Robbert Dijkgraaf

“Perhaps the biggest fact of the last three hundred years of history is that life expectancy tripled in the West and in many other parts of the world. But it's not connected to one discovery or one battle being fought—it is a tremendous driver and...

Robbert Dijkgraaf, Institute Director and Leon Levy Professor, discusses the complex relationship between mathematics and physics with Brady Haran of Numberphile during the 2017 National Math Festival in Washington, D.C. Dijkgraaf examines the...

What is "useless" knowledge? Can it ever become useful? And how can this approach to scientific research be applied further afield?

To be really useful, it’s always a second order of fact. It’s always something that comes as a spin-off of your...

It's not only about sharing the products of science, but also the values of science—thinking longterm, thinking about both facts and the uncertainties, thinking in terms of reason. . . . If you think about the Space Race, it was wonderful to put a...

If you look back at history, you see that large transformations in society, the really immense breakthroughs, they always came as a second order of fact—they were the spin-offs of fundamental enquiry, very deep thinking, which can only happen if you...

What is the best use of scientists’ time, energy, and grant funding? Should researchers investigate the fundamental nature of the universe…or cure cancer? Or is there a way to ensure that we can do both, even if financial support is harder to get?

Cl...

Einstein was a true genius and it’s the example that we all aspire to be as a scientist. But already as a child he had a very original way of thinking. So from the very beginning, for Einstein, his imagination was crucial.

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Perhaps the most fundamental philosophical question that you can ask in science is: "Why are we here?"

To understand the universe, we have to bring together the two key ideas that are governing modern physics. On the one hand, we have Einstein’s...

Robbert Dijkgraaf, Director and Leon Levy Professor, narrates The Mind of the Universe, a ten-part television series that explores the work of thirty scientists. The program features Institute scholars including Juan Maldacena, Carl P. Feinberg...

It’s a fascinating question, “How far can you see in the universe?”

As far as we know the universe is not infinite, there's actually a place where it ends. While astronomers have never actually seen the edge of the universe, they know it's out there...