The Institute Letter InsItitute foAr Advanced SStudy Spring 2013 Using Genetic Data To Revolutionalize From Prime Numbers to Nuclear Physics Understanding of Migration History and Beyond BY PATRICK J. GEARY n early April 1972, Hugh IMontgomery, who had been a ew historical questions have so fascinated Member in the School of Mathe- Fhistorians as the fall of the Roman Empire m atics the previous year, stopped by or, in the more fashionable modern parlance, its the Institute to share a new result M U E S “transformation” into something altogether dif- with Atle Selberg, a Professor in U M S E ferent, namely independent kingdoms ruled by the School. The discussion between D N A L successors of barbarian commanders in the West Montgomery and Selberg involved S E H C and a Greek-speaking Byzantine Empire in the Montgomery’s work on the zeros of S I N I E East. For over two centuries, historians have the Riemann zeta function, which is H R / D N particularly debated the role of barbarian inva- connected to the pattern of the A L N I sions in this process, but in reality we have very prime numbers in number theory. E H R D little hard data on the nature of the barbarian Generations of mathematicians at N A B R “peoples” that entered the Western provinces the Institute and elsewhere have E V S T between the fourth and sixth centuries, their tried to prove the Riemann Hypoth- F A H C numbers, their composition, or the reality of esis, which conjectures that the non- S D N A their influence on the indigenous populations trivial zeros (those that are not easy L © of the Empire. to find) of the Riemann zeta function Presumed Longobard settlements, first to Were these large ethnic populations moving lie on the critical line with real part sixth centuries across Europe from Scandinavia to Italy and equal to ½. Spain, as nineteenth-century romantics imagined? Or were they small heterogeneous mil- Montgomery had found that the itary units employed by the Empire that settled, with a minimum of force and disruption, statistical distribution of the zeros on After his teatime conversation with Hugh Mont gomery, within the administrative and fiscal mechanisms of a still-functioning Empire, as has been the critical line of the Riemann zeta Freeman Dyson wrote this letter to Atle Selberg with suggested more recently? Did these groups long maintain their distinctiveness from the function has a certain property, now references showing that the pair-correlation of the local population, eschewing intermarriage and holding fast to their distinctive legal and called Montgomery’s pair correlation zeros of the zeta function is identical to that of the (Continued on page 5) (Continued on page 8) eigenvalues of a random matrix. Reviving Rhetoric: An Aristotelian Interpretation of the Campaigns of Political Underdogs BY DEVA WOODLY “This significantly exceeds anything Gallup has measured since it began asking this question in 1995.”* was in my final year of graduate school, writing a dis- The excitement generated by the election was due to Isertation on the place of persuasion in the success of a number of factors, among them: the contest was for an contemporary American social movements, when the open seat, no incumbent was on the ballot, and the field nearly two-year-long campaign for the American presi- of candidates was unusually strong. The Democratic pri- dent who would succeed George W. Bush began. As a stu- mary, in particular, had included a number of rarities, dent of politics, it was impossible not to be transfixed by including the first woman frontrunner for party nomina- the epic discursive battle being waged, first in the hard- tion and only the third African American candidate to fought democratic primary between Hillary Clinton and ever enter the Democratic party’s nominating contest. Barack Obama and finally during the general election These two candidates, each of whom would be “firsts” in campaign in which, Obama, having won against his for- the American presidency, emerged as the strongest in the midable Democratic rival, entered a political contest with field, and their struggle for primacy was dramatized by veteran politician John McCain. For the American pub- a long and highly competitive primary process. In one lic, this contest was the most closely followed election in corner was the well-known and much admired senator decades. A Gallup poll taken in June 2008, early summer, from New York and former first lady, Hillary Clinton, S E when political attention is usually at its nadir, found that G and, in the other, the newly minted senator from Illinois, A M I nearly two-thirds of Americans described the 2008 cam- a rhetorical and organizing powerhouse with the “funny Y T T paign as “exciting.” By September, Gallup found that a E name,” Barack Obama. Americans, usually bored by and G record 87 percent, almost nine in ten Americans, reported An Obama supporter holds up a “Yes We Can” sign as President- cynical about political contests, were transfixed. that they were following national politics closely. The as- elect Barack Obama gives his victory speech during a 2008 election As a researcher studying how political underdogs, tonished poll takers wrote, in the summary of their results, night gathering in Grant Park. (Continued on page 16) Einstein Drive, Princeton, New Jersey 08540 www.ias.edu News of the Institute Community ATRICK J. GEARY, Professor in the School of His- OBBERT DIJKGRAAF, Director of the Institute and their work on the CR Yamabe problem. Jerison is Professor P torical Studies, has been elected as a Corresponding RLeon Levy Professor, formally announ ced the corona- and MacVicar Faculty Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute Fellow of the Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen. tion of the new King of the Netherlands, Willem-Alexan- of Technology. q der, on April 30; he was selected as one of five Heralds, q istory of the Present: A Journal of Critical History, ed- each representing a field of expertise. Dijkgraaf, who will OSEF KAPLAN, former Member (2007–08) in the Hited by JOAN WALLACH SCOTT, Harold F. Linder receive an honorary doctorate from Radboud University YSchool of Historical Studies, has been selected to Professor in the School of Social Science, as well as former Nijmegen in the Netherlands on May 24 and was named an receive the 2013 Israel Prize for his research on the history Members in the School, ANDREW AISENBERG (1991–92), Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, was of the Jewish people. Kaplan is Bernard Cherrick Professor BRIAN CONNOLLY (2005–06), BEN KAFKA (2009–10), also elected a member of the American Academy of Arts Emeritus of the History of the Jewish People at the Hebrew and SYLVIA SCHAFER (2000–01), has been named Best and Sciences. University of Jerusalem. New Journal for 2012 by the Council of Editors of Learned q q Journals. History of the Present provides a forum for the crit- AVID M. RUBENSTEIN, a Trustee of the Institute, he American Mathematical Society E. H. Moore ical examination of history, considering both its influence Dhas been elected a member of the American Acad- TResearch Article Prize was awarded to MICHAEL J. on politics and the politics of the discipline of history itself. emy of Arts and Sciences and has received the David LARSEN, former Member (1988–90) in the School of q Rockefeller Award from the Museum of Modern Art in Mathematics, along with Richard Pink, for their article he Guide to PAMIR: Theory and Use of Parameterized honor of his advocacy of cultural and civic endeavors. “Finite Subgroups of Algebraic Groups” (Journal of TAdaptive Multidimensional Integration Routines by Rubenstein is Co-Founder and Co-Chief Executive Offi- the American Mathematical Society 24, 2011). Larsen is STEPHEN L. ADLER, Professor Emeritus in the School of cer of the Carlyle Group. Distinguished Professor at Indiana University. Natural Sciences, has been published by World Scientific q q Publishing Company (2012). The book gives a user’s man- ARTAN GREGORIAN, a Trustee of the Institute, has VI LOEB, former Member (1988–93, 2002–03) in the ual, and related theory, for the multidimensional integration Vreceived the Distinguished Service Award from the A School of Natural Sciences, has received the 2013 programs written by Adler that can be downloaded at Coun cil on Foundations. The award honors an individual Chambliss Astronomical Writing Award from the Amer- www.pamir-integrate.com. The programs can follow local- who embodies the intellect, integrity, leadership, and ac- ican Astronomical Society for his book How Did the First ized peaks and valleys of the integrand, and come in parallel complishments that define excellence in the field of philan- Stars and Galaxies Form? (Princeton University Press, 2010). versions for cluster use as well as serial versions. thropy. Gregorian is President of the Carnegie Corporation. Loeb is Frank B. Baird, Jr. Professor of Science at Harvard q q University and Director of the Institute for Theory and xford University Press has published The Throne of he 2013 New Horizons in Physics Prize of the Fun- Computation at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for OAdulis: Red Sea Wars on the Eve of Islam by GLEN Tdamental Physics Prize Foundation has been awarded Astrophysics, Harvard University. W. BOWERSOCK, Professor Emeritus in the School of to ZOHAR KOMARGODSKI, long-term Member in the q Historical Studies. The book reconstructs an overlooked School of Natural Sciences, and DAVIDE GAIOTTO, he American Mathematical Society–Society for chapter in pre-Islamic Arabian history—an international former long-term Member (2007–12) in the School.