Ideas

Explore firsthand accounts of research and questions posed by IAS scientists and scholars. From art history to string theory, from moral anthropology to the long-term fate of the universe, contributions span the last decade to the research of today.

Mathematics

Adventures of a Mathematician

By George Dyson

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.

Video

Paths to Math: Agustin Moreno

Agustin Moreno, Member in the School of Mathematics, is exploring a restricted case of the three-body problem—a concept that considers the complex motion of three masses under the influence of a force such as gravity.

Historical Studies

Lessons from the Social Condensers

By Anna Bokov

The new Rubenstein Commons building at the Institute for Advanced Study, designed by Steven Holl Architects, stands in stark contrast to the explicitly functionalist forms of other modern buildings on campus: the Member housing, designed by Marcel Breuer, or even the welcoming but austere (what’s known as “brutalist”) spaces of the dining hall, designed by Robert Geddes.

Natural Sciences

Q&A with Nadia Zakamska

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...

Mathematics

Karen Uhlenbeck’s Pioneering Path in Mathematics

[In high school] I remember the book by George Gamow, One, Two, Three, Infinity. I think that was my first mathematical achievement, to understand the differences in the kinds of infinities there are. I really liked that satisfaction of understanding why there was more than one kind of infinity. — Distinguished Visiting Professor Karen Uhlenbeck, the first woman to win the prestigious Abel prize

Natural Sciences

Knots and Quantum Theory

Edward Witten

Much of the theory of knots is best understood in the framework of 20th- and 21st-century developments in quantum physics. In other words, what really fascinates me are not the knots per se but the connections between the knots and quantum physics.

Social Science

Race After Technology

By Ruha Benjamin

Like everyone who lives in a heavily policed neighborhood, I grew up with a keen sense of being watched. Family, friends, and neighbors—all of us caught up in a carceral web, in which other people’s safety and freedom are predicated on our containment.

Mathematics

Q&A with John Urschel

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...

Mathematics

Solving the Mysteries of Deep Learning

Sanjeev Arora, Distinguished Visiting Professor in the School of Mathematics, specializes in the theory of deep learning, with an interest in natural language processing and privacy. He speaks with IAS's Joanne Lipman about why deep learning is a “black box,” and navigating ethical issues of bias and privacy.

idea

Antiquities in the Dining Hall

By Kathleen Mary Coleman

Hanging on the walls of Simons Hall are four late antique mosaics. Their migration from the floors of private houses in a Near Eastern city under Roman rule to a research institute in North America is a story of affluence, oblivion, and rediscovery.