News

In the wake of the revelation that over 2,000 objects have been stolen from the British Museum over a number of years, Angelos Chaniotis, Professor in the School of Historical Studies, discusses the implications that this theft has for the Museum's credibility as a repository of monuments.

Inspired by the release of Christoper Nolan's biopic Oppenheimer, this interview highlights the diverse research taking place across all four IAS schools and how the influence of leading figures from IAS history, such as Albert Einstein and J. Robert Oppenheimer, is still felt at the Institute today.

IAS Director and Leon Levy Professor David Nirenberg "walks in Oppenheimer’s shoes." In an interview with NJ.com, he discusses how, in the current age of AI, the role for the Institute that Oppenheimer helped to carve out is needed "as much as ever."

Kai Bird sat down at the Institute for Advanced Study with CBS correspondent David Martin to talk about J. Robert Oppenheimer ahead of the release of Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer. 

IAS Director and Leon Levy Professor David Nirenberg discusses how, after helping invent the atomic bomb, past Director J. Robert Oppenheimer spent decades thinking about how to preserve civilization from technological dangers, offering crucial lessons for the age of AI.

Alondra Nelson, Harold F. Linder Professor in the School of Social Science, joined Washington Post Live for a conversation about artificial intelligence, the workforce, and the global economy.

Didier Fassin, James D. Wolfensohn Professor in the School of Social Science, writes for the New Statesman about the killing of Nahel Merzouk by a police officer and the social unrest resulting from it.

Jeffrey Gould, Distinguished Visiting Professor in the School of Historical Studies, just returned from a trip to Chile and El Salvador, discusses recent political trends in Latin America.

On May 18, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Kai Bird joined IAS Director and Leon Levy Professor David Nirenberg to discuss the complex legacy of past IAS Director J. Robert Oppenheimer and reflect on the emotional impact of Christopher Nolan's upcoming film.

Four current IAS scholars in the School of Natural Sciences—Mikhail M. Ivanov, NASA Einstein Fellow; Giovanni Cabass, Bezos Member; Kazuyuki Akitsu, Member; and Oliver Philcox, a visiting graduate student—have published a paper linking invisible dark matter and "the cosmic web."

“'Today’s future-positive writers critique our economies while largely seeming to ignore that anything might be amiss in our private lives,' writes [past Member in the School of Social Science] Kristen Ghodsee."

In a recent interview with Foreign Policy’s Ravi Agrawal, Alondra Nelson, Harold F. Linder Professor in the School of Social Science and architect of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy’s Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights, explains how AI should be regulated as the unprecedented technology and the debates surrounding it develop.

"The architect of Biden's 'Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights' [Harold F. Linder Professor in the School of Social Science] Alondra Nelson talks to Christiane Amanpour about the threats and opportunities posed by artificial intelligence."

By Wendy Brown, UPS Foundation Professor in the School of Social Science:

"In 1917 and 1919, at the invitation of University of Munich students, Max Weber delivered two public lectures, 'Science as a Vocation' and 'Politics as a Vocation.'"

Harel Shapira, past Member (2021–22) in the School of Social Science, provides a first-hand account of civilian firearms training.

By Alyssa Battistoni, current Member in the School of Social Science:

"When the Inflation Reduction Act was signed into law last August, it was celebrated as the biggest piece of federal climate legislation ever passed in the United States."

"For three days last April, the Institute for Advanced Study resembled its 1950s self. Actors wearing mid-century-appropriate clothing were spotted in and around Fuld Hall and Olden Manor, shooting scenes for a feature film about J. Robert Oppenheimer, famed theoretical physicist and Institute director from 1947 to 1966."

New research published by Lev Arzamasskiy, current Member in the School of Natural Sciences, and his collaborators, which include past Member (1999–2001) and Visitor (2005) Eliot Quatert, has provided "invaluable" insights into the basic plasma physics that occurs in astrophysical systems.

In 2014, Nathan Seiberg, Charles Simonyi Professor in the School of Natural Sciences, "demonstrated that the most important symmetries of 20th-century physics could be extended more broadly to apply in quantum field theory, the basic theoretical framework in which physicists work today."

Four years ago, astronomers released the first ever image of a black hole. Now a subset of that team, led by IAS scholar Lia Medeiros, has used artificial intelligence to produce a vastly improved version of the image.