Director

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev has presented David Nirenberg, the Institute’s Director and Leon Levy Professor, with an honorary doctorate. The university honored him as "one of the foremost intellectuals of our time, and a dedicated mentor to historians in Israel and around the world."

David Nirenberg, IAS Director and Leon Levy Professor, has been awarded a 2026 Balzan Prize, recognizing his work in the field of Jewish Studies. The award celebrates groundbreaking scholarship that contributes “to the understanding of our world and our time” and promotes “the advancement of knowledge without borders.”

David Nirenberg, IAS Director and Leon Levy Professor, has been named an inaugural Distinguished Visitor in the Arts and Humanities at Johns Hopkins University. Joining artist-architect Maya Lin as a visitor for 2026–27, Nirenberg will bring his influential work on ideas, religion, and history to the JHU campus through talks, seminars, and small-group conversations.

IAS Director and Leon Levy Professor David Nirenberg has been announced as the recipient of the University of Tübingen’s 2024 Leopold Lucas Prize. Nirenberg is to be recognized for his research into the relationship between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam in the Middle Ages and the present day.

Princeton Mayor Mark Freda and IAS Director and Leon Levy Professor David Nirenberg discuss the Institute's distinctive strengths, the continuing legacy of J. Robert Oppenheimer and other key figures from IAS history, and how the institution plays a role in making the small town of Princeton "punch far above its weight in terms of its intellectual place in the world."

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."

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.

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.

"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."