Ideas

This installment of the “Paths to Math” series features Paul Minter, Veblen Research Instructor (2022–23) and Veblen Fellow (2023–27) in the Institute’s School of Mathematics. Watch to see Paul describe how, despite being discouraged from applying to an elite school, his passion for mathematics brought him from a small U.K. seaside town, to Cambridge University, and then to IAS. 

This installment of our “Paths to Math” video series features Kalyani Kansal, Member (2023–24) in the Institute’s School of Mathematics. Watch to hear Kalyani describe her fascination with the “patterns” of the Langlands Program, outline the interesting commonalities between mathematics and detective stories, and discuss the importance of diversity and representation in the field.

Last year, as yet another attempt at repairing the leaking roof of the Historical Studies - Social Science Library loomed, the Institute reached out to me to study the problem. I researched the facts of the design, current problems, and possible...

"If Oppenheimer’s first act was dedicated to building a technology (the "Gadget"), his second was devoted to an institution." IAS Director and Leon Levy Professor David Nirenberg discusses Oppenheimer's lasting legacy at the Institute for Advanced Study and his predecessor's exemplification of the institution's founding values.

At a moment when movies are at the forefront of everyone’s minds, the Institute for Advanced Study is delighted to present a 90-second film of its own: a new anthem video showcasing IAS and its mission of enabling foundational discovery. 

After the COVID-19 pandemic saw public health erupt into the world’s consciousness, Didier Fassin, James D. Wolfensohn Professor in the School of Social Science, gave a series of lectures at the Collège de France in Paris proposing a new analysis of the moral and political issues at stake in the practice of public health. The lectures have been published by Polity Press in a book titled The Worlds of Public Health: Anthropological Excursions.

Why does the immune system target one particular molecular feature over another, and how does that selection affect the evolution of cancer and viruses? Benjamin Greenbaum, Long-term Member (2008–13) in the School of Natural Sciences, highlights his work on the theory of self versus non-self discrimination.

In celebration of the appointment of Maria Hsiuya Loh to the School of Historical Studies Faculty, Visitor (2021–22) and Research Associate (2022) Abbey Ellis explores how Loh's work reshapes traditional views of a great Renaissance artist and grafts new stems onto the legacy of art historical scholarship at the Institute.

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. 

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.