Natural Sciences

The Breakthrough Prize Foundation has announced the recipients of the 2021 Breakthrough and New Horizons Prizes, including current Member Ahmed Almheiri (New Horizons Prize in Physics) and former Member Martin Hairer (Breakthrough Prize in...

When particle physicists try to model experiments, they confront an impossible calculation — an infinitely long equation that lies beyond the reach of modern mathematics. But three recent papers from a group of physicists led by Sebastian Mizera...

Malaysian astronomer Yuan-Sen Ting, Member in the School of Natural Sciences, was recently featured in an interview with Sin Chew Daily, charting his growth from a curious neophyte to pathbreaking astronomer.

Ting now contributes a regular column...

“Maldacena remembers when he wasn’t sure whether he should try going into a research career in physics and hopes that other students in his position will not let that fear keep them from trying it. ‘Maybe they will find that they are better than...

“‘Well, professor, what is a galaxy, actually?’ Yuan-Sen asked a prominent professor at Oxford about ten years ago, while he was still in college.” The question was not meant to be facetious nor profound notes Sin Chew Daily. Having grown up in...

What would it be like to live next to a supermassive black hole? While difficult to imagine, a recent simulation modeling the central region of the Milky Way galaxy tells a fascinating story that can be safely enjoyed from the Earth 26,000...

“I always considered it rather an empty game. Physics is an experimental subject. If they can’t be distinguished experimentally, I don’t care what your interpretation is.”

Stephen L. Adler, Professor Emeritus in the School of Natural Sciences, is...

In a new study of axion motion, researchers, including Friends of the Institute for Advanced Study Member Keisuke Harigaya, propose a scenario known as “kinetic misalignment” that greatly strengthens the case for axion/dark matter equivalence. 

Robbert Dijkgraaf, IAS Director and Leon Levy Professor, remembers Freeman J. Dyson, the legendary physicist, writer, and fearless intellectual explorer who served on the Faculty in the School of Natural Sciences at the Institute for over 65 years. “As an eternal graduate student, a ‘rebel’ in his own words, Dyson was unafraid to question everything and everybody," writes Dijkgraaf in the PNAS. “… Perhaps he understood better than most that progress stems from disagreement more than agreement.”

Helmut Hofer, Hermann Weyl Professor in the School of Mathematics, Alondra Nelson, Harold F. Linder Professor in the School of Social Science, and James Stone, Professor in the School of Natural Sciences, have been elected to the American Academy of...