Report for the Academic Year 2016–2017

120 Pages·2017·11.5 MB·English

I
n
s
t
i
t
u
t
e

f
o
r

A
d
v
a
n
c
e
d

S
t
u
d
y

R
e
p
o
r
t

f
o
r

2
0
1
6
–
2
0
1
INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED STUDY 7 Report for the Academic Year
EINSTEIN DRIVE
PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY 08540
2016–2017
[phone]
www.ias.edu
Cover: The School of Mathematics’s inaugural Summer Collaborators program invited to the Institute campus small groups of mathematicians to
further their collaborative research projects.
Opposite: A view of the allée leading from Fuld Hall to Olden Farm, the residence of the Institute’s Director since 1940
COVER PHOTO: ANDREA KANE
OPPOSITE PHOTO: DAN KOMODA
Table of Contents
A
D
O
M
O
K
N
A
D
Reports of the Chair and the Director 4
The Institute for Advanced Study 6
School of Historical Studies 10
School of Mathematics 22
School of Natural Sciences 32
School of Social Science 42
Special Programs and Outreach 50
Record of Events 60
83 Acknowledgments
91 Founders, Trustees, and Officers of the Board
and of the Corporation
92 Administration
93 Present and Past Directors and Faculty
95 Independent Auditors’ Report

A
D
O
M
O
K
N
A
D
RepoRt of the chaiR
Basic research, driven by fundamental inquiry, freedom, and and institutions: Trustees, Friends, former Members, founda-
curiosity, is crucial for all true understanding and the advance- tions, corporations, government agencies, and philanthropists,
ment and integrity of knowledge. Given this, I was extremely who recognize basic research as a vital public good.
pleased to see the publication of The Usefulness of Useless The Board was very pleased to welcome new Trustees Jeanette
Knowledge by Princeton University Press in March. It features Lerman-Neubauer, trustee of the Neubauer Family Foundation
founding Director Abraham Flexner’s classic essay of the same and owner of a boutique communications practice; Christopher
title, first published in Harper’s magazine in 1939, and a new A. Cole, founder and Chairman of Ardea Partners; and Manjul
companion essay by Robbert Dijkgraaf, current Director and Bhargava, R. Brandon Fradd Professor of Mathematics at
Leon Levy Professor. The book conveys the importance of Princeton University. Manjul succeeds Benedict Gross, George
basic research as an essential precondition of innovation and Vasmer Leverett Professor of Mathematics at Harvard University,
the first step in social and cultural progress, and describes how as Academic Trustee for the School of Mathematics. The Board is
it has informed the mission of the Institute for nearly ninety immensely grateful for Dick’s invaluable perspective and guidance.
years, leading to transformative ideas in theory and practice. We were also deeply saddened by the death in December of
I have heard that some justices or congressmen walk around Trustee Emeritus Sidney Drell, our dear colleague and friend.
with a copy of the U.S. Constitution in their pockets. Everyone At this very important moment, when scientific principles
who is interested in science philanthropy or public policy and thinking are being sidelined or dismissed, it is essential to
affecting science should have a copy of The Usefulness of Useless recognize basic research, and the Institute’s realization of it, as
Knowledge in similar proximity. one of the most worthy and powerful causes at the root of all
The Institute’s exceptional environment and revelatory societal and technological advancement. Raising funding for
long-term ideas and outcomes would not be possible without and awareness of the Institute’s mission and leadership within
our benefactors, who contributed more than $25 million to the field of basic research underscores the indispensable pursuit
the Institute’s endowment and the IAS Fund, which supports and value of truth, beauty, and knowledge.
annual operating costs. The independence inherent in the Charles Simonyi
Institute’s mission requires the dedication of many individuals Chair of the Board
RepoRt of the DiRectoR
It was a great privilege to revisit founding Director Abraham We welcomed our new Chief Development Officer and
Flexner’s essay “The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge” and Associate Director for Development and Communications,
contribute a contemporary argument for what Flexner called Elizabeth Boluch Wood, formerly Vice President for Develop-
“the unobstructed pursuit of useless knowledge.” It has been ment at Princeton University, and our new Chief Operating
truly heartening to share and to experience the warm reception Officer and Associate Director for Finance and Administration,
of its message around the world: that basic research must be a Janine Purcaro, formerly Chief Financial Officer for the
fundamental attribute of modern society if we are to make Division of Intercollegiate Athletics at Rutgers University.
integral strides in knowledge and understanding. Janine succeeds John Masten to whom the Institute is
The influence of the Institute’s research continues to be immensely grateful for his eleven years of dedicated service.
recognized across the sciences and humanities: Jonathan Israel Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Lang also joined
was awarded the 2017 Comenius Prize by the Foundation of the the Institute as its newest Artist-in-Residence, succeeding
Comenius Museum in the Netherlands; Peter Paret received the Sebastian Currier and producing a wonderful series of concerts
2017 Pritzker Military Museum & Library Literature Award for and special events for the Institute community.
Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing; Jean Bourgain was Communicating the importance of curiosity, freedom,
acknowledged with the 2017 Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics; and imagination in the advancement of knowledge and
Nathan Seiberg was awarded the 2016 Dirac Medal and Prize innovation is critically important, but to see these principles
from the International Centre for Theoretical Physics; and Joan in action on the campus of the Institute is thrilling. Every
Wallach Scott, who was named a Chevalier de la Légion day IAS researchers boldly follow their own intuition, risk
d’Honneur of France, was recognized with the 2016 Talcott failure, and experience astounding successes that are shared
Parsons Prize of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences for freely throughout the world and improve society’s perspective
her distinguished contributions to the social sciences. and possibilities. I am deeply grateful to our increasing
Thomas Spencer transitioned as of July to Professor Emeri- number of supporters who make these endeavors and
tus, having served on the Faculty of the School of Mathematics rewards possible.
since 1986. We are deeply grateful for Tom’s many contributions Robbert Dijkgraaf
and his continued involvement in the IAS community. Director and Leon Levy Professor
4
A
D
O
M
O
K
N
A
D
A
D
O
M
O
K
N
A
D
Top: Charles Simonyi, Chair of the Board of Trustees, addresses Faculty and Trustees at the Board meeting in October. Below: Robbert Dijkgraaf, Director of
the Institute and Leon Levy Professor, gives a talk on The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge at the Princeton Public Library.
5
Sir Jacob Epstein’s bronze bust of Albert Einstein, sculpted from life in 1933, in Fuld Hall
The Institute for Advanced Study
It was founding Director Abraham Flexner’s belief that if the Institute “eschews
the chase for the useful, the minds of its scholars will be liberated, they will be free
to take advantage of surprises, and someday an unexpected discovery, apparently
leading nowhere, will be found to be an indispensable link in a long and complex
chain that may open new worlds in theory and practice.”
FROM THE DEVELOPMENT of programmable computers and the uncovering of
the deep symmetries of nature to advances in societal understanding and historical
practice, long and complex chains of knowledge have developed for nearly ninety
years through research originating at the Institute for Advanced Study.
Albert Einstein was one of the first in a continuous line of distinguished Institute
scientists and scholars who have produced a deeper understanding of the physical
world and of humanity. Yet the Institute’s remarkable history does not seem to weigh
heavily on c urrent scholars and scientists. Instead, the atmosphere focuses on the
present, where every twist and hairpin bend changes our view. What do we know?
What do we yet need to understand? How should we try to comprehend it?
Work at the Institute takes place across historical studies, mathematics, natural
sciences, and social science. Currently, a permanent Faculty each year award fellowships
to some two hundred visiting Members, from about one hundred universities and
research institutions throughout the world. The Institute’s reach has been multiplied
many times over through the more than eight thousand Members who have influenced
entire fields of study as well as the work and minds of colleagues and students. Thirty-
three Nobel Laureates, forty-one of the fifty-six Fields Medalists, and sixteen of the
eighteen Abel Prize Laureates, as well as many winners of the Wolf and MacArthur
prizes, have been affiliated with the Institute.
At the Institute, everything is designed to encourage scholars to take their research to
the next level. This includes creating and sustaining an environment where Members
live in an academic village of apartments, o riginally designed by Marcel Breuer in 1957,
at the edge of the Institute’s eight hundred acres of campus, woodland, and farmland.
E
K
AR Members eat in the same dining hall, share common rooms and libraries, and carry out
L
C
AS their work in an institutional setting where human scale has been carefully maintained to
M
O
H encourage the sharing of ideas, mutual understanding, and friendship.
T
7
Each year a new intellectual mix
is created by the Members, ranging
from young postdoctoral fellows to
distinguished senior professors, who
typically stay a year but may stay up to
five years and return for subsequent
visits throughout their careers. A
period spent as a Member is often a
life-changing experience. Young
scholars meet the contemporaries
who, with them, will be leading
figures in their field in the future.
Senior Members have the time and
freedom to initiate new lines of
research. Freed from teaching and
administration, Members are afforded
opportunities for discussing their
work with scholars and scientists
from other fields. Here they are
given the time to take advantage
of serendipitous encounters at
lunch, teatime, or at After Hours
Conversations, an interdisciplinary
program to encourage wide-ranging
conversations in an informal
environment.
Throughout the year, the Institute
hosts a broad array of concerts,
lectures, and programs for the
Institute community and the public.
In addition, the Institute offers
numerous and varied activities
for Members, Visitors, and their
families—from family science talks
and children’s activities to play
readings, jazz evenings, tennis lessons,
and trips to museums and other
cultural sites.
Fundamental research at the
Institute furthers our grasp of a world
of diverse facts, structures, ideas, and
cultures. This is due in large part to
the precious freedom that Faculty and
Members at the Institute experience—
an independence enabled by the
generosity of the Institute’s founders
and subsequent benefactors. We share
the conviction of our founders that
such unrestricted deep thinking will
change this world but where and how
is always a surprise.
8 CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: ANDREA KANE, KELLY O’CONNOR, ANDREA KANE, ANDREA KANE, ANDREA KANE, DAN KOMODA