Ideas

Jo Dunkley is an astrophysicist who studies the origins and evolution of the universe. In this short video she explains how her love of mathematics helped her realize that math tools can help us find answers to questions about our world.

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...

In colloquial speech the word “duality” connotes two contrasting facets of a single entity, often at odds with one another. The concept is anthropomorphized in mythology by deities or monsters with multiple faces, like the two-faced Janus, Roman god of doorways. It is also enshrined in pop culture in the double visages of Jekyll and Hyde, and in the Batman villain Harvey Dent (alias Two-Face). In physics and mathematics, the concept of “duality” takes on a more positive connotation because of its ubiquity, utility, and power. 

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...

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...

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...

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 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...