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...
Jonathan Israel, Professor Emeritus in the School of Historical Studies, has been awarded the 2017 Comenius Prize by the Foundation of the Comenius Museum in the Netherlands.
In 1934, David Hilbert, by then a grand old man of German
mathematics, was dining with Bernhard Rust, the Nazi minister of
education. Rust asked, “How is mathematics at Göttingen, now that
it is free from the Jewish influence?” Hilbert replied,...
The following is a letter sent by Robbert Dijkgraaf, Director and Leon Levy Professor, to the Institute Board of Trustees, Faculty and Emeriti, and Staff, on January 30, 2017.
On December 2, Robbert
Dijkgraaf, Director and Leon Levy Professor, will discuss the
wonders of light as part of his sixth live lecture for the DWDD
University series. “From the big bang to the rainbow, the magic of
light connects us with everything...
“Beauty is the torch you hold up in the belief that it will lead
you to truth in the end," said Sir Michael Atiyah, former Professor in the
School of Mathematics. With E=mc2, Albert Einstein built a bridge between
energy and mass, two concepts that...
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.
String theory has so far failed to live up to its promise as a way to unite gravity and quantum mechanics, but at the same time, it has blossomed into one of the most useful sets of tools in science.
The InterAcademy Partnership–the global network of national
science, medical and engineering academies–launched a new
three-year project on scientific advice for global policymaking.
Conducted in partnership with the Institute for Advanced Study
and...
