J. Robert Oppenheimer

Should materials existing outside the Institute’s immediate space be incorporated into its archival collection? A challenge of precisely this nature arose in 2024, when the Shelby White and Leon Levy Archives Center acquired documents received and collected by Friedrich Adolf Paneth (1887–1958), an Austrian-born chemist with no direct IAS affiliation but who had close contact with IAS scholars.

"From our cherished teatime tradition to celebratory dinners, the Institute fosters its unique network of intimacy, illumination, and understanding by gathering its community around the table," writes archivist Caitlin Rizzo. "The Shelby White and Leon Levy Archives Center is home to a range of documents which speak to dining at IAS, from dinner menus to seating charts."

"If Oppenheimer’s first act was dedicated to building a technology (the "Gadget"), his second was devoted to an institution." IAS Director and Leon Levy Professor David Nirenberg discusses Oppenheimer's lasting legacy at the Institute for Advanced Study and his predecessor's exemplification of the institution's founding values.