Mathematics

Research from IAS scholars, past and present, features prominently in the September 2022 issue of Scientific American. Past Director’s Visitor George Musser takes account of the recent groundbreaking work being done on the infamous black hole information paradox by researchers including Member Ahmed Almheiri, who authors his own essay on the solution to the paradox.

Three IAS Members in the School of Mathematics and Natural Sciences have received the 2022 ICTP Dirac Medal “for groundbreaking and mathematically rigorous contributions to the understanding of the statistical mechanics of classical and quantum physical systems.”

Bhargav Bhatt, Fernholz Joint Professor in the School of Mathematics, has received the Frederic Esser Nemmers Prize in Mathematics. He is cited for his “revolutionary contributions to algebraic geometry in mixed characteristic through a new synthesis of ideas in topology, algebra and arithmetic.”

Bhargav Bhatt, an internationally renowned expert in arithmetic algebraic geometry and commutative algebra, has joined the Institute for Advanced Study as Fernholz Joint Professor in the School of Mathematics.

"By the time he was 17, Mark Braverman had lived in three countries and spoke as many languages. But though he doesn’t have a hometown, he’s quick to call theoretical computer science his home."

"In 2013, one of the best—but also one of the worst—things that can happen to a mathematician happened to James Maynard. Fresh out of graduate school, he solved one of the discipline’s oldest and most central problems, about the spacing of prime numbers."

"June Huh often finds himself lost. Every afternoon, he takes a long walk around Princeton University, where he’s a professor in the mathematics department. On this particular day in mid-May, he’s making his way through the woods around the nearby Institute for Advanced Study."

Past and current scholars in the School of Mathematics and Natural Sciences have won four of the prestigious prizes granted by the International Mathematical Union (IMU), including the 2022 Fields, Abacus, and Chern Medals, and the Gauss Prize. 

Five past Members in the School of Natural Sciences and the School of Mathematics have been selected as 2022 Simons Investigators, enabling them to undertake a long-term study of fundamental questions in their fields. 

By Siobhan Roberts, current Director's Visitor:

"Alyssa Blackburn, a data scientist at Rice University and Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, has spent several years performing digital detective work with her trusty lab assistant, Hail Mary, a shiny black computer with orange trim. She has been collecting and analyzing leaks from the Bitcoin blockchain, the immutable public ledger that has recorded all transactions since the cryptocurrency’s launch in January 2009."