Edward Witten to Discuss Knots and Quantum Theory in Lecture at Institute for Advanced Study
Edward Witten, Charles Simonyi Professor in the School of Natural Sciences at the Institute for Advanced Study, will present “Knots and Quantum Theory” on Friday, October 28, at 5:30 p.m. in Wolfensohn Hall on the Institute campus.
Witten is a mathematical physicist whose work exhibits a unique combination of mathematical power and physics insight, and his contributions have significantly enriched both fields. He has greatly contributed to the modern interest in string theory as a candidate for the unification of all known physical interactions. Most recently, Witten has explored quantum duality symmetries of field theories and string theories, opening significant new perspectives on particle physics, string theory, and topology.
In this lecture, Witten will discuss knots—what we all know as tangled pieces of string in ordinary three-dimensional space. He will explain how, in the twentieth century, mathematicians developed a rich and deep theory of knots, and he will try to explain how, surprisingly, it turned out that many of the most interesting ideas about knots have their roots in quantum physics.
Witten received a B.A. from Brandeis University in 1971, and an M.A. in 1974 and Ph.D. in 1976, both from Princeton University. He held a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University from 1976 to 1977 and was a Junior Fellow in the Harvard Society of Fellows from 1977 to 1980. He was named Professor of Physics at Princeton University in 1980 and joined the Faculty of the School of Natural Sciences at the Institute in 1987 following a Membership in 1984. Witten was named Charles Simonyi Professor in 1997.
In 1982 Witten received a MacArthur Fellowship, and in 1990 he was the first physicist to receive the Fields Medal, the highest award in the field of mathematics. Among his many other honors, Witten received the Dirac Prize and Medal from the International Centre for Theoretical Physics in 1985, the Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics from the American Institute of Physics and American Physical Society in 1998 and the Clay Research Award from the Clay Mathematics Institute in 2001. He was awarded the National Medal of Science in 2003, the Henri Poincaré Prize in 2006, the Crafoord Prize in Mathematics 2008, and the Isaac Newton Medal from the Institute of Physics of London in 2010.
Witten is a Foreign Member of the Royal Society of London; an Associate Member of the Académie des Sciences, Institut de France; and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, the American Physical Society and the National Academy of Sciences.
For further information about the lecture, which is free and open to the public, please call (609) 734-8175, or visit the Public Events page on the Institute website, www.ias.edu.
About the Institute for Advanced Study
The Institute for Advanced Study is one of the world’s leading centers for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. The Institute exists to encourage and support curiosity-driven research in the sciences and humanities—the original, often speculative thinking that produces advances in knowledge that change the way we understand the world. Work at the Institute takes place in four Schools: Historical Studies, Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Social Science. It provides for the mentoring of scholars by a permanent Faculty of approximately 30, and it ensures the freedom to undertake research that will make significant contributions in any of the broad range of fields in the sciences and humanities studied at the Institute.
The Institute, founded in 1930, is a private, independent academic institution located in Princeton, New Jersey. Its more than 6,000 former Members hold positions of intellectual and scientific leadership throughout the academic world. Thirty-three Nobel Laureates and 40 out of 56 Fields Medalists, as well as many winners of the Wolf and MacArthur prizes, have been affiliated with the Institute.