Natural Sciences

Past Members in the School of Natural Sciences Robert J. Vanderbei (2019–20) and Michael A. Strauss (1991–95), along with Neil deGrasse Tyson and J. Richard Gott, have authored a unique journey into the cosmos titled Welcome to the Universe in 3D: A Visual Tour, the fourth in a series of astrophysical tours for Princeton University Press. 

Nadia Zakamska, returning Member in the School of Natural Sciences, is an astrophysicist studying a variety of astronomical wonders, ranging from extrasolar planets to extragalactic astronomy. Her current research focuses on long-standing puzzles in...

Smart algorithms allow calculations that could have never been done even on the world’s fastest computer today.

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...

Arnold J. Levine is Professor Emeritus at the Institute for Advanced Study and leads the Institute’s Simons Center for Systems Biology in the School of Natural Sciences. An acclaimed leader in cancer research, he is...

In 1989, Joanne Cohn, a physicist then at the Institute for Advanced Study, began distributing TeX files of string theory papers via email. By August of 1991, the email list had grown to 180 physicists—an unwieldy number for Cohn to individually...

By the twentieth century, mathematics had advanced into rather abstract realms, transcending its origins, which had been largely driven by questions closer to the natural world. Physics on the other hand, especially after the development of quantum...

In the summer of 1968, a young, newly minted assistant professor moved from a postdoctoral position at Caltech to Princeton University. Schooled and trained over the previous seven years in the reductionist approaches of Watson and Cricks’ molecular...

James Peebles, Member (1977–78) and Visitor (1990–91, 1998–99) in the School of Natural Sciences, has been awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize in Physics (see his lecture above) for his “contributions to our understanding of the evolution of the universe...

Lia Medeiros, a Member and astrophysics postdoctoral fellow in the School of Natural Sciences, is interested in using astronomical objects and phenomena to test fundamental theories of physics. She is a winner of the 2020 Breakthrough Prize in...