Efforts to create a memorial celebrating the legacy of Leonard Nimoy, the actor who performed a pointy-eared alien named Spock on “Star Trek,” have shifted to warp pace practically eight years after his demise.
A six-figure contribution from Wealthy Miner, the co-founder of Android, is energizing the marketing campaign to create an illuminated 20-foot-high sculpture depicting Spock’s well-known “Dwell Lengthy and Prosper” hand gesture. The sculpture could be positioned at Boston’s Museum of Science, close to the West Finish neighborhood the place Nimoy grew up.
Nimoy’s daughter, Julie Nimoy, and her husband David Knight are working with the museum to hit a $500,000 fundraising aim for the undertaking. Because of Miner’s contribution, Knight mentioned that the chrome steel monument, designed by artist Tom Stocker and sculptor David Phillips, may start taking form as early as this yr.
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“We have been actually beginning to marvel, is that this going to show right into a actuality?” Knight mentioned. “To our unimaginable delight, any individual from the high-tech world actually embraced it.”
Like Nimoy, Wealthy Miner is a local of the Boston space. The 58-year-old pc scientist is greatest generally known as a co-founder of Android, the mobile-device working system that was acquired by Google in 2005. Miner additionally co-founded GV, Google’s first enterprise fund; and Wildfire Communications, a voice assistant enterprise that was acquired by Orange in 2000.
Miner mentioned he was motivated to donate to the Nimoy memorial undertaking partially due to his Boston upbringing, but in addition due to the Star Trek connection.
“Star Trek and Spock nurtured my curiosity in science and know-how, and impressed elements of my startups: Wildfire, the primary voice-based private assistant, and Android (seemingly the OS for the tricorder in 2265),” he mentioned in a tweet.
Knight mentioned the exact quantity of Miner’s contribution could be introduced after understanding how the payout could be structured. For instance, the donation may be framed as a matching-fund problem to succeed in the complete $500,000 aim.
Miner’s backing, introduced on Dec. 29, has already triggered extra assist. William Shatner, who performed Captain Kirk to Nimoy’s Spock on the unique “Star Trek” and in a sequence of film spin-offs, mentioned in a tweet that Miner’s donation got here as “great information.” The fundraising marketing campaign’s web site has registered $36,625 in contributions from 500 different supporters as of at the moment.
Knight mentioned this might mark a turning level for the marketing campaign, which started in 2021.
“Earlier than, I used to be [thinking it was] a very nice thought, a ravishing tribute, nevertheless it simply wasn’t getting the assist wanted. Clearly it’s the value tag. It’s a massive price ticket,” he mentioned. “However now we are able to see we’re over the hump.”
The 20-foot-tall illustration of Nimoy’s “Dwell Lengthy and Prosper” split-finger gesture — which was impressed by a Jewish signal of blessing that the actor recalled from his childhood — is supposed to be greater than a memorial to only one man.
“When individuals see it, they’re going to be impressed,” Knight mentioned. “The aim is twofold: Sure, No. 1, it’s honoring Leonard’s life and legacy. But additionally, ‘Dwell Lengthy and Prosper’ is an emblem for peace, for tolerance, for unity, for variety. So there are some great issues behind it, and so many individuals really feel this connection to the image.”
