Interior of Israel Institute for Advanced Studies

The Israel Institute for Advanced Studies (; IIAS, or IAS in Israel) is a

research institute A research institute, research centre, or research organization is an establishment founded for doing research. Research institutes may specialize in basic research or may be oriented to applied research. Although the term often implies natural ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

, devoted to academic research in physics, mathematics, the life sciences, economics, and comparative religion. It is a self-governing body, both in its administrative function as well as its academic pursuits. It is one of the nine members of the symposium Some Institutes for Advanced Study (SIAS). The IIAS is located at the Edmond J. Safra Campus of the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...

Givat Ram Givat Ram () is a neighborhood in central Jerusalem. It is the site of Kiryat HaMemshala (Hebrew language, Hebrew: קריית הממשלה, ''lit.'' Government complex), which includes many of Israel's most important national institutions, among t ...

. The Institute brings together scholars from around the world to engage in collaborative research projects for periods of four to twelve months. Throughout over forty years of existence it has been dedicated to unrestricted academic research.

History

The Institute for Advanced Studies in Jerusalem was founded in 1975 by Israeli mathematician Aryeh Dvoretzky, winner of the

Israel Prize The Israel Prize (; ''pras israél'') is an award bestowed by the State of Israel, and regarded as the state's highest cultural honor. History Prior to the Israel Prize, the most significant award in the arts was the Dizengoff Prize and in Israel ...

for Mathematics. Visits to 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 ...

inspired Prof. Dvoretzky to establish an IAS in Jerusalem in 1975. In March, 1976 Dvoretzky wrote: In 1982, Yuval Ne'eman, Professor of Physics and Minister of Science, established the first School in Theoretical Physics at the Jerusalem IAS. Prof.

Steven Weinberg Steven Weinberg (; May 3, 1933 – July 23, 2021) was an American theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate in physics for his contributions with Abdus Salam and Sheldon Glashow to the unification of the weak force and electromagnetic inter ...

Nobel laureate The Nobel Prizes (, ) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make outstanding contributions in th ...

in Physics, was asked to become the director of the School, a post he held for twelve years. Four additional Schools were established, based on the same model, in the following fields: Economics, Life Sciences, Jewish Studies and Comparative Religion, and Mathematics. Each School is headed by a preeminent scholar in his or her field.

Directors

* Aryeh Dvoretzky (1975–1985) * Menahem Yaari (1986-1989, 1990-1992) * Hanoch Gutfreund (1989-1990) * David Dean Shulman (1992–1998) * Alexander Levitzki (1998–2001) * Benjamin Z. Kedar (2001–2005) * Eliezer Rabinovici (2005–2012) * Michal Linial (2012–2018) * Yitzhak Hen (2018–present)

Advanced schools

The Institute annually hosts five schools under the auspices of the Victor Rothschild Memorial Symposia. Each lasts seven to twelve days, and is headed by an internationally preeminent scholar, working alongside an Israeli co-director. Attendees include senior scholars, doctoral students, and postdoctoral researchers. The Institute subsidizes participants in the form of travel grants, tuition or hotel expenses. The Israeli coordinator allocates scholarships to candidates and assumes responsibility for technical arrangements. Scholars have come to the institute from

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

and

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...

South South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

and

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

East Asia East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, plus two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau. The economies of Economy of China, China, Economy of Ja ...

, and

North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

. The IIAS also hosts conferences and lecture series, sometimes associated with schools, such as the ''

Ada Lovelace Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace (''née'' Byron; 10 December 1815 – 27 November 1852), also known as Ada Lovelace, was an English mathematician and writer chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage's proposed mechanical general-pur ...

Bicentenary Lectures on

Computability Computability is the ability to solve a problem by an effective procedure. It is a key topic of the field of computability theory within mathematical logic and the theory of computation within computer science. The computability of a problem is c ...

'' during 2015–16. Current directors of the advanced schools are as follows: *School in Theoretical physics:

David Gross David Jonathan Gross (; born February 19, 1941) is an American theoretical physicist and string theorist. Along with Frank Wilczek and David Politzer, he was awarded the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics for their discovery of asymptotic freedom. ...

*School in Economics Theory: Eric Maskin *Midrasha Mathematicae: Peter Sarnak *School in Jewish Studies and Comparative Religion: Haym Soloveitchik *School in Life Sciences: Roger D. Kornberg

References

External links

* {{authority control 1975 establishments in Israel Research institutes established in 1975 Institute for Advanced Studies Organizations based in Jerusalem Research institutes in Israel Institute for Advanced Study