News Briefs

Juan Maldacena, Professor in the School of Natural Sciences, and Avi Wigderson, Herbert H. Maass Professor in the School of Mathematics, have been elected to the National Academy of Sciences. Four former Institute Members were also among the eighty-four new members elected on April 30. Established in 1863 by an act of incorporation signed by Abraham Lincoln, the National Academy serves as an official adviser to the federal government, upon request, in matters of science or technology.

Robbert Dijkgraaf, Director of the Institute for Advanced Study and Leon Levy Professor, has been selected to receive an honorary doctorate from Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands on May 24. The award recognizes Dijkgraaf’s achievements as a mathematical physicist, as well as his efforts to make science accessible to the general public, including in popular writing and presentations and in the science website he created for children, www.proefjes.nl. Gerard Meijer, President of the Radboud University Executive Board, remarked, “Like no other, Robbert Dijkgraaf has succeeded in making science more visible and accessible to the public by translating abstract scientific concepts into evocative stories. He has done both science and the general public a great service.”

Six former Members and a former Visitor in the Institute for Advanced Study’s School of Mathematics received major prizes at the Joint Mathematics Meetings on January 10, 2013, in San Diego. The American Mathematical Society (AMS) Leroy P. Steele Prize for Lifetime Achievement was awarded to Yakov Sinai, a Member in the School in 1991. Sinai was recognized for his “pivotal role” in shaping the theory of dynamical systems, as well as his “groundbreaking” contributions to ergodic theory, probability theory, statistical mechanics, and mathematical physics. The Leroy P. Steele Prize for Mathematical Exposition was awarded to former Members John Guckenheimer (1970–72 and 1988–89) and Philip Holmes (2003) for their now-classic book Nonlinear Oscillations, Dynamical Systems, and Bifurcations of Vector Fields (Springer, 1983). The AMS E. H. Moore Research Article Prize was awarded to Michael J. Larsen, a Member in 1988–90, along with Richard Pink, for their article “Finite Subgroups of Algebraic Groups” (Journal of the AMS 24, 2011). The AMS David P. Robbins Prize was awarded to Alexander Razborov, a Member in 1993–94 and a Visiting Professor in 2000–08, for his article “On the Minimal Density of Triangles in Graphs” (Combinatorics, Probability and Computing 17, 2008). The AMS–Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics Norbert Wiener Prize in Applied Mathematics was awarded to Andrew J. Majda, a Member in 1988 and 1991–92, for his work on theoretical fluid mechanics and its applications in atmospheric science and oceanography. The Mathematical Association of America awarded its Chauvenet Prize to Robert Ghrist, a Visitor in 1995, for his article "Barcodes: The Persistent Topology of Data" Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society 45 (2008).

Jonathan Israel, Professor in the School of Historical Studies at the Institute for Advanced Study, has received the Frans Banninck Cocq Medal from the City of Amsterdam. The medal was established by the city in 1996 and is intended to be awarded for particular services to Amsterdam over a minimum of twelve years. The Mayor of Amsterdam, Eberhard van der Laan, presented the medal on November 25 in recognition of Israel's contributions to the history of the city and of the Enlightenment.

Martin Rees, a Trustee of the Institute for Advanced Study and a former Member (1969–70, 1973, 1975, 1982, 1992–93, 1996) in the School of Natural Sciences, has been awarded the Isaac Newton Medal of the Institute of Physics. The award recognizes Rees’s "paradigm-shifting" contributions to relativistic astrophysics and cosmology, as well as his mentorship of scientists, his leadership in the scientific community, and the impact of his nontechnical writings on public understanding of science. Rees is Professor Emeritus of Cosmology and Astrophysics and Master of Trinity College at the University of Cambridge. Previous recipients of the medal include Edward Witten, Charles Simonyi Professor in the School of Natural Sciences at the Institute. Graham Farmelo, a frequent Director’s Visitor at the Institute since 2005, was awarded the Kelvin Medal and Prize by the Institute of Physics for outstanding work in communicating science to a broad audience. Farmelo is a By-Fellow at Churchill College, Cambridge, and author of The Strangest Man: The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac, Mystic of the Atom (Basic Books, 2009).

Patrick Geary (second from left) receives the Anneliese Maier Award in Heidelberg, Germany. He is pictured with (from left to right) German Federal Minister of Education and Research Annette Schavan; Bernd Schneidmüller, Professor at the University of Heidelberg; and Helmut Schwarz, President of the Humboldt Stiftung. (photo credit: Humboldt Foundation/S. Lencinas)

Patrick J. Geary, Professor in the School of Historical Studies, has received the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation's Anneliese Maier Award, which honors outstanding achievement in the humanities and social sciences and seeks to strengthen German scholarship's international ties. The award was presented in Heidelberg on September 13 by Annette Schavan, the German Federal Minister for Research and Technology. The award ceremony was part of a symposium for which the award winners, their German cooperation partners and approximately one hundred other German and international humanities scholars and social scientists convened at the University of Heidelberg from September 12 to 14. The key subjects of the interdisciplinary meeting were the Europeanization of family law and new developments in medieval studies. Geary, one of seven recipients of the award in 2012, will use the 250,000 euro prize to intensify his collaboration with German and other European scholars in transcultural and genetic history.

Juan Maldacena, Professor in the School of Natural Sciences, has received the 2012 Pomeranchuk Prize of the Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Physics in Moscow. The award is given in memory of Isaak Yakovlevich Pomeranchuk for outstanding achievement in theoretical physics. Past recipients include Freeman Dyson, Professor Emeritus in the School, who won the prize in 2003.

Robbert Dijkgraaf, Director of the Institute for Advanced Study as of July 1, has been named a Knight of the Order of the Netherlands Lion. The honor was presented by Mark Rutte, the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, on behalf of Queen Beatrix. Dijkgraaf’s excellence as a researcher and professor were cited, as well as his advocacy for the scientific community and his contributions to culture and media. Dijkgraaf is Distinguished University Professor of Mathematical Physics at the University of Amsterdam and was President of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (2008–12).

The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters has awarded the 2012 Abel Prize to Endre Szemerédi, former Member (2007–08, 2009–10) in the School of Mathematics at the Institute. The prize committee cited Szemerédi's contributions to discrete mathematics and theoretical computer science and their "profound and lasting impact" on additive number theory and ergodic theory. Szemerédi is State of New Jersey Professor of Computer Science at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, and Research Fellow at the Alfréd Rényi Institute of Mathematics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

Rashid A. Sunyaev, the Maureen and John Hendricks Visiting Professor in the School of Natural Sciences at the Institute for Advanced Study, has won the 2012 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Physics. Sunyaev was recognized for his contributions to the understanding of the early universe and the properties of black holes. He is Director of the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Garching, Germany, and Chief Scientist at the Russian Academy of Sciences Space Research Institute. The medal will be presented April 26 by the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia.

The 2012 Wolf Prize in Physics has been awarded to Jacob D. Bekenstein, former Member (2009–10) in the School of Natural Sciences, for his work on black holes. Bekenstein is Polak Professor of Theoretical Physics at the Racah Institute of Physics, Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The 2012 Wolf Prize in Mathematics has been awarded to Michael Aschbacher, former Member (1978–79) in the School of Mathematics, for his work on the theory of finite groups, and Luis Caffarelli, former Professor (1986–96) and Member (2009) in the School of Mathematics, for his work on partial differential equations. Aschbacher is the Shaler Arthur Hanisch Professor of Mathematics at the California Institute of Technology. Caffarelli is Professor of Mathematics at the University of Texas, Austin. The awards will be presented in May at the Knesset in Jerusalem.

The 27th annual Kyoto Prize in Basic Sciences has been awarded to Rashid A. Sunyaev, the Maureen and John Hendricks Visiting Professor in the School of Natural Sciences at the Institute for Advanced Study. Sunyaev was selected for his contributions to the theory that fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background radiation can be used to explore the properties and history of the expanding universe, and for his insights in the field of high-energy astrophysics and the study of accretion of matter onto compact stars and black holes. The Kyoto Prize, consisting of a gold medal and a $625,000 cash gift, is awarded annually in three categories by the Inamori Foundation. Award ceremonies will be held in Kyoto, Japan, in November, and there will be a Kyoto Prize Symposium in San Diego in March 2012. Sunyaev also holds the positions of director of the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Garching, Germany, and chief scientist at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Space Research Institute.

The Opportunity Equation, a partnership between the Institute for Advanced Study and Carnegie Corporation of New York, has joined Carnegie and Ashoka’s Changemakers to launch an online collaborative competition aimed at unleashing the talent, passion, and real-world skills of experts to engage students of all ages in rich science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) learning. The competition, Partnering for Excellence: Innovations in Science + Technology + Engineering + Math Education, calls for solutions from community partners and others that engage STEM experts in hospitals, universities, technology companies, museums, architecture firms, graphic-design studios, banks, pharmaceutical companies, and beyond.

Avi Wigderson, Herbert H. Maass Professor in the School of Mathematics, is among the 212 newly elected members of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Established in 1780 by founders of the United States, the Academy is composed of scholars and practitioners from mathematics, physics, biological sciences, social sciences, humanities and the arts, public affairs, and business, giving it a unique capacity to conduct a wide range of interdisciplinary studies and public policy research. Thirteen former Institute Members and Visitors were also elected to the Academy’s 2011 class.

With funding from the European Research Council, a new multidisciplinary research program, Towards a Critical Moral Anthropology, is being developed at the Institute for Advanced Study and the Institut de recherche interdisciplinaire sur les enjeux sociaux of the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris. Didier Fassin, James D. Wolfensohn Professor in the School of Social Science, is coordinating the initiative with a team of twelve social scientists, including anthropologists, sociologists, and political scientists on both sides of the Atlantic. Visit the new website here to learn more.

Angelos Chaniotis, Professor in the School of Historical Studies, is one of the recipients of the State Literature Prize for 2010, awarded by the Greek Ministry of Culture. Chaniotis received the prize in the essay category for his book Theatricality and Public Life in the Hellenistic World, published in Greek (Iraklion, Crete University Press 2009), which exploits literary sources, inscriptions, and images to study the theatrical behavior of statesmen and kings in the Hellenistic period (ca. 330-30 BC), the perception of political life as a staged drama, and the influence of theatrical performances on political oratory and public rituals.

Avishai Margalit, George F. Kennan Professor in the School of Historical Studies, will receive the 2011 Leopold-Lucas Prize at ceremonies in Germany in May, when he will present a lecture entitled “Apostasy.” The prize is presented annually by the Faculty of Protestant Theology, on behalf of the Eberhard-Karls University, Tübingen, to honor outstanding achievements in the fields of theology, intellectual history, historical research, and philosophy.

Ten individuals associated with the Institute received awards at the Joint Mathematics Meetings in New Orleans on January 7. The American Mathematical Society awarded the Leroy P. Steele Prize for Lifetime Achievement to John W. Milnor. Milnor served on the School of Mathematics Faculty at the Institute from 1970 to 1990 and was a Member in the School in 1966. He is currently Co-Director of the Institute for Mathematical Sciences at Stony Brook University. Former Member Ingrid Daubechies (1999) received the Leroy P. Steele Prize for Seminal Contribution to Research. A professor at Duke University, Daubechies has served on the organizing committee of Women and Mathematics, a joint program of the Institute and Princeton University, since the program’s inception in 1994. Eight additional former Members were also honored, including Henryk Iwaniec (1983–84, 1986–88, 1999–2000), who received the Leroy P. Steele Prize for Mathematical Exposition; Peter Kronheimer (1987–88, 1988–89) and Tomasz Mrowka (2003–04), who shared the Joseph L. Doob Prize; Chandrashekhar Khare (2010–11), who shared the Frank Nelson Cole Prize in Number Theory with Jean-Pierre Wintenberger; David Vogan (1977–78, 1978–79), who received the Levi L. Conant Prize; Herbert Spohn (1990), who was awarded the Leonard Eisenbud Prize for Mathematics and Physics; Peter Winkler (2003–04), who shared the David P. Robbins Prize with Mike Paterson, Yuval Peres, Mikkel Thorup, and Uri Zwick; and Rhonda Hughes (1982–83), who received the M. Gweneth Humphreys Award for Mentorship of Undergraduate Women in Mathematics.

Jonathan Israel, Professor in the School of Historical Studies, has been awarded the 2010 Benjamin Franklin Medal by the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) for his outstanding contribution to Enlightenment scholarship. The medal is awarded annually to those who have made profound efforts to forward Anglo-American understanding in areas closely linked to the RSA’s agenda. It is also recognizes those who have made a significant contribution to global affairs through cooperation and collaboration between the United States and the United Kingdom.

Thomas Spencer, Professor in the School of Mathematics, is among the seventy-two new members elected to the National Academy of Sciences.  Members are selected for their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. Established in 1863 by a congressional act of incorporation signed by Abraham Lincoln, the National Academy serves as an official adviser to the federal government, upon request, in any matter of science or technology.

The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters has awarded the 2010 Abel Prize to John Torrence Tate, former Member (1959) in the School of Mathematics, for his vast and lasting impact on the theory of numbers.  Tate is Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at the University of Texas at Austin.