Much has been written about J. Robert Oppen-heimer. The substance of his life, his intellect, his

patrician manner, his leadership of the Los AlamosNational Laboratory, his political affiliations and post-war military/security entanglements, and his early deathfrom cancer, are all components of his compelling story.

A number of plays have been written about him.American composer John Adams (Nixon in China) is cur-rently at work on an opera. Commissioned by the SanFrancisco Opera, and tentatively titled “Doctor Atomic,”it is scheduled to premier in September of 2005.

Much of the drama of Oppenheimer’s life unfolded inthe early years following World War II when he was Direc-tor of the Institute for Advanced Study, the position heheld from 1947 until 1966. He was simultaneously Chair-man of the General Advisory Committee of the AtomicEnergy Commission (AEC), from 1947 through 1952.

Born Julius Robert Oppenheimer, on 22 April 1904 inNew York City, Robert grew up in a Manhattan apart-ment decorated with paintings by Van Gogh, Cézanne,and Gauguin. His father, Julius Oppenheimer, was a Ger-man immigrant who worked in his family’s textileimporting business. His mother, Ella Friedman, was apainter whose family had been in New York for genera-

tions. His younger brother, Frank, would also become aphysicist.

In 1921, Oppenheimer graduated from the EthicalCulture School of New York at the top of his class. AtHarvard, Oppenheimer studied mathematics and sci-ence, philosophy and Eastern religion, French and Eng-lish literature. He graduated summa cum laude in 1925and afterwards went to Cambridge University’sCavendish Laboratory as research assistant to J. J.Thomson. Bored with routine laboratory work, he wentto the University of Göttingen, in Germany.

Göttingen was the place for quantum physics. Oppen-heimer met and studied with some of the day’s mostprominent figures, Max Born and Niels Bohr amongthem. In 1927, Oppenheimer received his doctorate. Inthe same year, he worked with Born on the structure ofmolecules, producing the Born-Oppenheimer Approxi-mation. Subsequently, he traveled from one prominentcenter of physics to another: Harvard, California Insti-tute of Technology, Leyden, and Zurich. In 1929, hereceived offers to teach at Caltech and the University ofCalifornia at Berkeley. Accepting both, he divided histime between Pasadena and Berkeley, attracting his owncircle of brilliant young physics students.

“His lectures were a great experience, for ex-perimental as well as theoretical physicists,” commented

Hans Bethe, who wouldlater work with Oppen-heimer at Los Alamos:“In addition to a superbliterary style, he broughtto them a degree ofsophistication in physicspreviously unknown inthe United States. Herewas a man who obviouslyunderstood all the deepsecrets of quantummechanics, and yet madeit clear that the mostimportant questions wereunanswered. His earnest-ness and deep involve-ment gave his researchstudents the same sense of challenge. He never gave hisstudents the easy and superficial answers but trainedthem to appreciate and work on the deep problems.”

When Julius Oppenheimer died in 1937, Oppen-heimer became a wealthy man. In 1940 he marriedKatharine (Kitty) Puening Harrison, a biologist anddivorcee whose second husband had been killed during

J. Robert Oppenheimer in his office at the Institute for Advanced Study

T H E I N S T I T U T E

L E T T E RINSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED STUDY PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY · SPRING 2004

AL

AN

RIC

HA

RD

S

J. ROBERT OPPENHEIMER CENTENNIAL (1904–1967)

J.Robert Oppenheimer’s influ-ence on 20th-century physics

was furthur enhanced when hebecame Director of the Institutefor Advanced Study in 1947. Heattracted leading lights in the newarea of particle physics to theInstitute, where he presided overwhat has been described as a“Golden Age for Physics.” TheInstitute became a world centerfor the development of high ener-gy physics and field theory. LikeCopenhagen in the twenties andthirties, the Institute became thenew Mecca for theoretical physi-cists. Among those who flocked tothe Institute were established fig-ures such as Wolfgang Pauli, PaulDirac, Sin-Itiro Tomonaga and

The School of Natural Sciences, Then and Now

(Continued on page 4)

(Continued on page 4)

Oppenheimer in 1947

Oppenheimer with Paul Dirac and Abraham Pais at the Institute in 1947

NY

ST

AT

E D

EP

T.

OF

EC

ON

OM

IC D

EV

EL

OP

ME

NT

, C

OU

RT

ES

Y O

F T

HE

IA

S A

RC

HIV

ES

NY

ST

AT

E D

EP

T.

OF

EC

ON

OM

IC D

EV

EL

OP

ME

NT

, C

OU

RT

ES

Y O

F T

HE

IA

S A

RC

HIV

ES

In May, Quantum Theory as an Emergent Phenomenon:The Statistical Mechanics of Matrix Models as the Precur-

sor of Quantum Field Theory by STEPHEN L. ADLER,Professor in the School of Natural Sciences, was pub-lished by Cambridge University Press. The book repre-sents the culmination of nearly twenty years of ProfessorAdler’s work on embeddings of quantum mechanics inlarger mathematical frameworks.

q

Medieval Islamic Political Thought by PATRICIACRONE, Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the School

of Historical Studies, was published in January by Edin-burgh University Press, U.K., and in April by ColumbiaUniversity Press, with the title God’s Rule: Government andIslam: Six Centuries of Medieval Islamic Political Thought.

q

PIERRE DELIGNE, Professor in the School of Math-ematics, has been elected a foreign member of the

Academia Nazionale dei Lincei, Rome.

q

In January, ERIC S. MASKIN, Albert O. HirschmanProfessor in the School of Social Science, delivered a

set of four lectures on auction theory at the Institute forAdvanced Study, Wuhan University, China.

q

In its issue of April 26, TIME Magazine namedEDWARD WITTEN, Charles Simonyi Professor in the

School of Natural Sciences, one of America’s “100 MostInfluential People.” BERNARD LEWIS, frequent Mem-ber in the School of Historical Studies was also named.

q

In January, PETER PARET, Professor Emeritus in theSchool of Historical Studies, spoke at the plenary ses-

sion of the annual meeting of the American HistoricalAssociation in Washington D.C. His speech focused onconflicting views of “the people in arms” at the end ofthe 18th century and is to be published in the Journal ofthe History of Ideas.

q

DAVID GABAI, Member in the School of Mathe-matics (1982–83, 1989–90), has received the 2004

Oswald Veblen Prize in Geometry. The prize, named inhonor of former Faculty Member and Trustee OswaldVeblen, is awarded every three years by the American

Mathematical Society in recognition of notable published research in geometry or topology. Dr. Gabai iscited for his work in geometric topology and, in particu-lar, the topology of 3-dimensional manifolds.

Of the 21 mathematicians who have received theprize since its inception, 16 have been associated withthe Institute. They include: Christos D. Papakyri-akopoulos (recipient of the first Veblen Prize, 1964),Raoul H. Bott (1964), Stephen Smale (1966), MortonBrown and Barry Mazur (1966), Robion C. Kirby(1971), Dennis P. Sullivan (1971), William P. Thurston(1976), James Simons (1976), Shing-Tung Yau (1981),Michael H. Freedman (1986), Richard Hamilton(1996), Gang Tian (1996), Jeff Cheeger (2001), andYakov Eliashberg (2001).

q

Math and the Mona Lisa: The Art and Science ofLeonardo da Vinci by BÜLENT ATALAY, Member

in the School of Natural Sciences (1974–75, 1982–83),was published in April by Smithsonian Institution Press.

q

Making Ireland British 1580–1650 by NICHOLASCANNY, Member in the School of Historical

Studies (1979–80), was published in 2001 by OxfordUniversity Press, New York.

q

JOHN CARDY, Member in the School of Natural Sci-ences (2003), has won the American Physical Soci-

ety’s Lars Onsager Prize for “profound and original appli-cations of conformal invariance to the bulk and bound-ary properties of two-dimensional statistical systems.”

q

CARLOS EIRE, Member in the School of HistoricalStudies (1986–87, 1992–93), won the 2003

National Book Award for Waiting for Snow in Havana:Confessions of a Cuban Boy.

q

LAWRENCE C. EVANS, Member in the School ofMathematics (1987–89), has received the American

Mathematical Society’s 2004 Leroy P. Steele Prize forSeminal Contribution to Research, jointly with NicolaiV. Krylov.

q

Ordinary Prussians: Brandenburg Junkers and Villagers,1500–1840 by WILLIAM W. HAGEN, Member in

the School of Historical Studies (1990–91), was pub-lished in 2002 by Cambridge University Press, London.

q

JOHN W. MILNOR, Professor in the School of Math-ematics (1970–90), and Member in the School of

Mathematics (1965–66), has received the AmericanMathematical Society’s 2004 Leroy P. Steele Prize forMathematical Exposition.

q

GABRIELE VENEZIANO, Member in the School ofNatural Sciences (1970, 1998), has received the

American Physical Society’s Dannie Heineman Prize forMathematical Physics for “pioneering discoveries in dualresonance models which, partly through his own efforts,have developed into string theory and a basis for thequantum theory of gravity.”

Just two days after his 100th birthday on February 16, George F. Kennan madea surprise visit to the Institute. Professor in the School of Historical Studiessince 1956 and Professor Emeritus since 1974, Professor Kennan (seated) andhis personal assistant Tony Mano (in bow tie) were greeted by, from left toright: Trustee Emeritus Ladislaus von Hoffmann; George F. Kennan ProfessorJosé Cutileiro; Professor Kennan’s grandson George Kennan Pfaeffli (partiallyhidden in back); Professor Kennan’s son-in-law, Kevin Delaney; InstituteDirector Peter Goddard (in rear), Chairman of the Board of Trustees James D.Wolfensohn, and Elaine Wolfensohn.

NEWS OF THE INSTITUTE COMMUNITY

2

Attending the symposium in Professor Kennan’shonor, are from left to right: Strobe Talbott,President of The Brookings Institution, and former Deputy Secretary of State; Jack F. Matlock, Jr., the last U.S. Ambassador to theFormer Soviet Union, and former George F. Kennan Professor in the School of HistoricalStudies; José Cutileiro, George F. Kennan Professor in the School of Historical Studies,and former Secretary General of the WesternEuropean Union; Lawrence S. Eagleburger,former Secretary of State; Karl Kaiser, Otto-Wolff-Director Emeritus of the German Councilon Foreign Relations, and Visiting Scholar,Weatherhead Center for International Affairs,Harvard University; Alexander A. Bessmert-nykh, last Foreign Minister of the Former SovietUnion; James D. Wolfensohn, President of theWorld Bank, and Chairman of the Board ofTrustees of the Institute for Advanced Study;and Institute Director Peter Goddard.

THE INSTITUTE LETTERis published three times per academic year.

Georgia Whidden, Editor ✸��Linda Arntzenius, Associate EditorAlison Carver, Design

Institute for Advanced Study, Einstein Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540-0631 ✸ Telephone 609-734-8239

GEORGE F. KENNAN AT THE INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED STUDY

Symposium celebrates Professor Kennan’s 100th Birthday

The Symposium in Honor ofGeorge F. Kennan at the Institute

for Advanced Study in February drewmembers of Professor Kennan’s family,friends and colleagues, as well as dis-tinguished historians and diplomats.Speakers included Institute DirectorPeter Goddard, James D. Wolfensohn,José Cutileiro and Jack F. Matlock, Jr.Presentations were as follows: “Reflec-tions on a Century” by Lawrence S.Eagleburger, “George Kennan andRussia” by Alexander A. Bessmertnykh,“George Kennan and the New Europe:A German Perspective” by Karl Kaiser,and “The Container Contained” by Strobe Talbott.

The symposium was organized byJosé Cutileiro and supported by contri-butions from Theodore L. Cross,Hamish Maxwell, and StiftungfondsDeutsche Bank.

MIC

HA

EL

CIC

CO

NE

CL

IFF

MO

OR

E

PROSPECTS IN THEORETICAL PHYSICS July 19–30: String Theory

Prospects in Theoretical Physics (PiTP), sponsored bythe Institute for Advanced Study’s School of Natur-

al Sciences, is an intensive two-week summer programdesigned for graduate students considering a career intheoretical physics. In addition to Institute Faculty,many faculty members from the physics and astrophysicsdepartments at Princeton University are activelyinvolved in the program together with scientists fromneighboring institutions. The program builds on thestrong relationship between the research groups at theInstitute for Advanced Study and Princeton University.

First held in the summer of 2002, this year’s program

is geared toward advanced (4th and 5th year) graduatestudents actively involved in research in string theory.Morning lectures will be followed by informal sessions inthe afternoon in which all participants will have theopportunity for interactive discussions on the latestadvances and open questions in string theory.

A partial list of organizers and lecturers includes:Juan Maldacena, Nathan Seiberg, and Edward Witten ofthe Institute for Advanced Study; Curtis Callan, StevenGubser, Nissan Itzhaki, Igor Klebanov, Chiara Nappi,and Leonardo Rastelli of Princeton University; LouiseDolan of the University of North Carolina at ChapelHill; Burt Ovrut of the University of Pennsylvania;Stephen Shenker of Stanford University; KennethIntriligator of the University of California at San Diego;and Charles Thorn of the University of Florida inGainesville.

The PiTP program intends to help train the nextgeneration of scholars in theoretical physics. An effort ismade to reach out to women and minorities, as well asto graduate students in small universities who typicallydo not have the same opportunities and access to lead-ers in the field as graduate students in large researchinstitutions. The program has received support from theConcordia Foundation, J. Seward Johnson, Sr. Charita-ble Trusts, and the National Science Foundation. Forfurther information, see http://www.admin.ias.edu/pitp.

IAS CENTER FOR SYSTEMS BIOLOGYJune 8–9: Genomic Instability and Cancer

Sponsored by the Institute for Advanced Study andthe Center for Discrete Mathematics and Theoreti-

cal Computer Science (DIMACS), Rutgers University,a workshop on “Genomic Instability in Cancer: Biolog-ical and Mathematical Approaches” intends to initiatedialogue between experimental biologists and mathe-matical modelers on the subject of genomic instability, acharacteristic of many cancers.

The role of genomic instability in cancer progressionis an important and, as yet, unresolved question. The

workshop will bring together individuals whostudy genomic instability from different per-spectives, and will offer opportunities forextended discussion and learning, and foridentifying areas for cross-pollination betweenexperimental scientists and mathematicalmodelers.

Genomic instability often involves grosschromosomal abnormalities such as deletionand duplication of chromosomes or chromo-some parts, chromosomal rearrangements,and mitotic recombinations, generally termed“chromosomal instability.” Other types ofgenomic instability are characterized by an increasedrate of small-scale genetic changes (such as microsatel-lite instability). Mechanisms of genomic instability areintimately related to many aspects of cell biology, suchas cell cycle regulation, DNA damage and repair, cellaging, and telomere function.

On the other hand, the role of genomic instability incancer initiation and progression can be studied from thepoint of view of somatic evolution of cells, where math-ematical modeling can play an important part. Quantita-tive methods can provide an important tool in decipher-ing the mystery of genomic instability, as has been seenwith the study of infectious diseases, where mathemati-cians and biologists worked hand-in-hand to generateuseful insights. It is expected that a similar phenomenonwill happen in the area of cancer research. This work-shop, the first attempt to create a forum for experimentalbiologists and modelers of genomic instability, isdesigned to encourage collaboration and improve theunderstanding of cancer.

Workshop organizers are Natalia L. Komarova, Rut-gers, The State University of New Jersey and the Insti-tute for Advanced Study, and Arnold J. Levine, VisitingProfessor in the School of Natural Sciences and the Can-cer Institute of New Jersey.

The Center for Systems Biology at the Institute forAdvanced Study explores links between theoretical andexperimental biology, especially the interface of molecu-lar biology and the physical sciences. The Center for Sys-tems Biology is receiving support from the Leon Levy andShelby White Initiatives Fund, and other current grants.For further information, see http://www.csb.ias.edu.

PROGRAM FOR WOMEN IN MATHEMATICSMay 17–28: Analysis and Nonlinear PDEs

The Program for Women in Mathematics providesan opportunity for women undergraduate and grad-

uate students to work together with research mathe-maticians during an intensive 11-day workshop thatincludes lectures and seminars on a focused topic, men-toring, discussions on peer relations, and an introduc-tion to career opportunities. This year’s topic is analysisand nonlinear PDEs, and the program will include twolecture courses designed for beginning and advancedstudents in the field.

The beginning lecture course, “Harmonic Analysis:from Fourier to Haar,” will introduce students to thebasics of harmonic analysis, from Fourier’s heat equa-tion, and the decomposition of functions into sums ofcosines and sines (frequency analysis) to dyadic har-monic analysis (or decomposition into Haar basis func-tions, involving time localization). Lesley Ward (HarveyMudd College) will be the lecturer for the first week,and Cristina Pereyra (University of New Mexico) willlecture during the second week. Manuela Longoni deCastro (University of Mexico) and Stephanie Molnar(UCLA) will be the teaching assistants.

The topic of the advanced lecture course is “The WaveEquation: Classical and Modern Methods.” Jill Pipher(Brown University) will be the lecturer for the first week,and current Member in the School of Mathematics

Gigliola Staffilani (Massachusetts Institute of Technology),will lecture during the second week. Juhi Jang (BrownUniversity) will be the teaching assistant.

This course will present some classical and more mod-ern methods in the study of the linear and nonlinearwave equations when data are assigned at the initialtime. Participants will see that abstract functional analy-sis, harmonic analysis, and Fourier analysis can be used tosolve a very “physical” problem.

Cynthia Diane Rudin, a graduate student at Prince-ton University and former Program participant, willorganize the Women in Science seminars. On Saturday,May 20, a reunion of past participants will feature lec-tures, panel discussions, and a research poster session.

The Program’s organizers are former Member and for-mer Distinguished Visiting Professor in the School ofMathematics, Karen Uhlenbeck (University of Texas atAustin), current Member Sun-Yung Alice Chang(Princeton University), and former Member Chuu-LianTerng (Notheastern University).

The Program for Women in Mathematics, a joint program of the Institute for Advanced Study andPrinceton University, receives support from The Starr Foundation. For further information, seehttp://www.math.ias.edu/womensprogram.

THE 53RD A.W. MELLON LECTURESApril 18–May 23: “More Than Meets the Eye”

Irving Lavin, Professor Emeritus in the School of His-torical Studies, where he was Professor of Art History

from 1973–2001, is this year’s A. W. Mellon Lecturer inthe Fine Arts. Profes-sor Lavin will delivera series of six lectureson successive Sun-days between April18 and May 23 at2:00 p.m. at theNational Gallery ofArt in WashingtonD.C. The series,“More Than Meetsthe Eye,” includes six lectures titled“The Story of O from Giotto toEinstein,” on April18; “Michelangelo,Moses, and the War-rior Pope,” on April25; “Caravaggio I: Divine Dissimulation,” on May 2;“Caravaggio II: The View from Behind,” on May 9; “TheInfinite Spiral: Claude Mellan’s Miraculous Image,” onMay 16; and “Going for Baroque: Observations on thePostmodern Fold,” on May 23.

Professor Lavin’s numerous books on Florentine andRoman sculpture and architecture include: Santa Mariadel Fiore: The Cathedral of Florence and the PregnantMadonna (1999); Bernini, the Savior, and the “Good

3

Poster session at the 2003 Prospects in Theoretical Physics Program

UPCOMING WORKSHOPS AND PROGRAMS

Participants in the Program for Women in Mathematics

Irving Lavin, Professor Emeritus inthe School of Historical Studies

(Continued on page 6)

RA

ND

AL

L H

AG

AD

OR

N

AN

NE

BA

XT

ER

HU

ME

S

AN

NE

BA

XT

ER

HU

ME

S

4

Hideki Yukawa, and younger scholars such as MurrayGell-Mann, Freeman Dyson, Geoffrey Chew, Francis Low,Yoichiro Nambu, Ros Jost, and Cécile DeWitt-Morette.

By all accounts, Oppenheimer’s lecture style benefit-ed from an erudite command of the English language anda dry wit. He conveyed a sense of excitement about thescientific endeavor. Hans A. Bethe has written: “J.Robert Oppenheimer did more than any other man tomake American theoretical physics great. His taste andhis knowledge guided and stimulated young Americanphysicists for two generations ... Oppenheimer’s mindwas all the time concerned with the most fundamentalquestions in physics. This attitude of concentrating onthe fundamental difficulties and ignoring the easy prob-lems, he communicated to his students. ‘What we don’tunderstand we explain to each other,’ he once said indescribing the activities of the physics group at the Insti-

tute for Advanced Study. There was always a burningquestion which had to be discussed from all aspects, asolution to be found, to be rejected, and another solutionattempted. Wherever he was, there was always life andexcitement, and the expectation of excitement inphysics for generations to come.”

During Oppenheimer’s tenure as Director of the Insti-tute, outstanding physicists were appointed to the per-manent Faculty: Abraham Pais in 1950, Freeman Dysonin 1953, T. D. Lee and C. N. Yang in 1955, and BengtStrömgren in 1957. Yang and Lee did their 1957 NobelPrize-winning work on parity violation while they wereFaculty at the Institute. In the 1960s, there were sixphysics professors—Abraham Pais, C. N. Yang, T. D.Lee, Freeman Dyson, Tullio Regge, and Bengt Ström-gren—in the School of Mathematics. Nominally part ofthe School of Mathematics, physicists formed a workinggroup within it until an independent School of NaturalSciences was established in 1966.

The presence of physics, however, goes back to theInstitute’s first Faculty appointments of Einstein, Weyl,and von Neumann, in 1933. Einstein was a physicist.Weyl and von Neumann were mathematicians who hadmade major contributions to physics. In 1933, the Insti-tute had no permanent building. Its School of Mathe-matics was housed in borrowed quarters in the mathe-matics department at Princeton University. The Uni-versity’s generous act of offering office space to thenewly formed Institute’s Faculty initiated some confu-sion. The Institute has often been incorrectly perceivedas part of Princeton University.

Today, the areas of interest of the School of Natural

Sciences are elementary particle theory, astrophysics,and mathematical physics. String theory, in particular, iscurrently the most exciting and actively pursued branchof physics. Strong claims have been made for this theo-ry, which, in the view of many, is the best hope for pro-viding a unified theory of the fundamental forces ofnature, sometimes called the “Theory of Everything.”

Current Faculty of the School of Natural Sciencesare Stephen Adler, John Bahcall, Peter Goldreich,

Juan Maldacena,Nathan Seiberg,and Edward Witten.Professor EmeritusFreeman Dyson isan active member ofthe School.

Each year theSchool has some 50Members workingfull time in particlephysics and astro-physics. Short-termvisitors, some 150annually, includeinvited scholarsfrom around theworld for periods of afew days to a fewmonths. To encour-

age graduate students in the field, the School has created a two-week summer program, Prospects in Theoretical Physics (see page 3). �

the Spanish Civil War. The couple had twochildren.

World War II interrupted the work andlives of most American physicists. In 1942,Oppenheimer was appointed to the Manhat-tan Project, code-name for the project todevelop an atomic bomb. The projectinvolved several laboratories in secret loca-tions across the country, including the Uni-versity of Chicago; Oak Ridge, Tennessee;and Los Alamos, New Mexico. Oppenheimeroversaw the construction of the Los Alamoslaboratory, where he gathered the best mindsin physics to work on the problem of creat-ing an atomic bomb. Because of his leader-ship in this project, he is often referred to asthe “father” of the atomic bomb.

When the war ended, the governmentset up the Atomic Energy Commission toreplace the Manhattan Project. The AECwas charged with overseeing all atomicresearch and development in the United States. AsChairman of the General Advisory Committee, Oppen-heimer opposed the development of the hydrogenbomb. Known as the “Super Bomb,” the hydrogen bombwas a thousand times more powerful than the atomicbomb. In the context of the Cold War, when the Unit-ed States and the Soviet Union jockeyed for power,Oppenheimer’s stance was controversial.

In the 1950s, while Oppenheimer was Director of theInstitute, anti-Communist hysteria was sweepingthrough Washington, D.C., spearheaded by the conser-vative Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin.McCarthy and anti-Communist zealots devoted them-selves to rooting out Communist spies from every walkof American life. Oppenheimer was subjected to a secu-rity investigation that became a cause célèbre and divid-ed the intellectual and scientific community. In 1953,he was denied security clearance and lost his position

with the AEC. Doors that had formerly been open tohim were closed. “Oppenheimer took the outcome ofthe security hearing very quietly but he was a changedperson; much of his previous spirit and liveliness had lefthim,” recalled Hans Bethe.

Oppenheimer’s concern for the general public’s lack ofscientific understanding, and the difficulty of conveyingthe content of scientific discoveries as well as the exhila-ration of the creative act of discovery to even educatedlay people, led to several popular essays on science. He

delivered the Reith lectures on the BBC in1953. These were published under the title“Science and the Common Understanding.”

In April 1962, the U.S. Governmentmade amends for the treatment J. RobertOppenheimer suffered during the Mc-Carthy years, when President Kennedyinvited Oppenheimer to a White Housedinner of Nobel Prize winners. In 1963,President Johnson awarded Oppenheimerthe highest honor given by the AEC, theFermi Award.

Oppenheimer continued to stimulateresearch in theoretical physics as Directorof the Institute for Advanced Study until1966. He died of throat cancer on February18, 1967.

In 1967, George F. Kennan, ProfessorEmeritus in the School of Historical Stud-ies, wrote of his Institute colleague and con-temporary (both men were born in 1904):

“In preserving and developing the Institute forAdvanced Study as a seat of the purest and highest sortof scientific and intellectual effort; in giving hospitality,encouragement and inspiration to a host of talentedscholars—in many instances great scholars—from allparts of the world; in setting for these visitors and forthousands of others outside of Princeton an example ofthe scientific mind at its best, rigorous but humane, fas-tidious but generous and powerful, uncompromisinglyresponsible in its relationship to ascertainable truth butnever neglectful of the need for elegance and beauty inthe statement of it;—in doing all these things, he wasrendering a service of great importance to the progress ofscience and humane letters in this country and theworld over; and he was conscious of doing so. This was,I am sure, a comfort and a solace to him in the face ofthe disappointments and frustrations with which theseyears were otherwise replete.” �

SCHOOL OF NATURAL SCIENCES (Continued from page 1)

Professor Emeritus in the School ofNatural Sciences Freeman Dyson,

in the late 1940s

Abraham Pais, Sumiko Yakawa, and Hideki Yakawa, circa 1950

CO

UR

TE

SY

OF

TH

E I

AS

AR

CH

IVE

S

Oppenheimer in 1947 at the Shelter Island conference where theoret-ical physicists gathered to discuss the state of their field in the aftermathof World War II. From left to right, standing, are: W. Lamb, K.K.Darrow, Victor Weisskopf, George E. Uhlenbeck, Robert E. Marshak,Julian Schwinger, and David Bohm. From left to right, seated are: J.Robert Oppenheimer (holding pipe), Abraham Pais, Richard P.Feynman (seated, with pen in hand), and Herman Feshbach.

AL

AN

RIC

HA

RD

S

OPPENHEIMER (Continued from page 1)

CO

UR

TE

SY

OF

TH

E I

AS

AR

CH

IVE

S

This year marks the125th anniversary of

the birth of Albert Einstein(1879–1955) in Ulm, Ger-many, where, auspiciously,the city’s motto is Ulmensissunt mathematici. At theInstitute for AdvancedStudy, where he was amember of the Faculty from1933 until his death 22years later, Professor Einstein is still very much a part of living memory.While there is no overtmemorial to the great scientist, who was appoint-ed one of the Institute’sfirst Faculty members—hishome at 112 Mercer Streetcontinues to be a privatehome, his office continuesas the office of a workingmathematician—neverthe-less, Einstein’s legacy ofexcellence is still present.

During his lifetime, Einstein’s personal generosity was such that when his friendsand colleagues wanted to celebrate his 70th birthday, they devised a plan to surprisehim with a gift he could not give away. Atage 88, Jack Rosenberg, then a young engi-neer just out of the armed services andworking on John von Neumann’s Electron-ic Computer Project at the Institute,remembers the occasion in his unpublishedmemoir. As he records, Mr. Rosenberg hadnot expected to meet the famous scientist,with whom he shared a passionate love ofclassical music, let alone receive his atten-tion and friendship.

In the late 1940s, Mr. Rosenberg’sexpertise in designing and constructing hisown high fidelity recording system, at atime when no such equipment was com-mercially available, brought him to theattention of Einstein’s close friend and fel-low Institute professor, art historian ErwinPanofsky. Built for his own pleasure,Rosenberg’s audio equipment filled anentire room of his small Princeton apart-

ment. Word of its quality soon spreadamong local music lovers.

As recalled in Rosenberg’s memoir,Erwin Panofsky approached him in thelaboratory of the Electronic ComputerProject building to request a “favor.”The favor was to build an audio systemconsisting of an FM tuner, amplifier,and loudspeaker, each housed in a sep-arate wood cabinet. Signals would bereceived from classical music broad-casting stations located in New YorkCity; the entire project was to be keptsecret from Einstein until a workingsystem could be unveiled. Rosenbergsays, “Einstein’s friends wanted to givehim something that would please him.Not only did they want to select some-thing Einstein would enjoy frequently,but they also wanted something hecould not easily bestow on someoneelse. Since he was overly generous, he

usually gave away presents he received toanyone with a pitiful story.”

So it was that Rosenberg found himselfsurreptitiously installing an FM radio anten-na on the roof of 112 Mercer Street whileEinstein’s secretary, Helen Dukas, made surethat Einstein would remain absent from hishome. The antenna lead was dropped fromthe chimney above Einstein’s study, throughthe bottom windowsill, and concealedunder the rug where it lay hidden untilMarch 14, 1949, when Institute Director J.Robert Oppenheimer transported JackRosenberg and the equipment to Einstein’shome for the gift’s installation and presen-tation.

Rosenberg writes: “When all three cabi-nets were installed, I began hooking up theinterconnecting cables and told Einstein itwas an FM radio music system. He said ‘Butdoes it not need an aerial?’ I reached underthe rug, picked up the lead, and connectedit to the tuner. Suddenly it all registered.‘You have been here before. How did youget in?’ People unknown to him were neverpermitted to enter the house. By this timethe radio was playing a classical composi-tion. The look of pleasure in his face was a

sight I will never forget ... I have never witnessed a more authentic surprise.”To express his gratitude, Professor

Einstein invited Jack Rosenberg andhis wife, Frances, to his home for thefirst of a series of conversations thatthe Rosenbergs enjoyed until they leftPrinceton in October, 1951.

When Einstein died in 1955, hebequeathed his home to the Institute.The Einstein home was one of thefirst planned gifts to the Institute forAdvanced Study and it prompted thecreation, in 1996, of the EinsteinLegacy Society to honor those whoname the Institute in their will andthose who make a planned gift. Ein-stein’s stepdaughter, Margot, lived inthe home, which contained the fami-ly’s furniture brought from Germany

shortly after Einstein came to America, until herdeath in 1986.

In the spirit of Einstein’s generosity, the Insti-tute for Advanced Study has donated 65 piecesof his possessions to the Historical Society ofPrinceton. The 65 pieces include Einstein’s trea-sured Biedermeir-style grandfather clock, hisfavorite armchair, his wooden music stand, andhis pipe.

The Historical Society plans to devote aroom in Bainbridge House, at 158 NassauStreet, to the collection as part of an education-al and interpretative appreciation of Einstein’slife and work. �

Albert Einstein loved classical musicand was a keen violinist. His maplemusic stand is among the items given tothe Historical Society of Princeton bythe Institute.

Einstein’s 19th-century grandfather clock isnow part of the Albert Einstein furniture col-lection at the Historical Society of Princeton.

This late 19th-century German oak cabinet that stoodin Albert Einstein’s Princeton home at 112 MercerStreet is among the the 65 items of furniture donatedby the Institute for Advanced Study to the HistoricalSociety of Princeton.

Einstein was photographed on numerous occa-sions seated in this favorite upholstered tub arm-chair, now part of the Albert Einstein furniturecollection at the Historical Society of Princeton.

REMEMBERING ALBERT EINSTEINIn the Spirit of Einstein’s Legendary Generosity, the Institute Donates Einstein Furniture

to the Historical Society of Princeton

Albert Einstein in front of the Institute for Advanced Study

Albert Einstein in his study at 112 Mercer Street,Princeton, New Jersey

AL

AN

RIC

HA

RD

S

AL

AN

RIC

HA

RD

S

PE

TE

R C

. C

OO

K,

CO

UR

TE

SY

OF

TH

E H

IST

OR

ICA

L S

OC

IET

Y O

F P

RIN

CE

TO

N

PE

TE

R C

. C

OO

K,

CO

UR

TE

SY

OF

TH

E H

IST

OR

ICA

L S

OC

IET

Y O

F P

RIN

CE

TO

N

PE

TE

R C

. C

OO

K,

CO

UR

TE

SY

OF

TH

E H

IST

OR

ICA

L S

OC

IET

Y O

F P

RIN

CE

TO

N

PE

TE

R C

. C

OO

K,

CO

UR

TE

SY

OF

TH

E H

IST

OR

ICA

L S

OC

IET

Y O

F P

RIN

CE

TO

N

5

The Friends of the Institute have enjoyed a fullschedule of activities this year, including four

Friends Forums. The first, titled “Fighting AIDS in Developing

Countries: Brazil’s Model of Success,” was presented inOctober by Director’s Visitor José Serra. As BrazilianMinister of Health from 1998 to 2002, José Serra wasinvolved with intellectual property and strategic drugissues particularly as they pertain to the treatment ofAIDS. Brazil’s anti-AIDS campaign and AIDS policy isconsidered the best among developing countries, andDr. Serra discussed the evolution of Brazil’s AIDS strate-gies in this talk.

In November, Caroline Walker Bynum, Professor ofEuropean Medieval History in the Institute’s School ofHistorical Studies, presented “The Presence of Objects:Medieval Anti-Judaism in Modern Germany.” Dr.Bynum described her talk as follows: “In the later Mid-dle Ages in Germany, there were a number of siteswhere pilgrimages and pogroms developed aroundobjects supposedly abused by Jews. In some of theseplaces, the objects survive until today and raise ques-tions about how contemporary Germans and non-Ger-mans should treat such shameful objects from the past.”Dr. Bynum spoke about “the medieval context for suchobjects and modern attempts to memorialize and expi-ate the events.”

In March, Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Joint Visitor inthe Schools of Historical Studies and Social Science,presented “W.E.B. Du Bois and the EncyclopaediaAfricana.” W.E.B. Du Bois, the leading African-

American intellectual of the 20th century, dreamed ofediting an “Encyclopaedia Africana,” which he envi-sioned as a comprehensive compendium of knowledgeabout the history, cultures, and social institutions ofpeople of African descent. Du Bois was able to secureonly half the funds needed to complete his project.Inspired by Du Bois’ dream, Harvard professor HenryLouis Gates, Jr., and his colleague Kwame AnthonyAppiah, created what was left unfinished by Du Bois:the first scholarly encyclopedia whose scope is the entire

history of Africa and the African Diaspora.Ronald A. Carson, Special Visitor in the School of

Social Science, spoke on “Metaphorical Concentrationin Medicine,” in April. A bioethicist and “medicalhumanist,” Dr. Carson’s work is devoted to makinghealthcare more humane. He is the author of numerousarticles and three books. Dr. Carson is the Harris L.Kempner Distinguished Professor and Director, Institutefor the Medical Humanities, University of Texas Med-ical Branch.

The fall Fireside Chat was given in October byauthor Michael Curtis, who presented findings from hisbook, Verdict on Vichy: Power and Prejudice in the VichyFrance Regime, which explores the attitudes and actionsof French officials and citizens towards Jews in Franceduring World War II. In the book, Dr. Curtis examinesthe degree to which French citizens, including ministersand officials of the Vichy regime, the legal and adminis-trative system, the Church, and lay people, collectivelyparticipated in the discrimination and persecution ofJews. Michael Curtis is Distinguished Professor Emeritusof Political Science at Rutgers University.

The Friends Executive Committee hosted a holidayreception for Friends and Faculty in December at whichthe guests of honor were Phillip and Taffy Griffiths. InJanuary, Friends held a welcome reception for Peter andHelen Goddard.

Upcoming Friends events include the Friends annualmeeting and picnic on June 2. For information on theseevents, or if you are interested in becoming a Friend,please call Pamela Hughes at (609) 734-8204. �

6

FRIENDS OF THE INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED STUDY

AMIAS

In March, Dr. Goddard traveled toCalifornia and Washington to host

receptions for former Members andFriends of the Institute. At the Califor-nia Institute of Technology in Pasadena,former Member Diana Kormos-Buchwald spoke on “The History andWork of the Einstein Papers Project.”Visiting Intel in Berkeley, Avi Wigder-son, Herbert H. Maass Professor in theSchool of Mathematics, presented “TheDigital Envelope—A Crash Course inModern Cryptography,” and, in Medina,Washington, Arnold Levine, VisitingProfessor in the School of Natural Sci-ences, introduced guests to the IASCenter for Systems Biology and spokeon the “Human Genome Project.”

Dr. Peter Goddard with Diana Kormos-Buchwald, Director of the EinsteinPapers Project at Caltech, and AMIAS Board member

From left: Visiting ProfessorArnold Levine, Institute TrusteeCharles Simonyi, former Members in the School ofMathematics Christian Borgs andJennifer Chayes, andDr. Peter Goddard,on a visit to Medina, Washington

Death” in Seventeenth-Century Rome (1998), Bernini andthe Unity of the Visual Arts (1980), and Bernini and theCrossing of Saint Peter’s (1967). Studies published in Past-Present: Essays on Historicism in Art from Donatello toPicasso (1993) range from the early Renaissance throughthe twentieth century.

For further information see http://www.nga.gov/programs.

IAS/PARK CITY MATHEMATICS INSTITUTEJuly 11–31: Geometric Combinatorics

The 2004 PCMI Summer Session will take place July11–31 in Park City, Utah. Each year, the IAS/Park CityMathematics Institute (PCMI), a program of the Insti-tute for Advanced Study, draws mathematicsresearchers, educators, and post-secondary students for athree-week summer program of professional develop-ment and study.

This year’s research topic is “Geometric Combina-torics;” the education theme is “From Policy to Prac-tice: Partnerships with School Districts.” Researchorganizers are Ezra Miller and Victor Reiner of the Uni-versity of Minnesota, and Bernd Sturmfels of the Uni-versity of California at Berkeley. Education coordina-tors are Gail Burrill and Joan Ferrini-Mundy of Michi-gan State University, and Daniel Goroff of HarvardUniversity.

PCMI receives major funding from the National Sci-ence Foundation and additional funding from the fol-lowing foundations and individuals: the Starr Founda-tion, State of New Jersey, National Security Agency,Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation, George S. andDelores Doré Eccles Foundation, Mr. and Mrs. CharlesJaffin, Wolfensohn Family Foundation, and support fromthe University of Utah Department of Mathematics.

F o r f u r t h e r i n f o r m a t i o n s e e :http://www.admin.ias.edu/ma/. �

UPCOMING WORKSHOPS AND PROGRAMS (Continued from page 3)

Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. in conversation with Elaine Wolfensohn at the Institute for Advanced Study

AN

DR

EA

KA

NE

LIN

DA

GE

RA

CI

LIN

DA

GE

RA

CI

7

Epigraphist Stephen V. Tracy, who first.came to the Institute for Advanced

Study as a Member in the School of His-torical Studies in 1987–88, has made thestudy of Athenian letter cutters his spe-cial field of research. Through repeatedand painstaking examination involvingthousands of inscriptions and meticulousmeasurement, he has developed the abil-ity to distinguish the individual hands ofsome 100 stonecutters from the fifth tothe first century B.C.E. These highlyskilled artisans worked with hammer andchisel on marble and stone. Theyinscribed matters of state, copying lawsand decrees of the Athenian Council andAssembly for public display. They cuttexts at high speed in very small capitalletters, with no spaces between words or

sentences. They were extremely efficient and, it is thought, may have accompanieddignitaries on their travels throughout the Mediterranean. Dr. Tracy’s systematicexamination of their stylistic traits allows him to attribute even small fragments of aninscription to a particular “writer,” just as one might recognize the lettering style in ahandwritten note from a relative.

Since whole or nearly whole inscriptions are rare, it is important to piece fragmentstogether whenever possible. Being able to identify the unique “hand” of a masonallows dispersed pieces to be reunited, and helps date inscriptions to within the life-span of an individual stonecutter. In the course of his career, Tracy has studied thou-sands of laws and decrees found in Attica as well as on the Athenian island of Delosor on the walls of the Athenian treasury in the sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi. He isable to ascribe to each cutter a portfolio of inscriptions, some comprising a few pieces,others amounting to some sixty or more pieces.

As a Member and subsequent frequent visitor to the Institute, Dr. Tracy has madeuse of the extensive collection of “squeezes” in the School of Historical Studies’ Epi-graphical Library. “It was and is the best place—and at some periods the only place—for me to work. I can go through thousands of squeezes in a day there, whereas to seethat many stones in the museums here in Athens, to physically move them about so asto view the lettering in the best lighting conditions, would require months of work,”

he says. In expressing his gratitude to the Institute,and the particular support of Professors ChristianHabicht and Glen Bowersock in the School of His-torical Studies, Dr. Tracy recalls “very happy timesthere pursuing my work on hands and basking in theacademic ambience of the Institute. The squeeze col-lection at IAS is very complete for Attica.” In thepreface to his most recent book, Athens and Macedon:Attic Letter-Cutters of 300 to 229 B.C. (Berkeley2003), Dr. Tracy states, “Indeed, without the generoussupport of the School of Historical Studies at theInstitute for Advanced Study in Princeton and themagnificent squeeze collection housed there, littlecould have been accomplished.”

His studies have allowed Dr. Tracy to follow someof the unnamed stonecutters from Athens to Delphior to Athenian Delos and back to Attica. He hasbeen able to reconstruct the careers, some as long as

forty years or more, of individual masons and to date numerous documents with greateraccuracy than before.

Until Dr. Tracy’s first formal paper on the subject in 1970, “Identifying Epigraphi-cal Hands” in Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, “the study of lettering had beendone haphazardly, in a casual and amateurish way,” says Professor Habicht. “Today, theskill of recognizing hands of individual cutters is still Tracy’s exclusive possession. Ithas made him the undisputed and unrivaled expert in this field, to the same degreethat Sir John Beazley was the expert for Athenian vase painters.”

While Dr. Tracy’s “new method” has met with some skepticism—even he admits towondering sometimes whether he might be “dreaming it all”—it has proved effective.Often, after Dr. Tracy has identified two fragments of an inscription to the same hand,the fragments have been shown to fit together as parts of the same inscription. Liken-ing this aspect of his work to piecing together a jigsaw puzzle, Tracy says “The study ofindividual hands thus provides a very powerful tool for dating fragments, and even insome cases for putting them back together. This is the primary reason for doing it. Italso aids us greatly in dealing with the small fragments that so often face us, which areso very difficult to study, for, once one has learned a hand, it is possible to recognize

accurately even very small samples of a cutter’s writing.” “The reliability of Tracy’s method has been proven by its results,” comments Pro-

fessor Habicht, who notes that Tracy “has demonstrated hundreds of material jointsbetween pieces that had previously not been identified as belonging to one and thesame document...Each join is fresh proof of the validity of the method, and theseresults have therefore convinced experts in the field all over the world.”

Stephen Tracy’s work has resulted in advances in determining the chronology ofancient events, the precise dating of military campaigns, and even in distinguishingancient historical figures of the same name. He was, for example, able to distinguishthe scholarly Demetrios of Phaleron, a leading political figure of late fourth centuryB.C.E. Athens, from Demetrios the military general and grandson of the former.

For historians, inscriptions provide an invaluable resource. Information thusgleaned helps define personalities in the ancient world. We learn, for example, thatthe Athenian dramatist Sophocles was also treasurer of the Athenian empire, asrecorded in treasury accounts inscribed on the Acropolis, dating to the second half ofthe fifth century B.C.E. As Dr. Tracy puts it, “the study of hands provides a new meansto date more precisely-inscribed texts from antiquity and thus to achieve a betterunderstanding of the precious evidence they furnish us.”

Stephen Tracy received his A.B. from Brown University in 1963, and his M.A. andPh.D. from Harvard University in 1965 and 1968, respectively. At Harvard, he was astudent of Greek scholar and epigraphist Sterling Dow, himself a student of Harvardclassical historian William Scott Ferguson. Professor Habicht, recognized as the lead-ing authority on the history of Athens from the time of Alexander the Great to theestablishment of the Roman Empire, has described Dr. Tracy as “the legitimate heir ofthis great tradition and these two eminent figures.”

In 1986, Tracy founded the Center for Epigraphical and Paleographical Studies atOhio State University and is now Director of the American School of Classical Stud-ies at Athens. He is a member of the Rough Cilicia Survey Project and serves on theAdvisory Board overseeing publication of a third edition of Volume II of InscriptionesGraecae. His books include: Athens and Macedon: Attic Letter-Cutters of 300 to 229B.C. (Berkeley, 2003); Athenian Democracy in Transition: Attic Letter-Cutters of 340 to290 BC (Berkeley, 1995); Attic Letter-Cutters of 229 to 86 B.C. (Berkeley, 1990); TheStory of the Odyssey (Princeton, 1990); I.G. II2 2336: Contributors of First Fruits forthe Pythaïs (Meisenheim, 1982); The Lettering of an Athenian Mason (Princeton,1975); and, with John Bodel, Greek and Latin Inscriptions in the USA: A Checklist(Rome, 1997).

For further information on Stephen Tracy’s work, see his article, “Dating AthenianInscriptions: A New Approach,” in the Proceedings of the American Philosophical Soci-ety, Vol. 144, No. 1, March 2000, which can be found online at http://www.aps-pub.com/proceedings/mar00/Tracy.pdf. �

PIECING THE PASTFormer Member in the School of Historical Studies, Stephen V. Tracy is a Specialist in Greek Epigraphy

Stephen V. Tracy on the south slope of the Acropolis

This fragment of an inscription(IG II 2 59) is part of a decreefrom Athens of the very earlyfourth century B.C.E.

What is a Squeeze?

A“squeeze” is a copy of an inscription made by pressing damp paper over the lettering. The technique is used by scholars studying inscriptions writ-

ten in ancient times on stone tablets. Prepared in the field or in museums,squeezes provide a physical rendering of an inscription that can be removed andexamined elsewhere. According to Professor Christian Habicht, the techniquewas much used in the 19th century and can already be found in the 16th cen-tury. A committee working for the French Secretary of Education published rec-ommendations for their use in 1843, and they were used extensively by theFrench Academician Philippe Le Bas (1794–1860) in Asia Minor (1843), andby the German scholar Karl Richard Lepsius (1810–1884) in Egypt(1842–1845).

The Institute for Advanced Study is home to some 25,000 such squeezes. Acomplete inventory of the Institute’s collection, prepared under the direction ofProfessor Habicht, is now on CD-ROM. Squeezes originally from the IAS col-lection, such as those shown here, can be viewed online with others in the OhioState University collection on the website ofthe Center for Epigraphical and Paleograph-ical Studies: http://omega.cohums.ohio-state.edu/epigraphy/. �

This inscription (IG II 2 101) honors King of theMolossi, Alketas the Syracusan, so called because hewas exiled to Sicily and adopted into a Syracusan aris-tocratic family. Later restored to his throne, he assistedan Athenian force sent to Corfu and was honored inAthens during the winter of 373/2 B.C.E. It is thoughtthat the horse relief refers to a victory he won in anequestrian competition while in Athens.

INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED STUDYEINSTEINDRIVE

PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY 08540www.ias.edu

Board of TrusteesJames D. Wolfensohn,ChairmanJames G. ArthurRichard B. BlackFernando Henrique CardosoMartin A. ChooljianW. Robert ConnorMario DraghiPeter Goddard, ex officioVartan GregorianPeter R. KannImmanuel KohnMarie-Josée KravisMartin L. LeibowitzDavid K. P. LiNancy S. MacMillanDavid F. MarquardtRobert B. MenschelEdward J. NicollNancy B. PeretsmanJames J. Schiro

Ronaldo H. SchmitzJames H. SimonsCharles SimonyiAndrew StromingerMichel L. VaillaudShelby WhiteMarina v.N.WhitmanGavin WrightBrian F. Wruble

Trustees EmeritiTheodore L. CrossJoseph L. DoobSidney D. DrellWilfried GuthRalph E. HansmannHelene L. KaplanHamish MaxwellMartin E. SegalDonald B. StrausLadislaus von Hoffmann

Non-Profit Org.U.S. Postage PAID

Permit #49Princeton, NJ Faculty

Stephen L. AdlerJohn N. BahcallEnrico BombieriJean BourgainGlen W. BowersockCaroline Walker BynumPatricia CroneJosé CutileiroPierre DeligneNicola Di CosmoPeter GoldreichPhillip A. GriffithsPiet HutJonathan IsraelRobert P. LanglandsRobert D. MacPhersonJuan MaldacenaEric S. MaskinJoan Wallach ScottNathan Seiberg

Thomas SpencerVladimir VoevodskyHeinrich von StadenMichael WalzerAvi WigdersonEdward Witten

Faculty EmeritiMarshall ClagettGiles ConstableFreeman J. DysonClifford GeertzOleg GrabarChristian HabichtAlbert O. HirschmanGeorge F. KennanIrving LavinPeter ParetAtle SelbergMorton White

Have you moved? Please notify us of your change of address.Send changes to Office of Public Affairs, Institute for Advanced Study,Einstein Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540-0631 or email llg@ias.edu

TH

EI

NS

TI

TU

TE

L E

T T

E R

Academ

y & the Internet

This com

puter-generated image by artist K

azunori Takahashi was created for the experim

ental internet artproject M

apping the Web Infom

e. It appears on the cover of Academ

y & the Internet,

published in 2004 byPeter Lang Publishing Inc., N

ew York. A

cademy &

the Internetis a collection of essays edited by Helen N

is-senbaum

of New

York University and M

onroe E. Price of Yeshiva University. B

oth editors were M

embers

in the School of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study in 2000–01. T

he collection was devel-

oped as a work in progress during the sum

mer w

orkshop held by the School of Social Science in 2001 aspart of its program

in Information Technology and Society.

The essays explore the im

pact of the Internet on scholarly research in the social sciences and other fieldsof inquiry, and address topics in history, com

puter ethics, cyberlaw, aesthetics, politics, econom

ics and pub-lic policy. C

ontributing authors offer critical perspectives on the effects of the Internet on their particularfields of inquiry.

The editors cite the contributions of w

orkshop participants and School of Social Science Mem

bers JoanFujim

ura, Manuel D

eLanda, James D

er Derian, M

argaret Morse, Tom

Streeter, and Michele W

hite, among

others; as well as School of Social Science Faculty: Professor Em

eritus Clifford G

eertz, UPS Foundation Pro-

fessor Michael W

alzer, and Harold F. Linder Professor Joan W

allach Scott, for their support of the program.

The Inform

ation Technology and Society program w

as directed by Adam

Ashforth, V

isiting Associate Pro-

fessor in the School of Social Science, and was funded in part by T

he Rockefeller Foundation, T

he John D.

and Catherine T. M

acArthur Foundation, T

he Ford Foundation, and the Gladys K

rieble Delm

as Foundation.