SDSS as an overarching project has always been eponymously linked to the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. This organisation, which leverages the wealth generated by industrialist Alfred P. Sloan, Jr., during the early part of the 20th century, seeks to support innovative scientific research and the diversification of the scientific workforce. Across five phases of SDSS, the Sloan Foundation has provided essential seed funding, contributing more than US$70 million across three decades. However, each phase of SDSS has also been strongly supported by institutional buy-in: Academic institutions pay a ‘joining fee’ for early access to data and the right to direct the surveys’ scientific priorities. In the fourth phase, a cosmological analogy was sometimes used to talk about the funding sources: The Sloan Foundation was the dark matter (around a quarter…
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Australian Sky & Telescope (Digital) - 1 Issue, March 2023