Jim Simons

Mathematician; founder of Renaissance Technologies; co-founder of the Simons Foundation^[1]

James Harris Simons (1938–2024) was a mathematician, quantitative investor and philanthropist. He earned a mathematics degree at MIT and a doctorate at UC Berkeley, worked in codebreaking and academic mathematics, and chaired Stony Brook’s mathematics department from 1968 to 1978. His research with Shiing-Shen Chern produced the Chern–Simons theory used in mathematics and physics. He left academia to establish Monometrics in 1978, renamed Renaissance Technologies in 1982. Renaissance developed investment strategies based on mathematical models; its Medallion Fund began in 1988. Simons retired as chief executive in 2010. With Marilyn Simons, he co-founded the Simons Foundation in 1994 and supported scientific research and mathematics education. He died on May 10, 2024. Autopilot’s namesake tracker follows the firm’s public filings rather than trades personally made by Simons.