Ideas

Matt Kleban, Member in the School of Natural Sciences (2003–06, 2012–13), recalls how a brief conversation at an AMIAS gathering—with Professor Emeritus in the School, Edward Witten—opened a new line of thinking in his research on string theory. AMIAS, the Association of Members of the Institute for Advanced Study, connects all accepted, current, and former IAS scholars and keeps those chance encounters alive even after a scholar's time at IAS ends.

Vera Gluscevic, IBM Einstein Fellow in the Institute for Advanced Study’s School of Natural Sciences (2025–26), explains that every galaxy sits in a vast halo of dark matter—often far more massive than what we can see. She describes how dark matter’s early-universe clumps became the seeds of cosmic structure, forming the galaxies we know today.

Stephen L. Adler, Professor Emeritus in the School of Natural Sciences, reflects on the life and legacy of Chen Ning Yang, Professor (1955–66) in the School of Mathematics/Natural Sciences, who passed away in 2025. Adler traces Yang's landmark contributions, emphasizing how these ideas helped shape today’s Standard Model.

In a collaboration born from overlapping terms in the School of Natural Sciences, Elena Murchikova, Member (2018–22) and frequent Visitor, and Kailash Sahu, Member (2022–23), have challenged prevailing assumptions about the visibility of isolated black holes.

Resolving the deep conflict between the principles of gravity and quantum mechanics—and more generally, developing a theory of “quantum gravity”—is a major open question in theoretical physics. By building on and extending one another’s research, IAS scholars past and present have made substantial progress in this area, generating insights that continue to influence research. 

What happens when a planet plows through the swirling disk of gas and dust that surrounds a young star? Friends of the Institute for Advanced Study Member Callum W. Fairbairn and NASA Einstein Fellow Alexander Dittmann, both from the School of Natural Sciences, have shed light on this, broadening our understanding of planets on elliptical, or “eccentric,” orbits.

Sihao Cheng, Martin A. and Helen Chooljian Member (2022–25) in the School of Natural Sciences, who led a team to the discovery of a trans-Neptunian object potentially large enough to qualify as a dwarf planet, shares—in his own words—a reflection on how the new object was identified.

Nadine Soliman, NASA Hubble Fellow in the School of Natural Sciences, studies star and planet formation. At IAS, she’ll examine and simulate processes such as the collapse of molecular clouds, the birth of stellar clusters, and the formation of protoplanetary disks—all as case studies for larger questions about the interplay between microphysical processes and large-scale astrophysical structures.

Vladimir Narovlansky, Member in the School of Natural Sciences (2024–25), explores the profound challenges of reconciling quantum mechanics with gravity. He discusses how the expanding universe and chaotic effects reveal new questions at the intersection of these fields, and how breakthroughs at IAS may lead to entirely new physical laws.

Jonah Kudler-Flam, Marvin L. Goldberger Member in the Institute for Advanced Study’s School of Natural Sciences (2022–26), provides insight into his current research on the Hartle–Hawking state, exploring how quantum physics explains our universe and humanity’s place within its many systems.