On Wednesday morning, as has been happening annually since 1981, a small number of people have had their lives changed. This year, there are 22 of them, a group that has been formally announced as recipients of the 2025 MacArthur Fellowships, those so-called “genius grants.”

Spread across the globe, these people will be receiving monetary awards of $800,000, paid out in annual installments of $160,000 over five years. Candidates are suggested by outside sources. “Nominees are suggested by a constantly changing pool of invited external nominators,” according to the Chicago-based MacArthur Foundation, “chosen from as broad a range of fields and areas of interest as possible.”

The Foundation further informs us that a “fellowship is not a reward for past accomplishment, but rather an investm

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