🗞️ The Spring/Summer 2026 edition of The Institute Letter is now online! Tap the links below to explore everything from the humanistic roots of mathematics and tidal disruption events around black holes to the fascinating history of a unique system for transcribing choreography.

🎖️ Martti Nissinen, Member (2008–09, 2016) and Visitor (2011) in the School of Historical Studies, has received the honorary title of Academician of Science, the highest honor that can be bestowed on any individual scholar in Finland: ias.edu/news/biblical-schola…

👏 In recognition of her "extraordinarily wide-ranging, original, and dynamic scholarship," the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has presented Sabine Schmidtke, Professor in the School of Historical Studies, with an honorary doctorate: ias.edu/news/sabine-schmidtk…

🎓 Charles Simonyi, Chair Emeritus of the Institute’s Board of Trustees, has been awarded a John von Neumann Professorship by @unibme_official. The honor carries special resonance at IAS, where von Neumann served on the Faculty from 1933–55: ias.edu/news/charles-simonyi…

⚛️ Three scholars from the Institute's School of Natural Sciences have been elected as 2026 @APSphysics Fellows. Chuanfei Dong, Xiaoliang Qi, and Sukanya Chakrabarti were recognized for work spanning from astrophysics to condensed matter physics: ias.edu/news/natural-science…

👏 Congratulations to @Alondra Nelson, Harold F. Linder Professor in the School of Social Science, who was named by @schmidtsciences as a 2026 AI2050 Senior Fellow. Chris Maddison, Member (2019–20) in the School of Mathematics, also received a fellowship: ias.edu/news/alondra-nelson-…

Another picture with Albert, it's like we are practically related now. Great time is being had at @the_IAS, amazing scholars, archivists and librarians!

On the surface, my second year @the_IAS mirrored the first: four new papers (which I recap below), an amazing time overall, and a summer holiday hiking volcanoes. In reality, the arrival of AI changed everything. The future seems both exciting and unpredictable! (1/5).

🎉 Kicking off its 2026–27 academic year on September 22, 2026, the Institute for Advanced Study is set to welcome 254 new and returning scholars from 43 nations and over 115 institutions: ias.edu/news/new-season-disc…

Observations of 20 stellar disruptions reveal a surprising connection between black holes of vastly different sizes and when their powerful jets switch on. @the_IAS techexplorist.com/universal-…

👏 David Nirenberg, the Institute for Advanced Study's Director and Leon Levy Professor, has been awarded a 2026 @BalzanPrize, recognizing his work in the field of Jewish Studies: ias.edu/news/david-nirenberg…

🔭 An international collaboration co-led by Andrew Mummery, Martin A. and Helen Chooljian Member (2025–30) in the Institute's School of Natural Sciences, has uncovered a universal rule governing one of the most powerful astronomical events in the universe: ias.edu/news/ias-scholar-rev…

A decade ago, I gave a talk at @the_IAS on some conjectures occurring in my work with Kei Nakamura on the arithmetic of hyperbolic 3-manifolds and reflection groups (the occasion was Bourgain's birthday conference: piped.video/c6iIxG7RQQs?si=i-WA…). Last week, we (with Daniel Allcock, Pat Devlin, Anna Felikson, and Ian Whitehead) posted to the arxiv a solution to this conjecture: arxiv.org/abs/2609.05349 (You may not have noticed it last week, due to some "other" math news... In fact, no AI was used in the proofs or writing of our text, though I did iterate with Claude to make the pictures.) It's *very* satisfying to work on a problem for a decade and finally see it through (and a little sad that that might be more rare these days...). A big breakthrough came during a meeting at @AIMathematics in 2022 (which itself was postponed from its original date: March 2020, due to some virus or something !!...), and it took us ~4 years to complete the details... Hope you enjoy!

🎉 All three recipients of the 2026 International Congress of Basic Science (@ICBS_Bimsa) Medal in Mathematics have links to the Institute’s School of Mathematics. Scholars from the School of Natural Sciences also received Frontiers of Science Awards: ias.edu/news/ias-scholars-sw…

🪢 Welcoming 252 participants from 18 countries, the 2026 Park City Mathematics Institute, an annual IAS outreach initiative, focused on the topic of knotted surfaces in four-manifolds: ias.edu/news/knot-your-avera…

🔢 @SciAm has highlighted the work of Ishan Levy, Visiting Professor in the School of Mathematics, who, building on a "tour de force" contribution by Robert and Luisa Fernholz Professor Akshay Venkatesh, has gone "a long way toward proving" the Cohen-Lenstra conjecture:

👏 Wendy Brown, Professor Emerita in the School of Social Science, and two former Members in the School were recently announced as American Political Science Association (@APSAtweets) award winners: ias.edu/news/ias-faculty-and…

🚨 Applications are OPEN! Join @the_IAS, one of the world’s leading centers for foundational research, for the 2027–28 academic year. Accepted scholars from across the globe will be able to pursue their own research within one of the Institute's Schools: ias.edu/news/institute-advan…

A new @the_IAS exhibition explores the fieldwork behind Clifford Geertz's influential 📙Meaning and Order in Moroccan Society. It also highlights the collaborative contributions of Hildred Storey Geertz, the first female chair of @PrincetonAnthro and Princeton Anthropologist Lawrence Rosen. 🔗bit.ly/4g9IXsv

🎊 Three of the four winners of this year’s Fields Medal are affiliated with the Institute for Advanced Study's School of Mathematics: Jacob Tsimerman, current Distinguished Visiting Professor, and past scholars Hong Wang and John Pardon: ias.edu/news/three-ias-schol…

📖 "The Patina of Distrust," a new book by Pablo J. Boczkowski, Member (2023–24) in the School of Social Science, and his collaborators, has received five distinctions from five scholarly bodies: two awards, two honorable mentions, and one runner-up! More: mitpress.mit.edu/97802625507…