Robbert Dijkgraaf

The Rubenstein Commons building at IAS has opened its doors, providing a nexus of flexible gathering spaces to support enhanced communication and collaboration among scholars, and forming an inviting social hub for the wider IAS community.

The Rubenstein Commons building at IAS has opened its doors, providing a nexus of flexible gathering spaces to support enhanced communication and collaboration among scholars, and forming an inviting social hub for the wider IAS community.

Robbert Dijkgraaf, IAS Director and Leon Levy Professor (2012–22), was sworn in by King Willem-Alexander on January 10, 2022, as Minister of Education, Culture and Science, joining the fourth cabinet of Mark Rutte, Prime Minister of the Netherlands.

*Update (01/14/22): David Nirenberg to become IAS Director on February 1, 2022

The Institute for Advanced Study has appointed David Nirenberg as its 10th Director and Leon Levy Professor, effective July 1, 2022*. Currently dean of the Divinity School at the University of Chicago and professor of medieval history, Nirenberg will assume leadership of one of the world’s preeminent centers for theoretical research in the sciences and humanities.

"...maybe this paradigm of the usefulness of useless knowledge is what the Danish physicist Niels Bohr liked to call a “great truth” — a truth whose opposite is also a great truth. Maybe, as AI is demonstrating, knowledge can also flow uphill."

For "pioneering ways to find order hidden in complexity" and "laying the foundation for computer models that explore how human activity is changing global climate", Syukuro Manabe, Klaus Hasselmann and Giorgio Parisi share the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics.

"The Institute for Advanced Study doesn’t have any students or classes. There’s no regular daily agenda full of meetings and conferences. The scholars here don’t even have to research any specific topic. They could spend their whole day walking the grounds or sitting by the lake."

The Institute for Advanced Study begins its 2021–22 academic year with a continuation of in-person activities. The Institute plans to welcome 271 new and returning scholars and scientists to campus, representing 114 academic institutions and hailing from 38 countries.

Robbert Dijkgraaf, IAS Director and Leon Levy Professor, brings a wealth of experience to the Simons Foundation’s board of directors through his continued leadership at IAS and as a global communicator and influencer of science policy.