Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert referred to researchers who had tried and failed to replicate the findings of one senior lecturer as shameless little bullies.. You dont shift a culture overnight, Nosek says. In 2007, Arnold became the youngest billionaire in the U.S. His firm, Centaurus Advisors, LLC, was a Houston-based hedge fund specializing in trading energy products that closed in 2012. Famous in England as a sharp-witted scourge of bad science, Goldacre spent years building up a case that pharmaceutical companies, by refusing to reveal all their data, have essentially deceived the public into paying for worthless therapies. Inside the Secretive Life-Extension Clinic. If we want to attack an issue, we will do whatever it takes. 6. Arnold, 46, was raised in a middle-class family and worked her way through Harvard, she wrote in a July 2010 letter announcing her decision to sign The Giving Pledge. Projects that Nosek had once envisioned as modest efforts carried out in his lab were now being conducted on an entirely different scale at the centers startup-like offices in downtown Charlottesville, with some 70 employees and interns churning out code and poring over research. If Arnold decided he wanted to beat hunger, DAgostino says, I wouldnt want to bet on hunger., For all the swagger of that description, Arnold himself has virtually none. It wasnt long before Arnold had the answer to his doubts. Hardly anyone in the world of nutrition science seemed willing to question the science behind the low-fat diet, even after Americans grew fat and diabetic in record numbers. But he also stood out for his skepticism. It was little wonder, then, that funders didnt come running to support Nosek: He wasnt promising novel findings, he was promising to question them. After that Arnold started his own hedge fund, Centaurus Energy, where he became, in the words of one hedge fund competitor, "the best trader that ever lived, full stop." . His mother later would work as an accountant at Centaurus. And though the fund bounced back the next year, tighter regulations on trading and a far less volatile marketthanks to a growing supply of natural gas from shale rockmade it unlikely that Arnold would again see the astonishing returns of only a few years earlier. Philanthropist John Arnold is pictured in this photo provided by the Laura and John Arnold Foundation on July 10, 2018. . His net worth of $10.2 billion landed him at No. John D. Arnold is the founder and the only shareholder of Centaurus Energy Advisors, a hedge fund specializing in trading of energy. Now everybody says we need replication; we need reproducibility, Ioannidis tells me. For two years he had sent out grant proposals for his software project. Were looking to create an organization of thoughtful failure and fantastic success., If John Arnold does have an identifiable ideology, it is that of a lifelong trader and quant: unsentimental, metrics-focused, interventionist. Comedian John Oliver spent 20 prime-time minutes on HBO last May mocking the reign of terrible science on TV news shows and in public debate. Centaurus, which started in 2002 with just a handful of traders and now has 70 employees, focuses on this virtual kind of trading. founded Houston-based hedge fund Centaurus Advisors but retired in 2012 . [3][8] His father was a lawyer and died when Arnold was 18. But powerful special interests are trying to question science., If John Arnold decided he wanted to beat hunger, I wouldnt want to bet on hunger.. Directors E.J. In Charlottes Biggest Labor Protest In Two Decades, 450 American Pilots Decry Slow Pace Of Contract Talks, Yellen Urges Congress To Raise Debt Limit Immediately, Warning U.S. Could Run Out Of Money By June, Singer Kelly Lang Reflects On Music, Battling Cancer & Her Friendship With Olivia Newton-John, E.J. In the 1830s, French writer Alexis de Tocqueville famously compared Americans penchant for civic association with that of France and England: Everywhere that, at the head of a new undertaking, you see the government in France and a great lord in England, count on it that you will perceive an association in the United States.. Nonprofits must file annual Form 990 financial reports with the IRS, disclosing their revenues, employee compensation, grant recipients, and (in the case of foundations) their donors. The extent of that individuals ability to freely support causes may be magnified by using an LLC instead of a nonprofit, but it also further blurs the already faded line between philanthropy and politics. He holds a B.A. In my conversations with Arnold and his grantees, the word incentives seems to come up more than any other. Arnold Ventures will likely fund the same formula of political and charitable causes that the Arnold Foundation supported. This article appears in the February issue. From the little I know about the science of nutrition, your study makes a lot of sense, Arnold wrote. Yet the foundation is also focused on reforming what the Arnolds see as a broken public pension systema project that, in practice, usually means cutting payments to retirees, raising retirement ages, and switching new workers to 401(k)-style plans. John Arnold, the billionaire manager of the Houston hedge fund Centaurus Advisors, told investors and employees Tuesday that he plans to retire, according to people familiar with the . As a general rule, the incentives related to quantitative research are very different in the social sciences and in financial practice, says James Owen Weatherall, author of The Physics of Wall Street. info@naturalgasintel.com Centaurus entered the public eye in 2006 when Arnold bet against the enormous hedge fund Amaranth Advisors, which predicted that natural gas prices would rise and lost $5 billion when the market proved otherwise. They would also have to take on a far more ambitious project: The Arnolds would have to try and fix science itself. Now hed have to rely purely on his prowess with data. In some cases, they may even have more favorable tax deductions when donating appreciable securities to a 501(c)(3) public charity. [20][21] Arnold announced his retirement from running the hedge fund on May 2, 2012. In 2012, the Arnolds joined the Giving Pledge, an oath made by billionaires such as Bill Gates and Warren Buffett to donate at least half of their wealth. LLCs dont have foundations 5 percent annual spend-out requirements or strict investment rules. Closing Usually the division of labor in most of our work is that I talk, Laura Arnold says in a phone interview. [28] From 2010-2013, the Arnolds were heavily involved in the Innocence Project which led to their interest in criminal reform. John Douglas Arnold (born 1974) is an American philanthropist, former Enron executive, and founder of Arnold Ventures LLC, formerly the Laura and John Arnold Foundation. [3][4][5][6][7], In 2019, Arnold became the chairman of Houston's 2026 bid for the FIFA World Cup. A year ago, talk in the Texas energy hub was mostly about defending oil and gas and denouncing renewables, Arnold, 47, said Monday on his Twitter account. [43], John received an $8 million dollar bonus from Enron just before the company filed for bankruptcy. But as many Wall Street veterans can testify, betting against John Arnold is usually a bad idea. 19-2616 (3d Cir. W hen former Enron trader and billionaire hedge-fund manager John Arnold and his wife, Laura, announced plans to donate 5 percent of their net worth to charity every year, they may have. Once the foundation has identified areas where they believe they can make the biggest difference, they go all in. Gerrymandering endangers democracy. Rank: 590. Washington DC | New York | Houston | Pittsburgh | Mexico City Calgary | Chile. And then, after a couple of years, people were like, oh, no, hes actually like that.. NGI Archives Otherwise our field is built on thin air.. He has also served as the Investment Manager for the Laura and John Arnold Foundation since 2011. The Biggest Microbiome Study Sheds Light on Shared Health Risks, The Little Bang Helping Physicists Study the Infant Universe. When we started as solely a foundation and we had a C4 that was kind of ancillary to it, we respected the distinction and division the law requires. The No. Not long after the podcast went online, he received a five-line email from Arnold. If John Arnold . He started working at Enron four days later. Those who support ICERs formula believe it could lower prices while critics argue that the formula is discriminator toward the elderly and those with disabilities or rare diseases. Qu u c Centaurus Energy ca Arnold, hin ang qun l hn 5 t USD gi tr ti sn, cha bao gi kim c li nhun t hn 50% . Whether all this momentum will lead to transformational change decades from now is impossible to know. But he should loom larger on the conservative radar considering that the two nonprofits associated with this billionaire couple poured out nearly $1 billion in grants between 2008 and 2018. While the industry as a whole and Centaurus itself have evolved dramatically since our inception, the uncompromising focus of the . We are Centaurus. Plus, systems of prestige and advancement die hard. 2023 Cond Nast. His father, who died when Arnold was 18, was a lawyer. John Arnold kim c hng t USD trn sn giao dch nng lng trong nm 2008 nh vic lun tun th quy tc chi ca ring mnh. The listings let him see that the same cards were sold at different prices in different parts of the countrywhich presented an opportunity for arbitrage. In 2013 they donated $10 million to keep Head Start, the early-childhood education program for low-income kids, running through the federal government shutdown, and many of the issues theyve taken on, from criminal justice reform to making prescription drugs more affordable, are decidedly progressive. What's Fishbowl. It completely transformed what we could imagine doing, Nosek says. Researchers say viruses can kill antibiotic-resistant microbes and help treat infections. At the Center for Open Science, Nosek has already begun to experiment with new incentives for scientists. Ioannidis, whose name is almost synonymous with scientific skepticism, says he has seen immense progress in recent years. Far from simple charity, thats a recipe for plutocracy. Arnold, who specializes in trading natural gas, is the former Enron trader who launched Centaurus in 2002 with the $8 million bonus he received from Enron after making the firm $750 million. So there is already widespread concern about reproducibility in the field. John Arnold: The most prolific philanthropist you may not have heard of. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. In 2010, Centaurus experienced its first annual loss. To which the answer is clearly no, but theres a lot of bullshit masquerading as science. (Some of the background footage in the segment came from the Arnold Foundation.). ISSN 2577-9877 Founded in 1992, Centaurus was formed with a singular focus - to provide unparalleled service, support, technology, and education to independent financial advisers in the securities industry. [49], Arnold is married to Laura Elena (Muoz) Arnold. World No. Laura and John established the Laura and John Arnold Foundation in 2010 with a straightforward mission: to improve lives through evidence-based solutions. [46] Through his foundation, Arnold has aggressively promoted pension reform in the state of California based on a study his foundation conducted with Pew that failed to mention that Enron or the overall financial crisis contributed to the shortfall. Laura and John Arnold didnt start the movement to reform science, but they have done more than anyone else to amplify its capabilitiestypically by approaching researchers out of the blue and asking whether they might be able to do more with more money. . Abandoning traditional nonprofits in favor of LLCs may be the ultimate expression of donor privacy under the First Amendment, but it also means rejecting our philanthropic institutions at a time when so much of the nonprofit landscape is made up of policy groups. The United States is almost alone worldwide in granting tax deductions for charitable donations (Sweden also enacted such a policy in 2019), which were established with the Revenue Act of 1917. [3] [8] His father was a lawyer and died when Arnold was 18. (The foundations funding of the Nutrition Science Initiative is now scheduled to end in November.) John Arnold has criticized labor unions, college tuition schedules, and the New York Timess increasing contempt for free speech. Follow the topics you want and receive the daily emails. The philanthropys core mission is to invest in evidence-based solutions that maximize opportunity and minimize injustice. InfluenceWatch Podcast #267: Weingarten Will Not Be Apologizing. Centaurus Advisors, which posted eye-popping returns and led him to become the youngest billionaire in the US in 2007. There are no guaranteesand no refunds. But given the long history of deep-pocketed business interests sowing doubt in research, his underlying question was a fair one: Who is John Arnold, and why is he spending so much money to raise questions about science? They are on record as agreeing with some of the critiques and focus on partnering with organizations to maximize their impact without undue influence. [52], , "Centaurus scoops up National Coal shares", Institute for Clinical and Economic Review, "The Young Billionaire Behind the War on Bad Science", "John Arnold Is Said to Close Hedge Fund and Return Investor Money", "When a billionaire trader loses his edge - The Term Sheet: Fortune's deals blogTerm Sheet", "Houston billionaire trader John Arnold retiring at 38 - Houston Chronicle", "Legendary Energy Trader John Arnold to Retire", "Hedge Fund Billionaire John Arnold's Fund Was Up When He Announced He Was Getting Out", "Ex-Trader at Enron to Retire From Hedge Fund", New York Times: "CORPORATE CONDUCT: THE TRADER; Enron Trader Had a Year To Boast of, Even If" By DAVID BARBOZA, "A speculator who is in for the long haul", "Centaurus's John Arnold: The king of natural gas - Nov. 24, 2009", "Meet the Texas billionaire who backed Philly soda tax and now is funding attack ads in N.J. Senate race", "Smart trades that made this a good year for some", "Centaurus scoops up National Coal shares", "John D. Arnold's CFTC (U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission) speech", "Houston's World Cup bid adds a power player in John Arnold", "A Thirtysomething Billionaire Couple Take on Tough Issues Via Giving", "The City Fund has given out over $100 million to support charter and charter-like schools", How a billionaire couple greased the skids for Nancy Pelosis drug pricing bill, "Why this billion-dollar foundation is becoming a corporation", "Changemakers: The Leaders Reshaping Communities Around the World", "Two Texas Billionaires Think They Can Fix Philanthropy", "A Billionaire Pledges to Fight High Drug Prices, and the Industry Is Rattled", "Obscure Model Puts a Price on Good Healthand Drives Down Drug Costs", "How a Billionaire Couple Greased The Skids For Nancy Pelosi's Drug Pricing Bill", "Laura and John Arnold Foundation to Restructure as LLC", "Why one billionaire is calling out Silicon Valley's favorite philanthropic loophole", "Are Donor Advised Funds Good for Philanthropy? Bachelor of Arts/Science, Vanderbilt University. [29] The Foundation is focused on evidence-backed giving for systematic change. Text. The breakthroughs and innovations that we uncover lead to new ways of thinking, new connections, and new industries. His mother later would work as an accountant at Centaurus. Having spent more than a decade picking apart nutrition science, Taubes soon found himself cofounding an organization with a substantial grant from the Arnold Foundation, to rebuild the study of obesity from the ground up. [37] He proposed that foundations and DAFs should spend at least 7% annually, which would result in billions of dollars more being given to charities,[30] and that DAFs should be legally held to an annual minimum distribution. [10] Using their new Internet-based trading network, EnronOnline,[citation needed] [11] he is credited with making three quarters of a billion dollars for Enron in 2001 and was rewarded with the largest bonus in Enron history, some $8 million. Sign in to get the best natural gas news and data. (Its also the way politics and charity are meant to be kept separate and distinct, by the way.) . In 2015, after a cancer researcher was found to have falsified research data and defrauded the government out of millions of dollars, Arnold complained on Twitter that the penalty, a five-year funding restriction, was too light. Unlike Tom Steyer, a billionaire who earned his wealth investing in oil and natural gas and now hypocritically blames those commodities for devastating the planet, John Arnold says little about climate change. A 2017 interview with Wired magazine characterized him this way: Arnold says that now, unless he trusts a researchers work, he no longer believes the findings of any scientific study until he or someone on the staff carefully vets the paper. Centaurus Capital LP has committed around $500 million in equity for EOC Partners, according to the . Arnold estimates that he made $50,000 before he finished high school. [8] In 1996, a year after starting at Enron,[8] he moved to oversee the trading of natural gas derivatives at the Natural Gas Desk upon the departure of Jeff Bussan. Prior to founding Centaurus Energy, he held various positions within Enrons Wholesale Division, including Head of Natural Gas Derivatives. Let us know if we're missing any workplace or industry recognition - Add Awards. While. No. Still, Arnold, an intense worker with a wide network of. And for two years they had been rejected again and againwhich was, by 2011, discouraging but not all that surprising to the 38-year-old scientist. "[36], In 2019, Arnold spoke out against donor-advised funds (DAF), criticizing them for delaying charitable giving and promoting giving to institutions that are less likely to need the money. The foundation aims to foster a culture in which individuals have the best chance to succeed and prosper, while encouraging a sense of responsibility, compassion and reinvestment toward their communities and society as a whole. Hard-working business innovator Daymond John has been known to say that he is "retired" because hes doing what he loves - helping other people succeed. Much of the Arnolds philanthropy has funded causes favored by the Left, such as ranked-choice voting, litigation against supposed Republican gerrymandering in congressional maps, and the eco-Right, groups infiltrating the conservative movement with a left-wing global-warming agenda. 12 -- John Arnold, Centaurus Advisors. from Vanderbilt University and lives in Houston, Texas with his wife and three children. Private, non-publicly traded companies are not obligated to do any of those things. Philanthropy Is for the Living. Consent Centaurus will be returning capital to investors, according to a Reuters report. Updated: 12/31/2014 01:43 PM EST. At Enron, a company famous for its brash, testosterone-laced cowboy culture, the perennially boyish-looking trader was reportedly so soft-spoken that his colleagues had to gather in close to hear him at restaurants. In 2002, he founded Centaurus Advisors with $8 millionhis last Enron bonus, paid out just days before the company filed for bankruptcyin Houston, Texas, to invest in futures, options, and derivatives for coal, natural gas, and crude oil. And those are just a few of the people who are calling out iffy science with Arnold funding. The incentives to produce positive results were so great, Nosek and others worried, that some scientists were simply locking their inconvenient data away. Copyright2023Capital Research Center. He questioned everything, Fleisher says. A number of the Arnolds reform efforts have focused on fixing nutrition science. John Arnold, Centaurus Energy - $1.5 billion. Wealth: $3.3 billion. [emphasis added]. Previously, Mr. Arnold founded and was CEO of Centaurus Energy, a multi-billion dollar energy commodity hedge fund. [17] August 2008, Centaurus acquired around 10% of the shares of National Coal Corporation (NCOC). As Nosek tells it, John Arnold had read about the Reproducibility Project in The Chronicle of Higher Education and wanted to talk. Arnold is careful not to lump all researchers together when he talks about the problems in science. [24], The Laura and John Arnold Foundation was a private foundation founded by Arnold and his wife Laura. [30][31], In 2013, the Arnolds donated $10 million as a private donation to the National Head Start Association after the United States federal government shutdown of 2013 had closed the pre-K Head Start programs. Fix terrible science. They internalize the risk of mistaking correlation for causationnot because theyre smarter than scientists but because they have money riding on the outcome. A Google search told him that the Arnolds were a young billionaire couple in Houston. Hockey cards didnt have much of a market in Texas, he tells me. In everything they do, they want to be evidence-driven, says Stuart Buck, vice president of research integrity at the Arnold Foundation. In 2016, John Arnold gave $250,000 to an unsuccessful effort to lift the cap on charter schools in Massachusetts, and they poured more than $500,000 into a PAC that helped bolster Governor Charlie . She is a graduate of Harvard College, Yale Law School, and has a Master of Philosophy degree in European Studies from the University of Cambridge. One floor on top of the next. In nutrition, the whole foundation of the research had been flawed. Nosek says that the cash offers were Arnolds idea. En 2002, us su bonificacin para financiar Centaurus . In 2001, even as Enron was collapsing amid an accounting scandal that covered up billions in debt, he was reported to have earned $750 million for the company. The legal reporting required for these categories, as annoying as it is, is how our democracy ensures that giving and political activity remain visible and accountable to the public. The picture Taubes painted wasnt of a flawed study here or there but of a fundamentally broken scientific culture. Bruce Kovner, Caxton Associates . According to Forbes, Arnold has a personal fortune of $3 billion as of March, putting him at No. Sam Apple (@samuelapple) teaches science writing at the University of Pennsylvania. It is the essential source of information and ideas that make sense of a world in constant transformation. The BMJ investigation, in turn, met with angry denunciations from nutrition experts who had worked on the US Dietary Guidelines; a petition asking the journal to retract Teicholzs work was signed by more than 180 credentialed professionals. The Search for Long Covid Treatments Takes a Promising Turn. Of 1,576 researchers who responded to a recent online survey from Nature, more than half agreed there is a significant crisis of reproducibility.

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