Institute For Advanced Study Celebrates 75th Anniversary Of Its Founding Institute Marks 100th Anniversary Of Albert Einsteins

Institute For Advanced Study Celebrates 75th Anniversary Of Its Founding Institute Marks 100th Anniversary Of Albert Einsteins

The Institute for Advanced Study, one of the world�s leading centers for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry, marks this year the 75th anniversary of its founding in 1930. The Institute exists to encourage and support fundamental scholarship � the original, often speculative, thinking that produces advances in knowledge. The work of the Institute�s Faculty and Members has had an indelible impact intellectually since its inception. The Institute provides for the mentoring of younger scholars by Faculty, and offers the freedom to pursue work that will make significant contributions to a broad range of fields in the sciences and humanities.

In addition to the 75th anniversary, the Institute will also celebrate the centenary of Albert Einstein�s annus mirabilis of 1905, when he published his seminal papers on Special Relativity, Brownian motion and the photoelectric effect.

Einstein (1879-1955) was one of the Institute�s first Faculty members, serving from 1933 until his death in 1955, and played a significant part in its early development.

Founded in 1930 by New Jersey businessman and philanthropist Louis Bamberger (of Bamberger�s department store fame) and his sister Caroline Bamberger Fuld, the Institute was created to provide an environment in which a community of scholars and scientists could pursue fundamental research, free from external pressures. The Bambergers, who wanted to extend their fortunes to make a significant and lasting contribution to society and to the state of New Jersey, worked with educator Abraham Flexner to establish a place where leading thinkers could hone their skills and add substantially to their ability to contribute as both teachers and scholars.

"The Institute has remained committed to the farsighted and abiding vision of its founders to establish an academic institution dedicated to the disinterested pursuit of knowledge," states Dr. Peter Goddard, Director of the Institute. "The 75th anniversary year provides the opportunity to celebrate and reflect upon the remarkable achievements of those who have worked here and the unique and vital contribution that the Institute makes to the world of scholarship today."

The theoretical research and fundamental scholarship pursued by the Institute�s Faculty and Members has led, in many cases, to major advances and discoveries. Select examples include:

  • Texts by Institute Faculty in the School of Historical Studies have become key references for generations of art historians and led to the creation of art history as a discipline in the United States. Fundamental research by archeologist and past Faculty member Homer Thompson, including his landmark excavations in the Agora, helped to revolutionize understanding of Greek art, architecture, society and democracy.
  • The School of Mathematics has both enhanced scientific careers and has had a significant impact on the development of mathematics, since a large fraction of the world�s leading mathematicians have been Members at the Institute, or served on its Faculty. The revolutionary Incompleteness Theorems of past Faculty member Kurt G�del had a monumental effect on the fields of mathematics, logic and philosophy. At the beginning of computing, one of the first stored program computers was designed and built on the Institute�s campus.
  • Research in the School of Natural Sciences has greatly advanced astrophysics and theoretical physics, with breakthroughs on the standard model (Yang-Mills Theory), quantum electrodynamics, and solar neutrinos. The Institute is home to some of the world�s foremost practitioners of string theory.
  • Research in the School of Social Science has had wide-reaching impact on the field of global development, and Faculty have participated actively in the most important contemporary debates, including the meaning of the "interpretive turn" in anthropology, history, and political theory.

In addition to the main work taking place in the four Schools, there are also several special programs: the

Institute for Advanced Study/Park City Mathematics Institute

is an innovative program that integrates mathematics educators, researchers and students to improve mathematics education; the

Program in Interdisciplinary Studies

draws together visitors from a variety of fields including astrophysics, computer science, psychology, and philosophy; and the

Program for Women in Mathematics

, a mentoring program sponsored jointly with Princeton University, encourages women to pursue careers in mathematics. The Institute also has an

Artist-in-Residence

program that provides an annual series of concerts and lectures for the Institute and broader community.



75th Anniversary Events

Throughout the year, the Institute will mark its milestone anniversary with a range of events that celebrate the work of its four Schools � Historical Studies, Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Social Science � as well as its founders and Einstein. The School of Mathematics and the School of Historical Studies will each host a series of events on separate weekends in March and April, respectively, and the School of Natural Sciences and the School of Social Science will have their events in the Fall. The Institute will reflect on its past, present and future, with a special focus on Einstein, on its Founders Day on May 20, with a series of public lectures.

About the Institute for Advanced Study

The Institute for Advanced Study is one of the world’s leading centers for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. The Institute exists to encourage and support curiosity-driven research in the sciences and humanities—the original, often speculative thinking that produces advances in knowledge that change the way we understand the world. Work at the Institute takes place in four Schools: Historical Studies, Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Social Science. It provides for the mentoring of scholars by a permanent Faculty of approximately 30, and it ensures the freedom to undertake research that will make significant contributions in any of the broad range of fields in the sciences and humanities studied at the Institute.

The Institute, founded in 1930, is a private, independent academic institution located in Princeton, New Jersey. Its more than 6,000 former Members hold positions of intellectual and scientific leadership throughout the academic world. Thirty-three Nobel Laureates and 40 out of 56 Fields Medalists, as well as many winners of the Wolf and MacArthur prizes, have been affiliated with the Institute.