Robbert Dijkgraaf

The life and work of renowned scientist, visionary, and iconoclast Freeman Dyson, who spent most of his career at the Institute for Advanced Study, is the focus of a new book edited by American physicist and historian of science David Kaiser.

Robbert Dijkgraaf, Director and Leon Levy Professor of the Institute for Advanced Study, sat down virtually with Joanne Lipman, IAS’s Peretsman Scully Distinguished Journalism Fellow, to discuss the coronavirus epidemic, its impact on IAS, and the elevated role of science in society.

In an exploration of curiosity and adventures into the unknown, Robbert Dijkgraaf, Director and Leon Levy Professor, explains the important role that curiosity played in Albert Einstein's work, leading to discoveries that are everywhere around us, from lasers and nuclear energy to GPS. 

On the connections between math and physics, including some of the outstanding questions in quantum gravity, quantum field theory, and number theory.

“From the perspective of gravity, [a black hole] is the simplest object we know of, no more than a hole in space. At the same time, according to quantum theory, it is the most complex object, the most compact way to store matter and information.” Robbert Dijkgraaf, Director and Leon Levy Professor, discusses the paradoxical nature of black holes and their role in twenty-first-century physics.

Institute Director and Leon Levy Professor Robbert Dijkgraaf’s “Quantum Questions Inspire New Math,” published by Quanta Magazine, has been selected for inclusion in The Best Writing on Mathematics 2018 (Princeton University Press).

"To Solve the Biggest Mystery in Physics, Join Two Kinds of Law," a column for Quanta Magazine by Institute Director and Leon Levy Professor Robbert Dijkgraaf, features in Alice and Bob Meet the Wall of Fire: The Biggest Ideas in Science from Quanta...

"Quantum Questions Inspire New Math," a column for Quanta Magazine by Institute Director and Leon Levy Professor Robbert Dijkgraaf, features in The Prime Number Conspiracy: The Biggest Ideas in Math from Quanta (MIT Press, 2018).

This anthology...

On October 26, 2018, Myles W. Jackson, Professor in the School of Historical Studies, gave his first IAS public lecture on "Genes, Patents, and Race: The History of Science as a Bridge Between Disciplines."

Jackson discussed how the history of...

By investing in basic science, many other societal issues are addressed. Think about the money spent on defense, health care, and education. These days we are able to deal with diseases at the molecular level, only because fifty years ago we allowed...