Pravesh Kothari, Visiting Professor in the School of Mathematics (2024), describes his experiences of interacting with “celebrities” from the worlds of pure mathematics and computer science at the Institute for Advanced Study, and how these two fields strongly interconnect at IAS.
Watch Kothari's lecture on "Sum-of-Squares Proofs, Efficient Algorithms, and Applications"
Institute Instances is a collection of 1–2 minute video snapshots of scholars, administrators, and visitors to the Institute for Advanced Study answering a question (or two) about their work at IAS. Viewed individually, these clips allow audiences to get to know the people who are, in the words of founding IAS Director Abraham Flexner, "pushing beyond the present limits of human knowledge" through advancements in science and the humanities. Taken together, these "instances" of Institute life are designed to show how everyone can play a role in actualizing discovery, and to celebrate a community devoted to excellence in scholarship.