Mathematics might be more of an environmental science than we realize. Robbert Dijkgraaf, Director and Leon Levy Professor, explores the possibility of developing a new realm of mathematics in order to fully understand the quantum world.
Gravitational waves were detected for the first time a year and
a half ago, when some of them throbbed through Earth. Two
incredibly sensitive detectors—one in Washington State and one in
Louisiana—picked up the distortions in spacetime, emanating...
Come the middle of March, a remotely curious college-hoops
observer, innocently typing “March Madness” into Google, encounters
a swarm of numbers related to the N.C.A.A.’s annual basketball
tournament. ... Ken Ono, Member
(1995–97) in the School of...
In Quanta's Abstractions blog, top women in mathematics
and physics, including Miranda
Cheng, Visitor (2011) in the School of Natural Sciences,
Tracy Slatyer, Member
(2010–13) in the School, Maria
Chudnovsky, Veblen Research Instructor (2003–05) in...
In 1847, Gabriel Lamé proved Fermat’s Last Theorem. Or so he
thought. Lamé was a French mathematician who had made many
important discoveries. In March of that year he sensed he’d made
perhaps his biggest: an elegant proof of a problem that had...
Early on, Harvey
Friedman, Visitor (1975) in the School of Mathematics,
understood that discovering concrete examples of mathematical
incompleteness among already-existing statements would be an
arduous task. There’s the continuum hypothesis, the...
In this video from the 2017 Breakthrough Prize Symposium,
Jean Bourgain, IBM von Neumann
Professor in the School of Mathematics and 2017 Breakthrough Prize
in Mathematics Laureate, discusses unity in mathematics through an
explanation of the...
The Institute for Advanced Study, since its founding in 1930,
has aspired to provide an unbiased environment for international
scholars to pursue vital and groundbreaking work in the sciences
and humanities. Its mission is to recruit the world’s...
In 1934, David Hilbert, by then a grand old man of German
mathematics, was dining with Bernhard Rust, the Nazi minister of
education. Rust asked, “How is mathematics at Göttingen, now that
it is free from the Jewish influence?” Hilbert replied,...
On April 14, 1954, Albert
Einstein, one of the Institute's first Faculty members
(1933–55), gave the last lecture of his life. Speaking to physics
students at Princeton University, he remarked that although quantum
mechanics works, “it is difficult...
