Institute for Advanced Study Re port for 2 0 1 8–2 0 1 9 Report for the Academic Year 2018–2019 Cover: On March 19, 2019, Visiting Professor KAREN UHLENBECK became the first woman to win the Abel Prize. Uhlenbeck was cited “for her pioneering achievements in geometric partial differential equations, gauge theory, and integrable systems, and for the fundamental impact of her work on analysis, geometry, and mathematical physics.” Opposite: South Lawn COVER PHOTO: ANDREA KANE Table of Contents DAN KOMODA DAN Reports of the Chair and the Director 4 The Institute for Advanced Study 6 School of Historical Studies 8 School of Mathematics 20 School of Natural Sciences 30 School of Social Science 40 Special Programs and Outreach 48 Record of Events 57 80 Acknowledgments 88 Founders, Trustees, and Officers of the Board and of the Corporation 89 Administration 90 Present and Past Directors and Faculty 91 Independent Auditors’ Report DAN KOMODA REPORT OF THE CHAIR On March 14, 2019, the Institute for Advanced Study celebrated twenty­seven­year service on the Board. Brian had served as the value and astounding influence of basic research and Treasurer of the Corporation since 2006 and was one of our invited others to support IAS’s purpose and mission with the longest­serving Trustees. We are grateful for Brian’s broad and inaugural IAS Einstein Gala held in New York City. deep dedication to the Institute. I was honored to chair the gala, along with Sir James We were delighted to welcome new Trustees R. Marty Wolfensohn, former Chair of the Board (1986–2007). The Chavez, Global Co­Head of the Securities Division at Goldman event raised $3.5 million for the IAS and honored James Sachs, and Jörn Rausing, a non­executive director of the Tetra Simons, IAS Trustee Emeritus, and a former Member in the Laval Group Board. School of Mathematics who served as an IAS Trustee from I am immensely proud to lead an institution that provides 2001 to 2018. One of our most generous patrons, Jim was an exceptional environment for outstanding researchers and presented with the IAS Bamberger Medal, the highest honor scholars of the highest caliber, curiosity, and self­motivation to given by IAS to recognize visionary philanthropy in the spirit push the frontiers of knowledge. The ideas that are given the of Louis Bamberger and Caroline Bamberger Fuld, the brother time and space to emerge and evolve at the Institute lead over and sister who founded and endowed IAS in 1930, providing time to long­term utility and innovation. I am deeply grateful for its lasting and essential independence. for the dedication of our Trustees, Faculty, Members, Staff, The Institute’s mission to advance understanding across the and donors who help produce enduring and transformative sciences and humanities without concern for immediate appli­ knowledge and understanding around the world. cation is made possible only through visionary philanthropists like Jim. Charles Simonyi In May 2019, we recognized Brian Wruble’s exceptional Chair of the Board REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR On April 10, 2019, the first image of a black hole made headlines We express deep appreciation to Patrick Geary, a leading around the world. It was the outcome of a large international historian of the Middle Ages, who transitions to Professor collaboration, but it started with a spectacular prediction of the Emeritus in the School of Historical Studies as of July 2019. general theory of relativity by IAS founding Professor Albert We are deeply grateful for Patrick’s scholarship, generosity, and Einstein. The Institute cultivates this type of deep thinking, leadership as a Professor since 2012, and we look forward to his often decades ahead of its time, that leads to knowledge of continued involvement in the IAS community. lasting value, providing greater returns in the long run in terms In two particularly uplifting moments of the year, Akshay of practical applications and impact on disciplines. Venkatesh, Robert and Luisa Fernholz Professor in the School We were pleased to welcome four new Professors in 2018–19: of Mathematics, was awarded a 2018 Fields Medal; and Karen Myles W. Jackson and Francesca Trivellato in the School of Histor­ Uhlenbeck, Visiting Professor in the School of Mathematics ical Studies; and Camillo De Lellis and Akshay Venkatesh in the with a forty­year affiliation with IAS, was recognized with the School of Mathematics. We were also delighted to announce the 2019 Abel Prize. Karen is the first woman to receive the honor appointments of five new Professors—Suzanne Conklin Akbari and is a co­founder of the Institute’s Women and Mathematics in the School of Historical Studies, Jacob Lurie in the School of Program, and the Park City Mathematics Institute. Mathematics, Alondra Nelson in the School of Social Science, The Institute’s endowment provides scholars with space and Jim Stone and Misha Tsodyks in the School of Natural and time and makes a critical difference to the institution’s Sciences—who will join IAS in 2019–20 and bring new fields continued success. I would like to thank our many supporters, and depth of study to IAS, from literary studies to neuroscience. Trustees, Faculty, Members, and Staff, for sustaining founding We were profoundly saddened by the deaths of three of our Director Abraham Flexner’s vision of an institute dedicated to Profes sors: Christian Habicht, Professor Emeritus in the School of assembling a group of scientists and scholars who may “devote His torical Studies, on August 6, 2018, at the age of 92; Jean Bour­ themselves to the task of pushing beyond the present limits of gain, Professor in the School of Mathematics, on December 22, 2018, human knowledge and to training those who may ‘carry on’ at the age of 64; and Irving Lavin, Professor Emeritus in the School in this sense.” of Historical Studies, on February 3, 2019, at the age of 91. Christian, Jean, and Irving are greatly missed by the Institute community Robbert Dijkgraaf and family, friends, and colleagues throughout the world. Director and Leon Levy Professor 4 ANDREA KANE 5 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.” ANDREA KANE ANDREA KANE ANDREA KANE DAN KOMODA DAN THE INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED STUDY is an international center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry that creates time and space for solitary work as well as dialogue among some 250 visiting researchers each year from more than 100 institutions around the world and at various stages in their careers. In 2018–19, the Institute welcomed 268 visiting scholars and scientists, representing twenty­five countries. From postdocs with new perspectives and tools, to established experts who create and advance fields of inquiry, the Institute’s focused yet freely inquisitive atmosphere enables advance­ ment in unforeseeable ways, leading to societal innovation and new understanding. Research spans four Schools—Historical Studies, Mathematics, Natural Sciences, Social Science—and is focused on long­term and fundamental outcomes with no concern for immediate application. IAS is a scholar’s paradise—a campus of unparalleled energy and curiosity, free of external pressures and academic restraints where exceptional minds have limitless opportunity to explore what is not yet known. Thirty­four Nobel Laureates, forty­two of the sixty Fields Medalists, and eighteen of the twenty Abel Prize Laureates, as well as many winners of the Wolf and MacArthur prizes, have been affiliated with the Institute. 6 Long and complex chains of knowledge have developed in numerous and astounding ways through research originating at the Institute—from the development of programmable computers and the uncovering of deep symmetries of nature to establishing art history as a discipline in the United States and advances in societal understanding and historical practice. Albert Einstein, Kurt Gödel, Hetty Goldman, George F. Kennan, Erwin Panofsky, John von Neumann, and Hermann Weyl were among the first in a long line of distinguished Institute scientists and scholars to produce a deeper understanding of the physical world and of humanity. At the Institute, everything is designed to encourage scholars KOMODA DAN 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 encourage the sharing of ideas, mutual understanding, and friendship. Each year a new intellectual mix is created by the Members. Young scholars meet the contemporaries who, with them, will be leading figures in their field in the future. Senior Members DAN KOMODA DAN 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 wide­ranging 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 children’s activities to play readings and jazz evenings.