Abraham Flexner

Dick Ahlstrom of the Irish Times writes:

A remarkable discovery was made in a laboratory at Trinity College Dublin about a year ago, one that may change all our lives in the future. Or maybe not. It was the unexpected detection of a new kind of...

On April 30, 1939, under the gathering storm clouds of war, the New York World’s Fair opened in Flushing Meadows, Queens. Its theme was The World of Tomorrow. ... Some of the displayed innovations were truly visionary. ... Albert Einstein, honorary...

A forty-year tightening of funding for scientific research has meant that resources are increasingly directed toward applied or practical outcomes, with the intent of creating products of immediate value. In such a scenario, it makes sense to focus...

“Flexner and Dijkgraaf argue that basic research—driven by curiosity, freedom and imagination—is a proven and essential seed for the revolutionary technologies that fuel the economy, transform society, and provide solutions for the world’s problems...

Craig A. Tovey of Science Magazine reviews The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge (Princeton University Press, March 2017) by founding IAS Director Abraham Flexner with a companion essay by current IAS Director Robbert Dijkgraaf. The book, Tovey writes...

Scott McLemme of Inside Higher Ed reviews The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge (Princeton University Press, March 2017) by founding IAS Director Abraham Flexner with a companion essay by current IAS Director Robbert Dijkgraaf. Of the book, McLemme...

The Institute for Advanced Study, one of the world’s foremost centers for curiosity-driven basic research, will be recognized by the American Physical Society (APS) and the European Physical Society (EPS) as their first Joint Historic Physics Site...

A trio of British-born researchers working in the U.S. won the Nobel Prize in Physics Tuesday for what one of them called a curious mathematical “toy” that to his surprise revolutionized the study of exotic matter suitable for quantum computers, new superconductors, and advanced designer materials. 

“I am not unaware of the fact that I have sketched out an educational Utopia. I have deliberately hitched the Institute to a star; it would be wrong to begin with any other ambition or aspiration.” -- Abraham Flexner, Founding Director 1930–39

Flexne...

Warren Buffett has made some $50 billion doing things his own way, so it was completely consistent that at The Forbes 400 Summit on Philanthropy, held at the iconic main branch of the New York Public Library, rather than take a book out of the...