Fine writes.
