George Stranahan, then a postdoctoral fellow at Purdue University, played a critical role in raising funds and early public support for the initiative.

[14] Michael Cohen, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, is a condensed matter physicist whose work has investigated the properties of real-world material systems such as ferroelectrics, liquid helium, and biological membranes.

Robert W. Craig was the first director of the Aspen Institute, an international non-profit center which supports the exchange of ideas on matters relating to public policy.

[16][19][12] The center has benefitted from the generosity of public support, notably from the National Science Foundation, the US Department of Energy, NASA, and from the gifts of private donors.

These funds have helped to bring hundreds of scientists to the center every year, and have enabled the ACP to host a wide array of public lectures and activities.

Gifts from Aspen donors as well as from George Stranahan, Martin Flug, the Smart Family Foundation, and affiliated physicists have been especially important to sustaining the center's development and operation.

Some had already achieved distinction before coming to the center; others won prizes or gained international recognition after spending time at the ACP early in their careers.