In this Scholar Spotlight we feature three former scholars: Michael Hanchard (Social Science), Jo Nelson (Mathematics), and Tracy Slatyer (Natural Sciences). They explain how and why the environment at IAS nourishes independent thinkers and prompts scholars to ask questions that push the boundaries of knowledge.
The Institute for Advanced Study distributed $21,742.50 in stipends for mathematics and $10,000 for theoretical physics during the academic year 1935–36. Three hundred dollars, sufficient to secure entry to the United States, was awarded to the Polish mathematician Stanislaw Ulam (1909–84), who had written to John von Neumann about a problem in measure theory in 1934.
Richard Schwartz loves simple questions. Here, he discusses the benefits of intellectual enterprise and how the quest to answer fundamental questions underpins his work. His passion for explaining math simply inspired a series of children's books.
John
Urschel, Member in the School of Mathematics, is an
applied mathematician/theoretical computer scientist as well as a
former professional football player, who spent three seasons with
the Baltimore Ravens. Urschel retired from the NFL in 2017...
Kurt Gödel, a Member of the Institute Faculty in the School of
Mathematics, is the topic of the biography Journey to
the Edge of Reason by Stephen Budiansky, published by W.
W. Norton.
In conducting research for the book, Budiansky worked
closely...
In 2020–21, Allen Yuan,
Visitor in the School of Mathematics and a recent graduate from
MIT, is studying problems in homotopy theory and algebraic
topology.
How do you describe your work to friends and family?
Natalie Paquette,
Member in the School of Natural Sciences, is a mathematical
physicist whose research interests span string theory and quantum
field theory. Most recently, she has been exploring connections
between holography and the mathematical...
Karen Uhlenbeck is Distinguished Visiting Professor in the
School of
Mathematics at the Institute for Advanced Study. A
founder of modern
geometric analysis, she is professor emeritus at
the University of Texas...
The twenty-sixth annual Women and Mathematics (WAM) Program,
“Topics in Geometric Analysis,” was held May 18–24, 2019, at the
Institute for Advanced Study.
Participants explored dynamic shapes and surfaces, along with
the equations that describe...
The Institute's School of Mathematics held the workshop "Theory
of Deep Learning: Where Next?" October 15–18, 2019, as part of the
School's special year on Optimization, Statistics, and Theoretical
Machine Learning.
