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3 Boston Researchers Dubbed MacArthur 'Geniuses'

Three Boston area researchers are among the 25 recipients of the annual MacArthur Foundation Genius Awards.

MIT's John Ochsendorf uses engineering and architecture to explain the ancient world, Rachel Wilson of Harvard Medical School studies electrical activity in the brain, and MIT's Marin Soul-Ya-Cheech is an optical physicist who's studying how power can be transmitted wirelessly.

Each has been selected to receive a grant of $500,000 apiece.

Wilson said she has not yet decided what to do with her award.

"Usually, in science, we're taught to think of the experiment first, and then to figure out how to fund it," Wilson said. "It's very surprising to have things work in the opposite direction now, where they give you money and you have the opportunity to think about what to do with it."

Seven previous MacArthur grant winners have gone on to receive Nobel prizes.

This program aired on September 23, 2008. The audio for this program is not available.

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