Robertus Henricus "Robbert" Dijkgraaf, (; born 24 January 1960) is a Dutch theoretical physicist,

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

and string theorist and former politician. He served as the Minister of Education, Culture and Science in the Netherlands from 2022 until 2024. From July 2012 until his inauguration as a minister, he had been the director and Leon Levy professor at the

Institute for Advanced Study The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry located in Princeton, New Jersey. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent scholars, including Albert Ein ...

Princeton, New Jersey The Municipality of Princeton is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton, New Jersey, Borough of Princeton and Pri ...

, and a tenured professor at the

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, ) is a public university, public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Established in 1632 by municipal authorities, it is the fourth-oldest academic institution in the Netherlan ...

. As of January 2025, Robbert is the president-elect of the

International Science Council The International Science Council (ISC) is an international non-governmental organization that unites scientific bodies at various levels across the social and natural sciences. The ISC was formed with its inaugural general assembly on 4 July 20 ...

Early life and education

Robertus Henricus Dijkgraaf was born on 24 January 1960 in Ridderkerk,

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. Dijkgraaf attended the Erasmiaans Gymnasium in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

. He started his education in

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

Utrecht University Utrecht University (UU; , formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public university, public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2023, it had an enrollment of ...

in 1978. After completing his candidate's degree (equivalent to BSc degree) in 1982, he briefly turned away from physics to pursue a painting education at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie. In 1984, he returned to Utrecht University and obtained an MSc degree in

theoretical physics Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain, and predict List of natural phenomena, natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental p ...

in 1986. He then went on to performing doctoral research under supervision of future Nobel laureate Gerard 't Hooft. He studied together with the twins Erik and Herman Verlinde. The original arrangement was that only one of the trio would work on string theory, but all three ended up writing their thesis on this subject. Dijkgraaf obtained his PhD degree '' cum laude'' in 1989. His thesis was titled ''A Geometrical Approach to Two Dimensional Conformal Field Theory''. For a few years he worked as a

postdoctoral researcher A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). Postdocs most commonly, but not always, have a temporary acade ...

at the Institute for Advanced Study, working alongside Edward Witten.

Work

In 1992, he was appointed professor of

mathematical physics Mathematical physics is the development of mathematics, mathematical methods for application to problems in physics. The ''Journal of Mathematical Physics'' defines the field as "the application of mathematics to problems in physics and the de ...

at the

, a chair he held until 2004, when he was appointed distinguished professor at the same university. From 2008 to 2012 he was president of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was elected as one of the two co-chairs of the InterAcademy Council for the period 2009 to 2013. Starting in 2012, Dijkgraaf became the director of the

, an independent academic institution located in the town of Princeton, New Jersey. On that date, he stepped down from his position as president of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has served on numerous boards including at the

Teylers Museum Teylers Museum () is an Art museum, art, Natural history museum, natural history, and science museum in Haarlem, Netherlands. Established in 1778, Teylers Museum was founded as a centre for contemporary art and science. The historic centre of the ...

and the NEMO Science Museum. He regularly appears on Dutch television and has a monthly column in the Dutch newspaper ''

NRC Handelsblad ''NRC'', previously called ' (), is a daily morning newspaper published in the Netherlands by Mediahuis NRC. It is widely regarded as a newspaper of record in the country. History was first published on 1 October 1970 after a merger of the Amst ...

''.

Political career

Starting on 10 January 2022, Dijkgraaf served as the Minister of Education in the Dutch government. He introduced the Balanced Internationalisation Act in the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

in 2024. This bill would allow colleges and universities to limit the number of foreign students they accept, and it would enforce stricter regulations on using the Dutch language in academic studies. Dijkgraaf's term as minister ended on 2 July 2024, when the Schoof cabinet was sworn in.

Other activities

* Simons Foundation, Member of the Board of Directors (since 2021) * Scholars at Risk (SAR), Member of the Ambassadors Council

Awards and honours

In 1998 Dijkgraaf was an Invited Speaker at the

International Congress of Mathematicians The International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) is the largest conference for the topic of mathematics. It meets once every four years, hosted by the International Mathematical Union (IMU). The Fields Medals, the IMU Abacus Medal (known before ...

in Berlin. In 2003, Dijkgraaf was awarded the Spinoza Prize. In doing so he became the first recipient of the award whose advisor also was a recipient (Gerard 't Hooft received the first Spinoza Prize in 1995). He used part of his Spinoza Prize grant to set up a website targeted at children and promoting science: Proefjes.nl. Dijkgraaf is an elected Member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences since 2003 and of the Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities. On 30 May 2012, he was elected an Honorary Member of both the Royal Netherlands Chemical Society and the Netherlands' Physical Society. On 5 June 2012, Dijkgraaf was appointed a Knight of the Order of the Netherlands Lion. In 2012, he became a Fellow of the

American Mathematical Society The American Mathematical Society (AMS) is an association of professional mathematicians dedicated to the interests of mathematical research and scholarship, and serves the national and international community through its publications, meetings, ...

. He was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (HonFRSE) in the disciplines of informatics, mathematics and statistics in 2013. That same year, he was elected as Member of the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

. He received honorary doctorates from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and

Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; ) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Established in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince of Orange as a Protestantism, Protestant institution, it holds the d ...

in 2019. In 2019, Dijkgraaf was awarded the inaugural Iris Medal for Excellent Science Communication, presented at the Evening of Science & Society in the Ridderzaal in The Hague, by Ingrid van Engelshoven, Minister of Education, Culture, and Science, in the presence of King Willem-Alexander. He was appointed a Foreign Member of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

in 2025.

Research

Dijkgraaf's research focuses on string theory and the interface of

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

and physics in general. He is best known for his work on topological string theory and matrix models, and his name has been given to the Dijkgraaf-Witten invariants and the Witten-Dijkgraaf- Verlinde- Verlinde formula.

Personal life

Dijkgraaf is married to the author and has three children. Their daughter Charlotte was born with a rare type of Leukemia and was the subject of book written by her mother Pia de Jong, ''Saving Charlotte: A Mother and the Power of Intuition''.

Electoral history

Bibliography

Research articles

Dijkgraaf has co-authored and published more than 70 research articles in the field of string theory and physics, with many other researchers including: Cumrun Vafa, Lotte Hollands, Erik Verlinde, Herman Verlinde, Hirosi Ooguri, Gregory Moore, Rajesh Gopakumar, Sergei Gukov, Miranda Cheng, and others. This is a select list of these works: * * *

Books

* * * *

Notes

References

External links

Robbert Dijkgraaf
official website
Robbert Dijkgraaf
official profile for IAS
Official website of Institute for Advanced Study
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dijkgraaf, Robbert 1960 births Directors of the Institute for Advanced Study Donegall Lecturers of Mathematics at Trinity College Dublin Dutch expatriates in the United States Fellows of the American Mathematical Society Gerrit Rietveld Academie alumni Knights of the Order of the Netherlands Lion Living people Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Ministers of education of the Netherlands People from Ridderkerk Spinoza Prize winners Dutch string theorists Trustees of the Institute for Advanced Study Academic staff of the University of Amsterdam Utrecht University alumni Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences Members of the American Philosophical Society Foreign members of the Royal Society