News

A small team led by Sihao Cheng, Martin A. and Helen Chooljian Member in the School of Natural Sciences, has discovered an extraordinary trans-Neptunian object (TNO) at the edge of our solar system. The TNO is potentially large enough to qualify as a dwarf planet, the same category as the much more well-known Pluto. The discovery has significant implications for our understanding of the Kuiper Belt and hypotheses that surround the existence of Planet Nine.

Sofía Torallas Tovar, a renowned papyrologist, has joined IAS as long-term Distinguished Visiting Professor in the School of Historical Studies. A prolific scholar of the ancient Mediterranean, Torallas Tovar's work encompasses Greek and Coptic magical texts, funerary practices and culture, patristic literature, the Coptic Bible, and Philo and Alexandrian Judaism.

Frank and Peggy Taplin Member George N. Wong, Visitor Lia Medeiros, and Professor James Stone, all from the Institute's School of Natural Sciences, have developed an innovative technique to search for black hole light echoes. Their novel method, which will make it easier for the mass and the spin of black holes to be measured, represents a major step forward, since it operates independently of many of the other ways in which scientists have probed these parameters in the past.

The Institute for Advanced Study has made two new appointments to its Board of Trustees: Paul DiMaggio, a Professor of Sociology at New York University, and Anoop Prasad, Managing Director and member of the Executive Committee of D. E. Shaw & Co. Their appointments were unanimously adopted by the Board on October 26, 2024.

The Institute for Advanced Study commenced its 2024–25 academic year on September 23, 2024, welcoming scholars from around the globe to its storied campus. The 267 visiting scholars, who began arriving earlier in the month, represent 35 nations and more than 130 institutions. Each is selected by the Institute’s permanent Faculty based on the promise of their research, spanning the sciences and humanities.

A new study of ancient DNA by a team of international researchers, including Patrick Geary, Professor Emeritus in the Institute for Advanced Study’s School of Historical Studies, provides insight into the development of and social structures within European rural communities following the fall of the Roman Empire. Some of these communities, about the formation of which little was previously known, would eventually become the basis for many modern European countries.

Designed to facilitate work on projects and topics that are beyond the reach of a single scholar, discipline, or institution, the Jonathan M. Nelson Center for Collaborative Research has been launched at IAS, expanding the Institute's capacity for discovery across fields. The Center will provide the funding, space, infrastructure, and expertise for collaborative projects with partners across the globe. 

Irit Dveer Dinur, Elon Lindenstrauss, and Aaron Naber have been appointed to the Institute Faculty, bringing unique expertise in pure mathematics and computer science to the School of Mathematics. They will begin their Institute appointments this summer. Considered one of the top honors in academia, IAS Faculty appointments are reserved for the world’s foremost leaders in their respective fields.

Sebastian Mizera, Member in the School of Natural Sciences, and his collaborators, have used computational algebraic geometry to study predictions for particle physics experiments, such as those at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The team’s results were published in Physical Review Letters in March. 

James H. Simons, former IAS Member (1972) and Board Vice Chair, widely recognized as a prize-winning mathematician, singular hedge fund manager, and a visionary philanthropist—with an indefatigable curiosity for science and discovery—died on Friday, May 10. He was 86.