Institute for Advanced Study

Examining a World Shaped by Choice

The option to choose where to live, what to buy, and what to believe has been neither universally available nor consistently desired throughout history. Sophia Rosenfeld, Ed Kaufmann Founders' Circle Member (2014–15) in the School of Social Science, traces the evolution of choice from the seventeenth century to today, asking how it has become a defining feature of modern freedom.

Video

When Time Flows Differently

In this episode of Institute Instances, Elena Aronova, Willis F. Doney Member in the School of Historical Studies (2024–25), discusses her research on the history of modern life sciences and non-linear conceptions of time. She reflects on how her project evolved at the Institute for Advanced Study, weaving academic insights with personal experiences of time.

Quanta

For Algorithms, a Little Memory Outweighs a Lot of Time

May 21, 2025

Theoretical computer scientist Ryan Williams returns to the Institute this fall as the architect of a proof described as “stunning” and “massive.” Ben Brudaker of Quanta Magazine interviewed him about the revolutionary result.

idea

The Measure of Life

By Devorah Fischler

When visiting graduate student Gianmarco Caldini first arrived at IAS in spring 2024, a series of fortuitous connections on the Institute campus and beyond led him and Camillo De Lellis, IBM von Neumann Professor in the School of Mathematics, to both a collaboration and a friendship with renowned topologist and frequent IAS Member Bill Browder. Their work resulted in the publication of a decades-old theorem originally begun by Browder and Frederick J. Almgren Jr.

Nature

The Breakthrough Proof Bringing Mathematics Closer to a Grand Unified Theory

July 16, 2025

In an article for Nature, Ananyo Bhattacharya, science writer at the London Institute for Mathematical Sciences and biographer of John von Neumann, founding Professor (1933–55) in the School of Mathematics, lays out the significance of a "major advance" in research into the Langlands program—the "grand unified theory of mathematics" first laid out by Robert Langlands, Professor Emeritus in the School.

IAS News

IAS Scholar Debuts Exhibition of Third-Century Papyrus Book at the National Library of Spain

June 23, 2025

Renowned papyrologist Sofía Torallas Tovar from the School of Historical Studies has opened a new exhibition exploring the history and influence of Ezekiel’s Papyrus at the National Library of Spain. The exhibition invites visitors to view both original pages of the papyrus and digital recreations of the text in a journey that traverses both centuries and civilizations.