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.

Natural Sciences

Black Holes as Laboratories

By Lia Medeiros

The unparalleled resolution of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) images of the black holes at the center of the M87 galaxy and at the center of our galaxy, called Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), allows us to test assumptions, predictions, and alternatives to Einstein’s theory of gravity.

Historical Studies

Using Gravity to Find Grounding in Medieval Studies

Sierra Lomuto, Member in the School of Historical Studies, describes taking inspiration from Albert Einstein's notion of spacetime as a way of thinking about a truly global history of the medieval period.

Social Science

Kristen Ghodsee Everyday Utopia interview

Dreaming up the Good Life

An interview with Kristen Rogheh Ghodsee

While some people were baking sourdough bread during the pandemic, Kristen Ghodsee, Member (2006–07) in the School of Social Science, studied utopian communities. In this interview, she discusses the resulting book, Everyday Utopia: What 2,000 Years of Wild Experiments Can Teach Us About the Good Life, and her efforts to engage a non-academic audience through her writing and even TikTok!

Mathematics

Can AI Teach Science?

By Abbey Ellis

Motivated by the growing interest in using artificial intelligence for teaching purposes, IAS scholars from the Schools of Mathematics and Natural Sciences have conducted an innovative study to assess the correctness and helpfulness of large language models in STEM education. Their research yielded surprising results, including highlighting the importance of training models on conversations rather than textbooks.

Mathematics

From Beads to Bubbles

By Abbey Ellis

"Imagine that you are blowing a soap bubble using a simple wand. Why does the bubble that you create take the form of a sphere? Why not an ovoid? Or a cylindrical shape? Or something totally random?" Explore the minimization principles that govern such systems with geometric measure theorist Paul Minter, who serves as a Veblen Fellow in the School of Mathematics.

Video

Paths to Math: Karen Uhlenbeck

The “Paths to Math” series comes to a close with this special edition video, featuring one of our most beloved veteran mathematicians: Distinguished Visiting Professor Karen Uhlenbeck. Watch to see Karen describe the introduction to calculus course that awakened her love for math and her spirited female colleagues in Chicago, who helped to dispel any lingering doubts about being a woman mathematician.

Rediscovering One of the Institute's First Women of Color

An interview with Thayyoor K. Radha

In the Spring 2023 edition of The Institute Letter, archivist Caitlin Rizzo outlined her research into Thayyoor K. Radha, one of the earliest women of color at the Institute. Radha joined IAS in 1965–66 as a Member, but her continued success was rendered virtually undiscoverable after her marriage saw her change her surname. After reading The Institute Letter, Radha’s daughter reached out to the Archive, allowing more elements of her story to be collected.

Idea

The Curriculum of the Woods

By Jonathan Allan

Predicting thousands of years of forest growth with just an afternoon of fieldwork and a simple calculator might seem like an impossible task, but Jonathan Levine, Chair of Princeton’s Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, who runs annual classes in “Forest Succession” in the Institute Woods, enables his students to achieve precisely this.

Social Science

Forging a Closed Loop

By Natasha Iskander

Based on her firsthand experience of shadowing workers on construction sites in Qatar, Natasha Iskander, Member (2022–23) in the School of Social Science, reveals how climate change and climate migration were exploited for profit at the 2022 World Cup. She highlights that climate change has a face, and that its consequences are made through specific economic and organizational practices.

Video

Scholar Spotlight: Reflections on IAS

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.

Social Science

Meet a Hacker Turned Scholar: Q&A with Lindsey D. Cameron

Lindsey D. Cameron, Member in the School of Social Science, studies Uber. "Well, I don’t study strictly Uber per se," she says, "but it’s easier to digest than saying I study the rise of the platform economy and algorithmic management, and its implications on labor."

Natural Sciences

“Well, Doc, You’re In”: Freeman Dyson’s Journey through the Universe

A book by David Kaiser

In this excerpt, Freeman Dyson, Faculty (1952–2020) in the School of Natural Sciences, ascends the New Court clock tower at St. John’s College, Cambridge during a wartime blackout.

Director's Office

Collaborating on Co-production

An interview with Katharina Heyden

Director's Visitor Katharina Heyden discusses her ongoing project with Director and Leon Levy Professor David Nirenberg, which seeks to think collaboratively about the religions of Islam, Christianity, and Judaism using the concept of co-production as a methodology.

Natural Sciences

Dynamics in Translation

By Chris Hamilton

The work of plasma fusion physicists may seem completely divorced from the realm of theoretical astrophysics, but, as Chris Hamilton, John N. Bahcall Fellow in the School of Natural Sciences, explains, the mathematical methods developed to exploit the power of the electrons, ions, and magnetic fields in fusion plasmas are precisely the same as those needed to describe the dynamics of stars, spiral arms, and dark matter in galaxies like the Milky Way.

Historical Studies

Labor & Leisure in the Music of the Theremin

By Abbey Ellis

Clara Latham, Martin L. and Sarah F. Leibowitz Member and Edward T. Cone Member in Music Studies in the School of Historical Studies, describes the contradictions that inspire her work, which surround the perceptions of musical labor with particular reference to music technology.