Press Releases

Mathematician Helmut Hofer Joins the Faculty of the Institute for Advanced Study

Margaret Sullivan — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 13:51:12

Princeton, N.J, July 23, 2008 - Helmut Hofer has been appointed to the Faculty of the School of Mathematics at the Institute for Advanced Study, effective July 1, 2009. Dr. Hofer comes to the Institute from the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences of New York University, where he serves as Silver Professor of Mathematics.

Helmut Hofer

One of the founders of the area of symplectic topology, Dr. Hofer's research focuses on symplectic geometry, dynamical systems and partial differential equations. He was a Member in the School of Mathematics at the Institute in 1987, 2001-02, and 2005.

"Helmut Hofer has taken a leading role in the development of symplectic geometry, one of the most exciting areas of mathematics today," commented Peter Goddard, Director of the Institute. "His combination of geometric insight and deep analytical skills, together with his energy and enthusiasm, has provided inspiration for many other mathematicians. We are delighted that he will be joining the Faculty of our School of Mathematics."

Peter Sarnak, Professor in the School of Mathematics stated, "The fields of symplectic geometry, symplectic topology and related Hamiltonian dynamics have enjoyed dramatic advances in the last 20 years. Helmut Hofer is one of the main architects of these developments. Together with his engaging style, energy, record of collaborations and mentorship, his addition to the Faculty of the School of Mathematics will position the Institute as a center for these areas."

Regarding his appointment, Dr. Hofer said, "The Institute is a unique place and I am thrilled to join its Faculty. During my professional life, I spent two years at different stages of my career at IAS. The opportunity to meet and interact with extraordinary people had a significant impact on my professional development. I consider it as an extraordinary privilege to be part of the Institute and to further its mission to encourage and support fundamental research. "

Dr. Hofer has worked in a number of fields including variational problems in Hamiltonian dynamics and symplectic and contact geometry/topology. His work with Ivar Ekeland in the late 1980s introduced new invariants of symplectic domains called symplectic capacities, which were used to establish a number of the foundational results in symplectic topology. The Arnold Conjecture, perhaps the most striking result in symplectic topology to date, relates the number of fixed points of a Hamiltonian symplectomorphism to the topology of the underlying manifold. Hofer, together with Dietmar Salamon, made a major contribution towards the solution of this conjecture. Their work, like all others, built on the work of Andreas Floer and in particular, Floer homology. Hofer worked with Floer on several papers on the subject, some of which were published jointly after Floer's premature death in 1991.

Following his work on the Arnold Conjecture, Hofer introduced the method of holomorphic curves in contact geometry. This led to a wealth of new results in Hamiltonian dynamics and in particular to a proof of the Weinstein Conjecture, which is concerned with the existence of periodic orbits of contact type Hamiltonian systems, in many cases. This work led him, together with Yakov Eliashberg, to the concept of contact homology. In recent works, Hofer and his collaborators Kris Wysocki and Eduard Zehnder have introduced new analytic tools to study the geometry of moduli spaces, which provides the foundations for his ongoing work with Eliashberg on symplectic field theory.

Dr. Hofer studied at the University of Zurich, where he earned an undergraduate degree in 1979 and a Ph.D. in 1981. He taught at Zurich from 1979 to 1982, and the following year he joined the University of Bath as a Lecturer in Pure Mathematics. From there, he went to Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, where he served as Assistant Professor (1985-87), Associate Professor (1987-88), and then as Professor (1988-89). Dr. Hofer then went to Germany and became a C-4 Professor at Ruhr-Universität Bochum, a position he held from 1989 to 1993. From 1993 to 1997, he was Professor at Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH) in Zurich. He joined the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences of New York University as Professor in 1997 and was named Silver Professor in 2006.

Dr. Hofer is the recipient of the 1999 Ostrowski Prize. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences and Academia Europaea in 2008. He serves as Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences at Leipzig, Germany, and as co-chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Mathematics Science Research Institute (MSRI) in Berkeley. Dr. Hofer also serves on the editorial boards of Communications in Pure and Applied Mathematics and EMS Monographs in Mathematics, is Associate Editor of Monographs in Mathematics and was recently named Managing Editor of Inventiones Mathematicae.

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 fundamental 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 twenty-seven, and it offers all who work there 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 5,000 former Members hold positions of intellectual and scientific leadership throughout the academic world. Some twenty-two Nobel Laureates and thirty-four out of forty-eight Fields Medalists have been Institute Faculty, Members or Visitors. Many winners of the Wolf or MacArthur prizes have also been affiliated with the Institute.

Institute for Advanced Study Hosts Summer Program in Theoretical Physics

Margaret Sullivan — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 15:32:35

Princeton, N.J., June 17, 2008 - Prospects in Theoretical Physics (PiTP), an intensive two-week summer program for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars considering a career in theoretical physics, will take place at the Institute for Advanced Study from July 14 to 25. The theme of this year's program is Strings and Phenomenology.

Participants in 2007 Prospects in Theoretical Physics program

First held at the Institute in 2002, Prospects in Theoretical Physics has, in past years, covered topics ranging from the standard model to the physics at Large Hadron Collider. The program builds upon the strong relationship between the research groups at the Institute and Princeton University. Representatives from both institutions are among the program's organizers and lecturers.

This year's program is designed for string theorists who want to learn about issues of the compactification of space relevant to phenomenology and cosmology, and for phenomenologists who want to learn about strings and their applications to phenomenology. The topics in strings and phenomenology have been selected to make the maximum contact between the two fields, and the lecture series will be as self-contained as possible.

PiTP 2008 is scheduled to precede the International Conference on High Energy Physics (ICHEP 2008), which will take place in Philadelphia from July 29 to August 5.

"It is a privilege to have the opportunity to help train the young scientists who will become the future of the field," states Chiara Nappi, Professor of Physics at Princeton University, one of the program organizers.

Organizers and lecturers for PiTP 2008 include: Nima Arkani-Hamed (Institute for Advanced Study), Luis E. Ib áñ ez (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid), Shamit Kachru (Stanford University), Chiara Nappi (Princeton University), Hans-Peter Nilles (Physikalisches Institut der Universität Bonn), Stuart Raby (The Ohio State University), John Schwarz (California Institute of Technology), Herman Verlinde (Princeton University) and Edward Witten (Institute for Advanced Study).

Prospects in Theoretical Physics 2008 is hosted by the Institute's School of Natural Sciences. For further information about the program, please visit www.ias.edu/pitp.

Leading Ancient Historian Angelos Chaniotis Joins the Faculty of the Institute for Advanced Study

Margaret Sullivan — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 14:20:27

Princeton, N.J. June 10, 2008 - Angelos Chaniotis, whose prolific, broad and insightful work on the ancient Mediterranean has shaped critical thinking in the field over the past two decades, has been appointed to the Faculty of the Institute for Advanced Study. Dr. Chaniotis will become Professor in the Institute's School of Historical Studies effective July 1, 2010. He succeeds Professor Emeritus Glen Bowersock, an eminent authority on Greek, Roman and Near Eastern history and culture as well as the classical tradition in modern literature, who joined the School as Professor in 1980.

Angelos Chaniotis

Internationally regarded for his original and wide-ranging research in the social, cultural, religious, legal and economic history of the Hellenistic world and the Roman East, Dr. Chaniotis is currently Senior Research Fellow in Classics at All Souls College in the University of Oxford. The author of four books and some 150 articles and book contributions, and editor of fourteen volumes, he works in innovative ways on a wide variety of topics: war, memory, identity, emotions, the communicative aspects of rituals and the strategies of persuasion in the ancient world. Significant questions and dialogues in the field have grown out of Dr. Chaniotis's pioneering contributions, which have helped to advance understanding of previously unexplored aspects of the ancient world.

"We are delighted that Dr. Chaniotis has agreed to join our Faculty," stated Peter Goddard, Director of the Institute for Advanced Study. "He is noted not only for his remarkable breadth and depth of scholarship in classical studies, but also for his collegiality and enthusiasm. His appointment will ensure the Institute's international leadership in a field in which it has a distinguished history going back to our founding."

Heinrich von Staden, Professor in the School of Historical Studies, commented, "Angelos Chaniotis will be a superb addition to the Institute's Faculty. He is eminently qualified not only to continue the Institute's distinguished tradition in ancient history but also to bring new fields and new approaches to ancient studies at the Institute. The admirable range of his research will also enable him to engage the work of scholars in several other disciplines."

"A great challenge for ancient studies in our times is to enhance their dialogue with other fields of the humanities and the social sciences and to contribute to theoretical discourse, without neglecting their principal task, which is to publish and interpret source material," noted Dr. Chaniotis. "The School of Historical Studies has long established itself as a leader both in intellectual exchange and as a research center in epigraphical studies. I am honored to have been invited to continue these traditions."

Dr. Chaniotis's most recent book, War in the Hellenistic World: A Social and Cultural History (2005), is an astute study of the political, cultural and economic aspects of war, in which he presents an innovative examination of the narration and commemoration of wars and of the aesthetics of warfare, and analyzes how warfare shaped identities and social structures. His general text on Crete, Das antike Kreta (Ancient Crete, 2004), and his study Die Verträge zwischen kretischen Städten in der hellenistischen Zeit (Treaties Between Cretan Cities in the Hellenistic Age, 1996), demonstrate his command of source material and its application to broad analysis of local history with a universal perspective. Dr. Chaniotis's first book, Historie und Historiker in den griechischen Inschriften. Epigraphische Beiträge zur griechischen Historiographie (History and Historians in Greek Inscriptions. Epigraphic Contributions to Greek Historiography, 1988), is a groundbreaking study devoted to the place of history and historians in ancient Greek public life over a very wide geographical area and across many centuries. His numerous articles on the social and cultural history of religion in the Roman East and in the Hellenistic Aegean have contributed acute insights into identity, emotions, theatricality, illusion, competition and "megatheism" as significant features of ancient religion. He has also produced important analyses of persuasion in the communication between mortals and gods.

Dr. Chaniotis, who was born in Athens, received his undergraduate education at the University of Athens. He was awarded a Ph.D. in Ancient History from the University of Heidelberg in 1984, followed by study of law at the University of Bonn from 1985 to 1986. In 1992, he received his Habilitation in Ancient History from the University of Heidelberg with a thesis on the treaties between Cretan cities in the Hellenistic epoch. He served as Assistant Professor in the Department of Ancient History at the University of Heidelberg from 1987 to 1992, after which he served as Associate Professor until 1994. In 1993, he moved to New York University as Visiting Professor in the Department of Classics and the Alexander S. Onassis Center for Hellenic Studies. Dr. Chaniotis became Associate Professor of Greek History at New York University in 1994 and served as Acting Chair of the Department of Classics in 1996. He was appointed Professor of Greek History and Director of Graduate Studies in 1997.

In 1998, Dr. Chaniotis returned to Heidelberg as Professor of Ancient History and Chair of the Department of Ancient History. From 2001 to 2006, he served as Associate Dean, Faculty of Oriental and Ancient Studies at the University (2001); Vice Rector for International Relations at the University (2001-06); Associate Director of the collaborative research project "Dynamic of Rituals," sponsored by the University and the German Research Council (2002-06); and Director of the Priority Research Project "Strategies of Persuasion," sponsored by the University and the Ministry of Research, Baden-Württemberg (2004-06). In 2006, Dr. Chaniotis was appointed Senior Research Fellow in Classics at All Souls College in the University of Oxford.

Dr. Chaniotis is Senior Editor of the Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum, editor or coeditor of the journals Tekmeria, Kernos and Mnemosyne and is series editor of Heidelberger Althistorische Beiträge und Epigraphische Studien and New Approaches to the Ancient World. He is the recipient of the Baden-Württemberg Prize for Pure Research (2001) and the Nikos Svoronos History Award from the Institute of Mediterranean Studies/Institute of Technology and Research, Crete (1991), among other honors. He delivered the David Lewis Lectures in Ancient History at the University of Oxford (2001) and was Visiting Professor in the École Pratique des Hautes Études in Paris (2008). Elected a Member of the Academia Europea (2006) and the German Archaeological Institute (2005), Dr. Chaniotis is a member of the Archeological Institute of America, Centre d'Étude de la Religion Grecque Antique and the Association Internationale d'Épigraphie Grecque et Latine, among other organizations. He also serves on a range of advisory boards and committees concerned with ancient history and culture.

Ancient History at the Institute

Dr. Chaniotis continues the long-standing tradition of ancient history at the Institute, which dates back to the 1935 appointment of Benjamin D. Meritt, a specialist in Greek epigraphy. The following year, new Faculty members Hetty Goldman, E. A. Lowe and Ernst Herzfeld formalized the study of archaeology, Latin paleography and Near Eastern archaeology, respectively. A strong and diverse program in Greek and Roman studies developed after the Second World War. In 1947, Homer Thompson came to the Institute, having achieved a worldwide reputation for his excavation of the Agora at Athens, and Harold Cherniss brought the academic study of Greek philosophy to the Institute when he was appointed in 1948. Roman history arrived with Andrew Alföldi in 1955, and he was succeeded in 1965 by the papyrologist and military historian J. F. Gilliam. Christian Habicht, currently Professor Emeritus in the School, joined the Faculty in 1973 and assumed responsibility for the extensive collection of squeezes that Meritt had amassed to form a major research center in Greek epigraphy. Professor Emeritus Glen Bowersock, author of numerous important volumes and articles on Greek, Roman and Near Eastern history who uses his exceptional knowledge of classical texts in many languages, together with inscriptions, coins, mosaics and archaeological remains to draw unexpected and revelatory conclusions, arrived at the Institute in 1980. Heinrich von Staden, who was appointed in 1998, is one of the world's foremost experts on ancient science and medicine, particularly of the Hellenistic period; his interests include classical philosophy and literature.

About the Institute for Advanced Study

The Institute for Advanced Study is one of the world's leading centers for scholarly and theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. The Institute exists to encourage and support fundamental research in the sciences and humanities - the original, often speculative, thinking that produces advances in knowledge that change the way we understand the world. It provides for the mentoring of younger scholars by Faculty, and it offers all who work there 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 is a private, independent academic institution located in Princeton, New Jersey. It was founded in 1930 by philanthropists Louis Bamberger and his sister Caroline Bamberger Fuld, and through the vision of founding Director Abraham Flexner. Dr. Peter Goddard is the current Director of the Institute.
Work at the Institute takes place in four Schools: Historical Studies, Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Social Science. Past Faculty have included Albert Einstein, who remained at the Institute until his death in 1955, and luminaries such as Kurt Gödel, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Erwin Panofsky, Homer A. Thompson, John von Neumann, George Kennan and Hermann Weyl. Currently, a permanent Faculty of twenty-seven eminent scholars guides the work of the Schools, and each year awards fellowships to some 190 visiting Members, from about one hundred universities and research institutions throughout the world.

The Institute's more than 5,000 former Members hold positions of intellectual and scientific leadership throughout the academic world. Some twenty-two Nobel Laureates and thirty-four out of forty-eight Fields Medalists have been Institute Faculty, Members or Visitors. Many winners of the Wolf or MacArthur prizes have also been affiliated with the Institute.

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; 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 and 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.

Royal Dutch Mathematical Society Awards Tri-annual Brouwer Prize to Phillip A. Griffiths

Margaret Sullivan — Fri, 23 May 2008 11:47:37

Princeton, N.J., May 23, 2008 - The Royal Dutch Mathematical Society has announced that Phillip A. Griffiths, Professor in the School of Mathematics at the Institute for Advanced Study, has been selected to receive the 2008 Brouwer Prize. According to the award citation, Professor Griffiths was chosen for "his work in complex algebraic geometry and (complex) differential geometry. He combines, in a modern incarnation, the style and tradition of Henri Poincaré and Elie Cartan. His research of algebraic cycles and variation of Hodge structures has opened new roads, which were followed by many after him. Griffiths is senior author of several books which have raised generations of geometers of the last thirty years."

Phillip A. Griffiths

Every three years, the society chooses an important field in mathematics and an expert committee then selects a lecturer from that field. This year, the field was geometry, and the committee selected Griffiths, who will present the Brouwer Lecture on July 14 in Amsterdam. The lecture is part of the 5^th European Congress of Mathematics (5ECM). The Brouwer Lecture will be preceded by a laudatio by prominent Dutch mathematician Eduard Looijenga, and followed by the presentation of the golden Brouwer Medal.

Griffiths and his collaborators initiated the theory of variation of Hodge structure, which has come to play a central role in many aspects of algebraic geometry and the uses of that subject in modern theoretical physics. A former Director of the Institute for Advanced Study (1991-2003), Griffiths leads the Science Initiative Group (SIG) whose primary goal is to create and nurture world-class science and scientific talent in the developing world.

Founded in 1778, the Royal Dutch Mathematical Society, or Wiskundig Genootschap, is the oldest of all present-day national mathematical societies. L.E.J. Brouwer was perhaps the Netherlands' most distinguished mathematician. Following his death in 1966, the Royal Dutch Mathematical Society and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences established the Brouwer Prize. The Brouwer Lecture is delivered during the annual Dutch Mathematical Congress, which, this year, is being held as part of the 5^th European Congress of Mathematics. The meeting will take place in Amsterdam from July 14 to 18.

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 fundamental scholarship - 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 younger scholars by a permanent Faculty of twenty-seven, and it offers all who work there 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 5,000 former Members hold positions of intellectual and scientific leadership in the United States and abroad. Some twenty-two Nobel Laureates, and thirty-four out of forty-eight Fields Medalists, have been Institute Faculty, Members or Visitors. Many winners of the Wolf or MacArthur prizes have also been affiliated with the Institute.

New Trustees Appointed to the Board of Institute for Advanced Study

Margaret Sullivan — Thu, 22 May 2008 11:02:45

Princeton, N.J., May 22, 2008 - The Institute for Advanced Study has appointed Dr. Eric Schmidt and Dr. Curtis Callan to its Board of Trustees, effective July 1, 2008. Dr. Schmidt is Chief Executive Officer of Google Inc., and Dr. Callan, who has been nominated by the Institute's School of Natural Sciences, is the J. S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor of Physics at Princeton University. He succeeds Dr. Andrew Strominger, Professor of Physics at Harvard University, who served a five-year term on the nomination of the School of Natural Sciences.

Eric Schmidt
Courtesy of Google, Inc.

Dr. Schmidt took his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering at Princeton University (1976), and obtained a master's degree (1979) and a Ph.D. (1982) in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of California, Berkeley. In 1983, he joined Sun Microsystems and rose to become its Chief Technology Officer. He was named Chairman and CEO of Novell in 1997, where he led the company's strategic planning, management and technology development. Dr. Schmidt was recruited by Google in 2001. He became Chairman of the Board of the company in March of that year, and was named CEO in August.

An internationally recognized technologist and business leader, Dr. Schmidt serves on the Board of Directors of Apple Inc., the Board of Trustees of Princeton University and is Chairman of the Board of Directors of the New America Foundation. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2006 and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2007.

Dr. Callan, winner of the Dirac Medal in 2004, was a Member in the School of Natural Sciences at the Institute on three occasions, in 1969-72, 1983 and 1993-94, and has been a frequent Visitor in recent years.

Curtis Callan
© Denise Applewhite
Princeton University
Office of Communications

Well known for the Callan-Symanzik equation, Dr. Callan was recently elected Vice President of the American Physical Society (APS). Dr. Callan was awarded the 2000 Sakurai Medal for Particle Theory of the APS and was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1987.

After receiving an AB in physics from Haverford College in 1961, he pursued graduate study in physics at Princeton, where he was awarded his Ph.D. in 1964. From there, he became assistant professor in physics at Harvard University. In 1972, he joined the faculty of Princeton, where he became J. S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor of Physics in 1995. He currently serves as chair of the Physics Department at the University. Dr. Callan is the founding director of the Princeton Center for Theoretical Physics, which works to promote interaction among theorists and seed new directions in research, especially in areas cutting across traditional disciplinary boundaries.

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 fundamental scholarship - 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 younger scholars by a permanent Faculty of twenty-seven, and it offers all who work there 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 5,000 former Members hold positions of intellectual and scientific leadership in the United States and abroad. Some twenty-two Nobel Laureates, and thirty-four out of forty-eight Fields Medalists, have been Institute Faculty, Members or Visitors. Many winners of the Wolf or MacArthur prizes have also been affiliated with the Institute.

Michael Walzer's Work Recognized at "Justice, Culture and Tradition" Conference

Margaret Sullivan — Fri, 16 May 2008 14:11:54

Princeton, N.J., May 16, 2008 - The work of one of America's foremost political thinkers will be recognized at a three-day conference on the Institute campus from June 2 to June 4. Michael Walzer, Professor Emeritus in the School of Social Science, will be celebrated for his contributions to the ethical and political philosophy of the twentieth century at the "Justice, Culture and Tradition" conference.

Michael Walzer

Walzer has written extensively on a variety of topics in political theory and moral philosophy. His most acclaimed work to date, Just and Unjust Wars (1977), is the classic contemporary text on the morality of war.

He joined the Faculty of the Institute in 1980, and was named UPS Foundation Professor in 1986, a title he retained until retiring in 2007. At that time, Walzer became Professor Emeritus.

The academic committee for the conference includes Yitzhak Benbaji of Bar-Ilan University and Shalom Hartman Institute, Amy Gutmann of the University of Pennsylvania and Avishai Margalit, George F. Kennan Professor in the School of Historical Studies at the Institute for Advanced Study.

A series of questions will be addressed at the conference, and Walzer will attend and comment on the papers presented. These questions include:

* How should liberalism treat cultures, cultural diversity and cultural identities?

* How should the just society distribute resources and the goods produced by social life?

* When is waging war justified? What is the meaning of national self-defense and how is it related to self-defense in the domestic realm?

* Is an international system constituted from fully sovereign states justified, or should the
international society be federalized?

Among the conference speakers will be the three members of the academic committee, along with Charles R. Beitz, Pierre Birnbaum, Mitchell Cohen, Michael Doyle, Ruth Gavison, Moshe Halbertal, Axel Honneth, George Kateb, Will Kymlicka, Jacob T. Levy, Menachem Lorberbaum, Jeff McMahan, Susan Neiman, David Novak, Brian Orend, Martin Peretz, Nancy L. Rosenblum, Michael J. Sandel, Thomas Scanlon, Haim Shapira, Charles Taylor, Georgia Warnke, Leon Wieseltier and Noam J. Zohar.

Talks will take place on Monday, June 2 from 9:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m. and 2-6 p.m., on Tuesday, June 3 from 10 a.m.-12:15 p.m. and 2-5 p.m., and on Wednesday, June 4 from 10 a.m.-12:15 p.m. and 2-6:30 p.m.

The conference is made possible with generous support from Fritz Thyssen Stiftung, the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, the Institute for Advanced Study, Shalom Hartman Institute, YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, Bar-Ilan University Faculty of Law and the Heinrich Böll Foundation.

All sessions are free and open to the public, and seating is on a first come, first served basis. Registration for the conference is required. To register, for a complete agenda and for additional information, please visit the Carnegie Council's website at http://www.cceia.org.

Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Awards 2008 History Prize to Jonathan Israel

Margaret Sullivan — Mon, 12 May 2008 12:44:02

Princeton, N.J., May 12, 2008 - The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences has announced that Jonathan Israel, Professor of Modern European History in the School of Historical Studies at the Institute for Advanced Study, has been selected to receive the 2008 Dr. A.H. Heineken Prize in History. Professor Israel was chosen for "his vitally new perspective on the history of the Enlightenment."

Jonathan Israel

Israel's work is concerned with European and European colonial history from the Renaissance to the eighteenth century, with particular emphasis on the history of ideas, the Dutch Golden Age (1590-1713), including the Dutch global trade system, seventeenth-century Dutch Jewry and Spinoza, the "Glorious Revolution" of 1688-91 in Britain, and Spanish imperial strategy especially in Mexico, the Caribbean and the Low Countries.

According to the prize committee, "Some scholars believe the Enlightenment began with eighteenth-century French philosophers such as Voltaire and Rousseau, whereas others trace its origins to England and to Newton and Locke. But these theories have been altered by the work of British historian Jonathan Israel, who emphasizes the significance of what went before: the early, radical phase of the Enlightenment, dominated by the ideas of the philosopher Spinoza (1632-1677)."

Professor Israel's books include Enlightenment Contested. Philosophy, Modernity and the Emancipation of Man, 1670-1752 (2006); Radical Enlightenment: Philosophy and the Making of Modernity, 1650 -1750 (2001); European Jewry in the Age of Mercantilism, 1550-1750 (1985); and The Dutch Republic. Its Rise, Greatness and Fall, 1477-1806 (1995).

The Dr. A.H. Heineken Prize for History was established in 1990. It was initially intended for European history alone, but in 2006 eligibility was extended to all areas of the discipline. The Heineken Prizes are presented every other year during a meeting of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. This year the meeting will be held on October 2 in Amsterdam.

Previous winners of the Heineken Prize for History include Joel Mokyr, Jacques Le Goff, Heinz Schilling, Jan de Vries, Mona Ozouf, Heiko A. Oberman, Peter R.L. Brown, Herman van der Wee and Peter Gay.

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 fundamental scholarship - 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 younger scholars by a permanent Faculty of twenty-seven, and it offers all who work there 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 5,000 former Members hold positions of intellectual and scientific leadership in the United States and abroad. Some twenty-two Nobel Laureates, and thirty-four out of forty-eight Fields Medalists, have been Institute Faculty, Members or Visitors. Many winners of the Wolf or MacArthur prizes have also been affiliated with the Institute.

Jonathan Israel Discusses the Islamic World and the Radical Enlightenment

Margaret Sullivan — Mon, 12 May 2008 11:59:04

PRINCETON, N.J. - May 12, 2008 - Jonathan Israel, Professor in the School of Historical Studies at the Institute for Advanced Study, will present a lecture titled The Islamic World and the Radical Enlightenment: Toleration, Freethinking and Personal Liberty on Wednesday, May 21, at 4:30 p.m. in Wolfensohn Hall on the Institute's campus.

Jonathan Israel

In this lecture, Israel will address topics that arose from a recent innovative colloquium, Islamic Freethinking and Western Radicalism, held at the Institute in April. He will discuss the Radical Enlightenment, that part of the Western Enlightenment, which from around 1660 onwards, pushed for full freedom of thought, religious freedom and personal liberty together with democracy and the principle of equality. This part of the Enlightenment, what might be broadly termed the Democratic Enlightenment, has come to be much more intensively studied and better understood in recent years than it was before the 1990s. One of its characteristic features is its use of the medieval Islamic freethinkers and their ideas, and its interpretation of the special features of Islamic society and politics, to illustrate and broaden its own arguments for transforming the Western World.

This lecture is presented with support provided by the Dr. S.T. Lee Fund for Historical Studies.

Israel joined the Faculty at the Institute in 2001. He received his undergraduate education at Queens' College, Cambridge. His postgraduate work was conducted at St. Antony's College, Oxford, and the Colegio de Mexico in Mexico City. He was awarded a Ph.D. in 1972 by St. Antony's College, and from 1973 to 1975, he was an Assistant Lecturer and a Lecturer at the University of Hull. At the University College, London, he was Lecturer in Early Modern European History from 1974 to 1981, Reader in Modern History from 1981 to 1985 and Professor of Dutch History and Institutions from 1985 to 2000.

Israel was named a Fellow of the British Academy in 1992, a Corresponding Fellow of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences in 1994, and an Honorary Professor at the University of Amsterdam in 2003. He holds honorary doctorates from the universities of Antwerp and Rotterdam. The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences recently honored him with the 2008 Dr. A.H. Heineken Prize in History by for "his vitally new perspective on the history of the Enlightenment."

His recent work focuses on the impact of radical thought -- especially Spinoza, Bayle, Diderot and the eighteenth century French materialists -- on the Enlightenment and emergence of modern ideas of democracy, equality, toleration, freedom of the press and individual freedom.

For further information about this event, which is free and open to the public, please call (609) 734-8175, or visit the Public Events page on the Institute website, www.ias.edu.

Nobel Laureate Eric Maskin Discusses Mechanism Design

Margaret Sullivan — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 15:48:44

PRINCETON, N.J. - April 17, 2008 - Eric S. Maskin, Albert O. Hirschman Professor in the School of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study, and recipient of the 2007 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics, will present a lecture titled Mechanism Design: How to Implement Social Goals on Friday, May 2, at 6:00 p.m. in Wolfensohn Hall on the Institute's campus.

Eric S. Maskin

Professor Maskin shared the Nobel Prize with Leonid Hurwicz and Roger Myerson for his work in Mechanism Design Theory. This is the study of how, given an economic or social goal, we can design a procedure or institution (that is, a mechanism) for achieving that goal. In this lecture, he will give an introduction to mechanism design using several simple examples. The lecture is nontechnical and suitable for a general audience.

Professor Maskin joined the Faculty at the Institute in 2000. He received his A.B. in 1972, his A.M. in 1974 and his Ph.D. in 1976, all from Harvard University. A Research Fellow at Jesus College, Cambridge in 1976-77, Maskin taught at M.I.T. from 1977 to 1984. In 1985, he moved to Harvard University, and was named Louis Berkman Professor of Economics in 1997.

A Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Econometric Society, Maskin is also a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy and an Honorary Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge. He is a past President of the Econometric Society and was named Honorary Professor at Wuhan and Tsinghua Universities. He has served as Editor of The Quarterly Journal of Economics and Economics Letters. His work in economic theory has had a deep influence on many areas of economics, political science and law.

For further information about this event, which is free and open to the public, please call (609) 734-8175, or visit the Public Events page on the Institute website, www.ias.edu.

Institute for Advanced Study Convenes Annual Program for Women and Mathematics

Margaret Sullivan — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 12:59:16

Mathematicians to Study Knots, Surfaces, the Curve Complex and Foliations

Example of a foliation

Princeton, N.J., April 15, 2008 - Sixty-four women mathematicians from throughout the United States will gather at the Institute for Advanced Study this May for the Program for Women and Mathematics. The 11-day residential program, sponsored by the Institute and Princeton University, will be held from May 12 to May 23, marking its 15^th year on the Institute campus.

Designed to encourage women to pursue careers in mathematics by providing opportunities for learning and research, and mentoring and peer relations, the program is being organized by Sun-Yung Alice Chang and Ingrid Daubechies of Princeton University; Antonella Grassi of the University of Pennsylvania; Tanya Khovanova of MIT; Chuu-Lian Terng of the University of California, Irvine; and Karen Uhlenbeck of The University of Texas at Austin.

The research topic for 2008 is Knots, Surfaces, the Curve Complex, Foliations and All That. Three-dimensional manifolds are special not only because we are most inherently three-dimensional ourselves, but also because many of the tools that have been developed for the mathematical study of higher-dimensional manifolds do not apply. Some problems, such as the Poincaré conjecture, are harder to solve in a smaller number of dimensions such as three or four. Knot theory, a part of low-dimensional topology, is beautiful, intriguing -- it is not easy to see that two knots are the same -- and useful, as it now has applications in biology (protein folding) and pharmaceuticals.

The first week of the program will be devoted to surfaces and orbifolds, including the geometry of the hyperbolic plane and basic properties of surfaces. The second week will focus on knots and their complements in the three-sphere, examining various classes of knots, particularly two-bridge knots. Symmetries of knots and how to tell when two knots are the same will be discussed. There will be an emphasis on properties of the complement, and students will have the opportunity to use the program SnapPea, which is designed to create and study hyperbolic 3-manifolds.

Participants will include undergraduate and graduate students as well as postdoctoral scholars and senior researchers. A variety of activities, both formal and informal, will be offered to encourage interaction among participants. In addition to undergraduate and graduate level lecture courses, there are research seminars, problem and review sessions, colloquia and Women-in-Science seminars. A day of activities on the Princeton University campus, including lectures and a dinner, is planned for Friday, May 16.

Faculty members for the program include Genevieve Walsh of Tufts University for the Beginning Lecture Course, and Rachel Roberts of Washington University, St. Louis and Jennifer Schultens of the University of California, Davis, for the Advanced Lecture Course.

In addition to the organizers, those serving on the Program Committee are Katherine Bold of Princeton University; Nancy Hingston of The College of New Jersey; Rhonda Hughes and Lisa Traynor of Bryn Mawr College; Robert MacPherson of the Institute's School of Mathematiacs; Cynthia Diane Rudin of the NYU Center for Neural Science; and Janet Talvacchia of Swarthmore College.

Support for the program has been provided by the National Science Foundation and The Starr Foundation.

For information, visit http://www.math.ias.edu/womensprogram.

Peter Sarnak Discusses Solutions to Equations in Integers

Christine Ferrara — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 19:03:04

PRINCETON, N.J. - March 12, 2008 - Peter Sarnak, Professor in the School of Mathematics at the Institute for Advanced Study, will discuss how, through the works of Fermat, Gauss, and Lagrange, we have come to understand which positive integers can be represented as sums of two, three, or four squares in his talk, Solutions to Equations in Integers. The lecture will take place on Wednesday, March 26 at 4:30 p.m. in Wolfensohn Hall on the Institute's campus.
   Professor Sarnak will provide insights into Hilbert's 11th problem, from 1900, and its complete solution, which relies on recent advances in number theory and related fields over the years. He will explain some of these developments, as well as certain far-reaching conjectures that the problem has inspired.
    Professor Sarnak, who joined the Faculty of the Institute in July 2007, has made major contributions to number theory and to questions in analysis motivated by number theory. His interest in mathematics is wide-ranging, and his current research focuses on the theory of zeta functions and automorphic forms with applications to number theory, combinatorics and mathematical physics. He is also an outstanding mentor, working closely with younger mathematicians and inspiring enormous enthusiasm for his subject.
   He received his undergraduate education at the University of Witwatersrand and was awarded a Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1980. He was a Member in the School of Mathematics at the Institute from 1999 to 2002 and again from 2005 to 2007. In the course of his career, he has served on the faculty of the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences of New York University, Stanford University and Princeton University, where he has been the Eugene Higgins Professor of Mathematics since 2002.
   The American Mathematical Society awarded Professor Sarnak the Levi L. Conant Prize in 2003 and the Frank Nelson Cole Prize in 2005. In 2002, he was named a Member of the National Academy of Sciences and a Fellow of The Royal Society of London.
    For further information about this event, which is free and open to the public, please call (609) 734-8175, or visit the Public Events page on the Institute website, www.ias.edu.

Cellist Graham Walker to Perform at Institute for Advanced Study

Margaret Sullivan — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 12:56:01

PRINCETON, N.J., February 28, 2007 - Following his successful 2005 visit to Princeton, British cellist Graham Walker returns to perform on Friday, April 4 at 8:00 p.m. in Wolfensohn Hall at the Institute for Advanced Study. The performance will feature the music of Bach, Rachmaninov, Shostakovich, Fauré and Saint-Saëns. Walker will be accompanied by pianist Geoffrey Burleson, a member of the Richardson Chamber Players.

Graham Walker, photo by Sarah Houghton Walker

Walker has a flourishing career as a solo and chamber musician, playing at numerous festivals and other venues throughout Europe and the United States. He has recorded variously as a cellist, singer and conductor for EMI, Chandos, Nimbus, Quillisma and, most recently, for Naxos.

Walker received his early musical education as a chorister at St John's College School, Cambridge, and was subsequently awarded a top music scholarship to Harrow School. In 1995, within the space of six weeks, he performed Elgar's Cello and Schumann's Piano Concerti, and earned a choral scholarship which allowed him to return to St John's as an undergraduate in 1996. In that year he won the UNICEF Young Conductors' Platform. At Cambridge, Walker combined daily choral commitments (including tours throughout the world) with studying Mathematics for his B.A., and performed extensively on the cello, piano and organ.

Burleson has performed to wide acclaim throughout Europe and North America. A graduate of the Peabody Conservatory and the New England Conservatory, he won the Silver Medal in the International Piano Recording Competition.

This performance is made possible by the generous support of Annette Merle-Smith.

The concert is open to the public and tickets are free, but they should be reserved in advance. To request tickets or for further information about this event, please call (609) 951-4458.

Danielle Allen Discusses Politics, Propaganda and the Use and Abuse of Sound-Bites

Margaret Sullivan — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 13:43:12

PRINCETON, N.J. - February 11, 2008 - In an election year, the public is inundated with political advertising in print and on the radio and television. Commentators opine about who should be elected and why. Everyone is an expert, and sound-bites are ubiquitous. Danielle Allen, UPS Foundation Professor in the School of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study, will provide insights into this phenomenon in her talk, What to Do with Sound-Bites: On Politics and Propaganda in the 21st Century. The lecture will take place on Wednesday, February 27 at 4:30 p.m. in Wolfensohn Hall on the Institute's campus.

Danielle Allen

With the onslaught of sound-bites comes popular discussion about the degradation of political conversation. But is a sound-bite really such a bad thing? In the Western context, Homer was the first purveyor of them and Aristotle offered the first theory of them, but he called them maxims. Professor Allen's lecture will explore why sound-bites are a necessary and valuable part of political conversation, consider the ways in which they are also dangerous, and analyze the particular challenges to political discourse presented by the new media of the 21st century. She will explain that, at the end of the day, it is listeners, not speakers, who have the most work to do to deal responsibly with sound-bites.

Professor Allen, who joined the Faculty of the Institute in July 2007, received her undergraduate education in Classics at Princeton University. She was awarded an M.Phil. and Ph.D. in Classics from Cambridge University and went on to Harvard University, where she received her M.A. and Ph.D. in political science. She came to the Institute from the University of Chicago, where she served most recently as Dean of the Division of Humanities and Professor of Classical Languages and Literatures, Political Science and the Committee on Social Thought.

Widely known for her work on justice and citizenship in ancient Athens and its application to modern America, Professor Allen is the author of The World of Prometheus: The Politics of Punishing in Democratic Athens (Princeton University Press, 2000) and Talking to Strangers: Anxieties of Citizenship Since Brown vs. the Board of Education (University of Chicago Press, 2004). In 2002, she was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship for her ability to combine "the classicist's careful attention to texts and language with the political theorist's sophisticated and informed engagement."

Her current projects include a book on the Declaration of Independence, equality and the rule of law and a book on the relation between particular sociologies of change and political ethics.

For further information about this event, which is free and open to the public, please call (609) 734-8175, or visit the Public Events page on the Institute website, www.ias.edu.

Institute for Advanced Study Faculty and Members win Wolf and Crafoord Prizes

Margaret Sullivan — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 13:13:07

Princeton, N.J., February 6, 2008 - Three members of the Faculty of the Institute for Advanced Study, two former Members and a former Visitor have been honored with major prizes. Pierre Deligne, Professor Emeritus in the School of Mathematics at the Institute; Phillip A. Griffiths, Professor in the School of Mathematics and former Institute Director (1991-2003); and David B. Mumford, former Member in the School of Mathematics (1962-63, 1981-82) and currently University Professor at Brown University, have been chosen to receive the 2008 Wolf Prize in Mathematics.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced that it will present the 2008 Crafoord Prize in Astronomy and Mathematics to Edward Witten, Charles Simonyi Professor in the School of Natural Sciences at the Institute; former joint Member in the School of Natural Sciences and the School of Mathematics Maxim Kontsevich (1992-93) of Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques in France; and former Visitor in the School of Natural Sciences Rashid Sunyaev (2005 and 2006), of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow.

Peter Goddard, Director of the Institute, commented, "We are delighted to see the seminal work in mathematics and astrophysics being done by our Faculty, Members and Visitors receiving further international recognition by the award of these important prizes. The Institute is very proud of the achievements of these mathematicians and physicists, which have had profound impact on the development of their subjects over recent decades."

The Wolf Prize committee selected Professor Deligne for his work on mixed Hodge theory, the Weil conjectures and the Riemann-Hilbert correspondence and for his contributions to arithmetic. Professor Griffiths will be honored for his work on variations of Hodge structures, the theory of periods of abelian integrals and for his contributions to complex differential geometry. Mumford was chosen for his work on algebraic surfaces, on geometric invariant theory and for laying the foundations of the modern algebraic theory of moduli of curves and theta functions. The prizes will be presented by the President of Israel in the Chagall Hall of the Knesset in Jerusalem on May 25.

This year's Crafoord Prize rewards mathematical discoveries that are significant for the fundamental laws of nature and research on black holes and the early Universe. Half the prize will be shared by Professors Witten and Kontsevich for "their important contributions to mathematics inspired by modern theoretical physics." The other half goes to Professor Sunyaev for "his decisive contributions to high energy astrophysics and cosmology."

The Crafoord Prize promotes international basic research in disciplines that complement those for which the Nobel Prizes are awarded. These include astronomy and mathematics, geosciences and biosciences (with a particular emphasis on ecology). There is also an occasional prize awarded in polyarthritis (also know as rheumatoid arthritis, the disease from which the prize founder suffered) when a special committee recognizes major advances in the field. The Crafoord Prize award will be presented in Stockholm on April 23, in the presence of Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf.

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 fundamental scholarship - 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 younger scholars by a permanent Faculty of twenty-seven, and it offers all who work there 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 5,000 former Members hold positions of intellectual and scientific leadership in the United States and abroad. Some twenty-two Nobel Laureates, and thirty-four out of forty-eight Fields Medalists, have been Institute Faculty, Members or Visitors. Many winners of the Wolf or MacArthur prizes have also been affiliated with the Institute.

Edward T. Cone Concert Series Continues at Institute for Advanced Study in February and March

Margaret Sullivan — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 11:45:00

PRINCETON, N.J. - January 3, 2008 - The Institute for Advanced Study has announced the spring schedule for its 2007-08 season, the inaugural Edward T. Cone Concert Series, organized by Artist-in-Residence Paul Moravec, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer. The series, Tradition Redefined, explores the wide variety of aesthetic perspectives in art music, especially of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Enso String Quartet
Photo by David Mehr

On February 8 and 9 at 8:00 p.m. in Wolfensohn Hall on the Institute campus, the Enso String Quartet (Maureen Nelson and John Marcus on violin, Melissa Reardon on viola and Richard Belcher on cello) will perform the music of Franz Joseph Haydn, Hugo Wolf, Maurice Ravel, and IAS Artist-in-Residence Paul Moravec.

In a concert talk at 4 p.m. on February 8 in the Dilworth Room, Terry Teachout, music and drama critic at Commentary magazine and the Wall Street Journal, will present "Confessions of a Critic."

The recorder collective Quartet New Generation will perform on March 7 and 8 at 8 p.m. in Wolfensohn Hall. The Berlin-based group performs on upwards of 20 different recorders of varying sizes and shapes during the course of a typical performance. The concert will feature the world premiere of Mortal Flesh, a work by Paul Moravec, along with the music of Bach, Bruckner, Petros Ovsepyan, Gordon Beeferman, Thomas Tompkins, John Dowland, Samuel Scheidt and Chiel Meijering.

A Concert Talk, "The High Male Voice: Castrato, Countertenor, and Male Alto," will be presented by legendary countertenor Russell Oberlin on Friday, March 7 at 4 p.m. in the Dilworth Room. No tickets are needed for this event. In 2004, Oberlin's performance career was the subject of a Canadian film, Russell Oberlin: America's Legendary Countertenor. He was a pioneer in the early music revival in America, and those attending the talk will hear some of his classic recordings from the 50s and 60s. This presentation, which will have a question-and-answer period, may touch on subjects including Oberlin's performance career, his role as a founding member of the New York Pro Musica Antiqua, and his work with such musical giants as Leonard Bernstein, Glenn Gould, and Robert Shaw.

Concert tickets are free but must be reserved in advance; no tickets are necessary for the talks. For ticket information, or for further information about the Institute for Advanced Study's Artist-in-Residence Program, call (609) 734-8228 or visit www.ias.edu/air.

Quartet New Generation
Photo by David Pape

As of October 2007, the series carries the name of the late Edward T. Cone, who was a distinguished composer and musical scholar with long-standing ties to the Institute. The Artist-in-Residence program organizes and presents a concert series each year that bring outstanding musical artists to the Institute campus to perform free-of-charge for the Institute community and the general public. These concerts are now known as the Edward T. Cone Concert Series.

About Edward T. Cone

Noted composer, teacher, pianist and author Edward T. Cone earned his undergraduate and MFA degrees at Princeton University, and was on the faculty of the Princeton music department for more than 50 years. A Founding Friend of the Friends of the Institute for Advanced Study, he had a close and long-standing relationship with this institution. During his lifetime, he was a tireless supporter of the arts and humanities at the Institute and elsewhere.

About the Artist-in-Residence Program

The Artist-in-Residence program was established at the Institute for Advanced Study in 1994 to create a musical presence within the Institute community and to have in residence a person whose work could be experienced and appreciated by scholars from all disciplines. Pianist Robert Taub was the first Artist-in-Residence from 1994 to 2001, followed by composer Jon Magnussen, who served as Artist-in-Residence from 2000 to 2007.

Artist-in-Residence Paul Moravec, whose term began in July 2007, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Music in 2004 for Tempest Fantasy, a thirty-minute "musical meditation" on Shakespeare's play scored for clarinet, violin, cello and piano. He is University Professor at Adelphi University and is currently working on new works for Santa Fe Opera and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.

About the Institute for Advanced Study

Founded in 1930, the Institute is a private, independent academic institution located in Princeton, New Jersey. Its more than 5,000 former Members hold positions of intellectual and scientific leadership in the United States and abroad. Some twenty-two Nobel Laureates, and thirty-four out of forty-eight Fields Medalists, have been Institute Faculty, Members or Visitors. Many winners of the Wolf or MacArthur prizes have also been affiliated with the Institute.

Arnold J. Levine Discusses Tracking Influenza Virus Epidemics

Christine Ferrara — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 21:35:34

PRINCETON, N.J. – November 27, 2007 – Arnold J. Levine, Professor in the School of Natural Sciences at the Institute for Advanced Study, will address influenza epidemics and the related research conducted by The Simons Center for Systems Biology in his talk, Tracking Influenza Virus Epidemics over the Past Century: Can We Predict Next Year's Epidemic? The lecture will take place on Wednesday, December 5 at 4:30 p.m. in Wolfensohn Hall on the Institute’s campus.
    Influenza viruses are unusual because we can become infected by a similar virus almost every year during our lifetime and occasionally there are worldwide pandemics that can cause many fatalities. Why does our usually excellent immune system fail us? How does this come about?
        The influenza virus contains eight chromosomes that are each made of an RNA molecule. It is an unusual virus in that it may replicate in many animals (such as birds, horses, pigs, camels and whales) and humans. Influenza viruses have three properties that permit them to change very rapidly: 1. As the RNA chromosomes are replicated during an infection, the mutation rate, or error rate, is very high, changing the virus very often. This is called genetic drift. 2. When two different influenza viruses replicate in the same cell, the eight chromosomes reassort into new progeny viruses creating many new combinations of the two parents. This is called genetic shift. 3. Viruses that replicate for a long time in birds can reassort with human viruses, making hybrids that have never been in humans before (inter-species genetic shift) and this has given rise to three pandemics over the twentieth century. Thus, the rapid evolutionary changes (drift) and the reassortment of chromosomes during an epidemic (shift) combine with natural selection for viruses never experienced by the immune system of humans in the population, and a new virus is successful in its replication almost every year.
        The group at The Simons Center for Systems Biology at the Institute has examined the changing sequences of each of the eight chromosomes of influenza virus over the past ninety years and through three pandemics. The group has found certain RNA sequence contexts that preferentially occur in human viruses and others found only in birds. The 1918 epidemic occurred when a bird virus jumped into the human population. The descendants of the 1918 virus have slowly drifted into a human RNA viral sequence over the past ninety years. Surprisingly, this genetic drift has occurred in a non-random fashion. By studying recent epidemics in New York and New Zealand, we have been able to follow genetic shifts of chromosomes. Contrary to present ideas in the field, this also occurs in a non-random fashion. In experiments in cell culture it has been shown that this non-random pattern occurs because of the manner in which the virus packages its eight chromosomes.
        Because drift and shifts occur in a directed fashion, there is some hope of understanding the rules guiding the evolution of this virus, and of being able to predict next year’s virus, and possibly the bird virus that could jump to a human and start a pandemic. Progress has been made in these areas.
    Professor Levine leads The Simons Center for Systems Biology at the Institute, which concentrates on research at the interface of molecular biology and the physical sciences -- on genetics and genomics, polymorphisms and molecular aspects of evolution, signal transduction pathways and networks, stress responses, and pharmacogenomics in cancer biology. His research centers on the causes of cancer. In 1979, he and others discovered the p53 tumor suppressor protein, a molecule that inhibits tumor development.
    As chair of the National Institutes of Health Commission on AIDS Research and the National Academies Cancer Policy Board, Professor Levine has helped determine national research priorities.
    For further information about this event, which is free and open to the public, please call (609) 734-8175, or visit the Public Events page on the Institute website, www.ias.edu.

Institute to Host American Opera Projects Presentation of Heart of Darkness

Margaret Sullivan — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 15:59:31

PRINCETON, N.J., October 22, 2007 - Heart of Darkness, Tarik O'Regan's opera-in-progress, will receive a semi-staged workshop performance on Friday, November 9 at 8:00 p.m. in Wolfensohn Hall at the Institute for Advanced Study. Presented by the American Opera Projects (AOP) and based on the novella by Joseph Conrad, the opera's libretto is by British artist Tom Phillips. The event, which marks the first performance of the piece in its entirety, will begin with a brief presentation by Phillips on his scenic design, featuring visuals and taped music, followed by a concert version of the opera, without intermission.

Phillips, currently in residence at the Institute as a Director's Visitor, is known not only for his paintings, which can be seen in the collections of most major museums, but also for his own musical compositions, theater and experimental television work. O'Regan, whose CD Voices was released to much acclaim in Europe and North America, has been singled out by The Observer (London) as "one of the most original and eloquent of young composers- tonal but cutting-edge" and by The Times (London), which noted, "O'Regan's gift for lyric flight seems boundless. You might have to reach back to Vaughan Williams's Serenade to Music, or even Tallis, to find another British vocal work so exultant."

Heart of Darkness, an opera in one act for eight singers and thirteen instruments, will be performed with singers and piano accompaniment, led by AOP Artistic Director Steven Osgood. Singers scheduled to perform include Robert Hoyt (Orlando Opera, Toledo Opera) and Michael Zegarski (New York City Opera, Opera Theater of St. Louis).

This performance is made possible by the generous support of Annette Merle-Smith.

The performance is open to the public and tickets are free, but they should be reserved in advance. To request tickets or for further information about this event, please call (609) 951-4458.

Eric S. Maskin Awarded Nobel Prize in Economics [You may view Maskin's Nobel Lecture and read ...

David Hernandez — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 16:14:01

Princeton, N.J., October 15, 2007 – Eric S. Maskin, Albert O. Hirschman Professor in the School of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study, has been awarded the 2007 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel.

Dr. Maskin, whose work in economic theory has had a deep influence on many areas of economics, political science, and law, is recognized by The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for “having laid the foundation of mechanism design theory.” According to the citation, the theory has among other things helped economists identify efficient trading mechanisms, regulation schemes and voting procedures. Dr. Maskin is sharing the Prize with Leonid Hurwicz of the University of Minnesota and Roger B. Myerson of the University of Chicago.

“It is a thrill of a lifetime to have received such a recognition,” stated Dr. Maskin. “It is particularly thrilling to share it with two such distinguished colleagues. Leo Hurwicz is the father of mechanism design theory and has inspired much of my work, and Roger Myerson is an old friend and collaborator and a tremendous economist.”

Peter Goddard, Director of the Institute, commented, “We are delighted that Eric’s fundamental contributions to mechanism design and other significant areas of economic theory have been recognized with the Nobel Prize. The impact of his research continues to be felt in many areas of development, finance, and politics and we are proud that the Institute is able to support his influential work now and for years to come.”

Mechanism design theory, initiated by Hurwicz and further developed by Maskin and Myerson, plays a central role in many areas of economics and parts of political science today. It takes into account information about individual preferences and available production technologies usually dispersed among many actors who may use their private information to further their own interests.
A leading economist whose work has been drawn on extensively by researchers in industrial organization, finance, development, and other fields in economics and political science, Maskin works in many areas of economic theory, including mechanism design, game theory and social choice theory. Much of his current research focuses on the theory of coalition formation, comparing different voting systems, the theory of repeated games, and the pros and cons of intellectual property rights.

Maskin joined the Faculty at the Institute in 2000. He received his A.B. in 1972, his A.M. in 1974 and his Ph.D. in 1976, all from Harvard University. He was a Research Fellow at Jesus College, Cambridge in 1976-77 and taught at M.I.T. from 1977 to 1984. In 1985 he moved to Harvard University, where he was named Louis Berkman Professor of Economics in 1997.

Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Econometric Society, Maskin is also a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy and an Honorary Fellow of St. John’s College, Cambridge. He is a past President of the Econometric Society and was named Monash Distinguished Visiting Scholar at Monash University and Honorary Professor at Wuhan University. He has served as Editor of The Quarterly Journal of Economics and Economics Letters.

To view a video of Maskin's Nobel Prize Lecture in Stockholm, please click here.

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 fundamental scholarship – 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 younger scholars by a permanent Faculty of twenty-seven, and it offers all who work there 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 5,000 former Members hold positions of intellectual and scientific leadership in the United States and abroad. Some twenty-two Nobel Laureates, and thirty-four out of forty-eight Fields Medalists, have been Institute Faculty, Members or Visitors. Many winners of the Wolf or MacArthur prizes have also been affiliated with the Institute.

Charles Simonyi Discusses Trip to International Space Station

Christine Ferrara — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 19:07:02

PRINCETON, N.J., September 21, 2007 - Space flight is still a very rare and exotic experience that has only recently been open to "tourists," officially known as spaceflight participants. Dr. Charles Simonyi, Trustee of the Institute for Advanced Study and President and CEO of Intentional Software Corporation, was the fifth of these and the 450th person in space. On Thursday, October 25 at
4:30 p.m., he will present "Space Tourist," a public lecture on his experience that will be held in Wolfensohn Hall on the Institute's campus.
   Under a contract with Space Adventures and the Russian Space Agency, Dr. Simonyi traveled in a Russian-built Soyuz spacecraft to visit the International Space Station (ISS), and returned on another Soyuz, landing in central Kazakhstan after a 14-day stay in space. Parts of the Soyuz system date back to the beginning of the Space Age 50 years ago with the launch of Sputnik 1 on October 4, 1957.
   In his talk, Dr. Simonyi will describe the six-month training process and the flight itself from the point of view of a knowledgeable civilian, with particular emphasis on the issues of system reliability, traditions, and health aspects. The lecture will be followed by a question-and-answer period.
   A Trustee of the Institute since 1997 and President of the Corporation since 2003, Dr. Simonyi will become Chairman of the Institute's Board of Trustees in October 2008. The Hungarian-born Dr. Simonyi earned a B.S. in engineering and mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1972, and his Ph.D. in computer science from Stanford University in 1977. He worked at the renowned Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) from 1972 until 1980, where he did most of the design and the critical implementation work on Bravo, the first WYSIWYG (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) editor, and led the team that built it. In 1981, Dr. Simonyi joined Microsoft to start the development of microcomputer application programs, and was responsible for hiring and managing teams who developed such well-known programs as Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Multiplan and others. For this work, he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering and the Hungarian Academy of Science. He left Microsoft in 2002 to start the Intentional Software Corporation, which aims to improve software productivity.
   Dr. Simonyi's involvement with the Institute began in 1996, and over the years, he has supported a range of academic activities, including endowing the Charles Simonyi Professorship in Theoretical Physics in the Institute's School of Natural Sciences, currently held by Edward Witten. Dr. Simonyi has also provided substantial funding for the Institute's School of Mathematics, helping to ensure the School's financial independence to select the very best Members, many from abroad. Simonyi Hall, which houses the School of Mathematics, was dedicated in May 2000 in recognition of Dr. Simonyi's participation in the life of the Institute community and his commitment to the work that takes place here.
   In 2005, the Institute received an unrestricted cash gift of $25 million from the Charles Simonyi Fund for Arts and Sciences, which was the largest donation since the founding of the Institute. The gift was named The Karoly Simonyi Memorial Endowment Fund, in honor of Dr. Simonyi's late father, an esteemed professor of electrical engineering.
   For further information about "Space Tourist," which is free and open to the public, please call (609) 734-8175, or visit the Public Events page on the Institute website, www.ias.edu.

Nicola Di Cosmo Discusses New Dimensions of Early Chinese Historiography

Margaret Sullivan — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 15:07:28

PRINCETON, N.J. - September 11, 2007 - The Chinese historical tradition is an extremely rich reservoir of ethnographic and political knowledge of foreign (non-Han) peoples, but fundamental questions about its nuances, influences and characteristics have not been fully explored. Nicola Di Cosmo, Luce Foundation Professor in the School of Historical Studies at the Institute for Advanced Study, will provide insights on this fertile area of research in his talk, The History of Others: Foreign Peoples in Early Chinese Historiography. The lecture will take place on Wednesday, October 17 at 4:30 p.m. in Wolfensohn Hall on the Institute's campus.

Page one from "Monograph on the Xiongnu" in
Sima Qian's The Grand Historian's Records

Most are familiar with the ancient characterization of Herodotus as a fabulist and a liar. Indeed, controversies about the truthfulness of historical accounts, but in particular of the history of others, began almost as soon as the first histories were produced. The Chinese historical tradition can be traced back to the first historian Sima Qian and to his magnum opus, The Grand Historian's Records, yet the question of alien history in Chinese sources has barely begun to be discussed and has certainly not entered the lively debates on "barbarian" histories in Greco-Roman historiography. Professor Di Cosmo's lecture will provide an overview of the production and characteristics of alien history in the Chinese tradition, while acknowledging and attempting to gauge the cultural influence of these accounts among the alien people themselves, as "consumers" of histories they did not produce, but were used politically and in other ways. These reflections may also serve as a fist step towards a comparative discussion, across the historiographic traditions of literate civilizations, about the fundamental issues of who wrote alien histories, why and for whom.

Nicola Di Cosmo works on the history of the relations between China and Inner Asia from prehistory to the modern period. He specializes in the cultural, political and military history of China's northern frontiers and in the traditions of Inner Asian peoples, in particular ancient nomads, Mongols and Manchus. His current projects include the study of the historiography of Inner Asian peoples and cultural contact in ancient China, the political and economic history of the early Manchu state, and questions of historical method in the study of Chinese dynasties of foreign origin. Recent publications include Ancient China and Its Enemies: The Rise of Nomadic Powers in East Asian History (2002); Manchu-Mongol Relations on the Eve of the Qing Conquest (2003); and The Diary of a Manchu Soldier in Seventeenth-Century China (2006).

For further information about this event, which is free and open to the public, please call (609) 734-8175, or visit the Public Events page on the Institute website, www.ias.edu.