Institute for Advanced Study Report for 2014–2015 INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED STUDY EINSTEIN DRIVE PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY 08540 (609) 734-8000 www.ias.edu Report for the Academic Year 2014–2015 Cover: Wendy Swartz, Member in the School of Historical Studies, in Simons Hall PHOTO BY DAN KOMODA Table of Contents DAN DAN KOMODA Reports of the Chairman and the Director 4 The Institute for Advanced Study 6 School of Historical Studies 10 School of Mathematics 20 School of Natural Sciences 30 School of Social Science 40 Special Programs and Outreach 48 Record of Events 56 77 Acknowledgments 85 Founders, Trustees, and Officers of the Board and of the Corporation 86 Administration 87 Present and Past Directors and Faculty 89 Independent Auditors’ Report DAN KOMODA REPORT OF THE CHAIRMAN Since the Institute’s establishment in 1930, its independence and In the last year, the Board added a number of distinguished excellence have been almost fully reliant on philanthropy, and in Trustees––Narayana Murthy, Founder of Infosys Limited; 2014–15, we were fortunate to successfully complete our five- Afsaneh Mashayekhi Beschloss, Founder and Chief Executive year Campaign for the Institute. Vice Chairman James Simons Officer of the Rock Creek Group; Jonathan Nelson, Founder and his wife Marilyn and my wife Lisa and I were moved to and Chief Executive Officer of Providence Equity Partners; provide a $100 million challenge grant in 2011 that brought and Sandra Peterson, Group Worldwide Chairman of Johnson in an additional $112 million. Trustee contributions to the & Johnson. We are very grateful for the contributions of Peter Campaign were significant, among them a $20 million gift from Kann, who was elected Trustee Emeritus, and Cynthia Carroll David Rubenstein, which will support the creation of a new and John Hendricks, who transitioned off of the Board. We building to be known as Rubenstein Commons. Remarkably, were also deeply saddened by the deaths of Trustee James more than 1,600 former Members, Friends of the Institute, Schiro and Trustees Emeriti Ralph Hansmann and László Faculty, Staff, and foundations contributed. von Hoffmann. They will be greatly missed and remind us The total $212 million given during the course of the of the importance of upholding the Board’s strong record of Campaign strengthens IAS in a variety of ways. Some $149 exceptional service. million will be added to the IAS endowment, creating three new The Institute’s role in promoting and cultivating original endowed Professorships and twelve new Membership endowments. scholarship in the sciences and humanities is unparalleled. Among these are four Memberships in the Schools of Natural It is of the utmost importance to sustain the work of its Faculty Sciences and Mathematics endowed by a grant from the Schwab and Members and to continue the great traditions of the Charitable Fund, made possible by the generosity of Trustee Eric Institute for future generations. Schmidt and his wife Wendy, and two Memberships across the Institute’s four Schools endowed by Infosys. Equally essential, Charles Simonyi $43 million provides for the current operations of the Institute. Chairman of the Board REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR The Institute for Advanced Study is one of the most exciting founders and by the recommendations of a special advisory places in the landscape of new ideas and education. It brings committee chaired by Trustee Emeritus Harold Shapiro, former together academics of the highest level, and it is a symbol, with President of Princeton University. We are fortunate to benefit an exceptional record of achievement, for the importance of from the commitment and guidance of Didier Fassin, James D. academic freedom and basic research. Wolfensohn Professor in the School, Professor Emerita Joan Our Faculty and current and former Members are frequently Scott, and Professor Emeritus Michael Walzer in this process. recognized for major contributions to their fields. Phillip Griffiths, In the School of Historical Studies, we were deeply saddened Professor Emeritus in the School of Mathematics, was awarded by the death of Professor Emerita Patricia Crone on July 11, 2015, the 2014 Chern Medal; Jonathan Israel, Andrew W. Mellon after a courageous fight against cancer. Patricia, who brought about Professor in the School of Historical Studies, was recognized lasting change in the field of Islamic studies, leaves an indelible and with the 2015 PROSE Award; and Professor Angelos Chaniotis powerful legacy at the Institute and in the world at large. Another received a 2015 Anneliese Maier Research Award to fund a great loss was that of physicist Marvin “Murph” Goldberger, the series of research activities, among them the study of graffiti in Institute’s sixth Director from 1987–91, who died on November Aphrodisias and the history of emotions in the Greek world. 26, 2014. Murph created positive growth and change through We were delighted to announce the appointment of Jonathan Faculty appointments and campus building projects, among other Haslam, who will join the School of Historical Studies as George F. initiatives, and his influence continues to be deeply felt here. Kennan Professor as of July 1, 2015. Most recently Professor The Institute’s work, as described in the following pages, of the History of International Relations at the University of has always been firmly rooted in the future, its current research Cambridge, Jonathan is one of the world’s most distinguished pointing the way to deeper discoveries and breakthroughs ahead. scholars on the history of thought in international relations. I am immensely grateful to our Trustees, Faculty, Members, It is with regret that Professors Danielle Allen and Dani Friends, foundations, and other donors for supporting our Rodrik in the School of Social Science left the Institute for Faculty and Members in their critical foundational research. personal reasons at the end of June. The Institute is grateful for their contributions. I have the utmost confidence that the School Robbert Dijkgraaf will be rebuilt on new grounds inspired by the legacy of its Director and Leon Levy Professor 4 ALL PHOTOS DAN KOMODA ALL PHOTOS Charles Simonyi (above), Chairman of the Board of Trustees, gives opening remarks during the biannual Board meeting in May. Robbert Dijkgraaf (below), Director of the Institute and Leon Levy Professor, addresses participants of the Prospects in Theoretical Physics program with a talk, “Introduction to Topological and Conformal Field Theory,” available at www.ias.edu/videos/2015/dijkgraaf-pitp. 5 Members on the South Lawn 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 through research originating at the Institute for Advanced Study for more than eighty-five years. 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 current 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 of some thirty eminent academics 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 seven thousand Members who have influenced entire fields of study as well as the work and minds of colleagues and students. Thirty-three Nobel Laureates and forty-one out of fifty-six Fields Medalists, 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, originally designed by Marcel Breuer in 1957, at the edge of the Institute’s eight hundred acres of campus, woodland, and farmland. Members eat in the same dining hall, share common rooms and libraries, and carry out their work in an institutional setting where human scale has been carefully maintained to DAN DAN KOMODA encourage the sharing of ideas, mutual understanding, and friendship. 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