Videos at IAS
Many of the public lectures, conferences, seminars, and workshops that have been held at the Institute for Advanced Study are available for viewing on these pages. Selected talks are highlighted below, and you may also search for others by subject, School, or year via the side menu.
Cosmology: Recent Results and Future Prospects
In this talk, Professor Matias Zaldarriaga discusses the development of the modern study of cosmology, beginning with the discovery of the expansion of the Universe by Edwin Hubble, through current efforts to map the cosmic microwave background, test ideas about the initial conditions of the Universe, and explain the accelerated expansion of the Universe. The lecture was part of the Institute for Advanced Study’s celebration of its eightieth anniversary.
For more talks related to the School of Natural Sciences, see a complete listing of videos here.
In this presentation, Professor Glen W. Bowersock discusses the emergence and interrelated fates of Rome, Constantinople, and Moscow. Rome became the capital of a great Mediterranean empire, which tried through myth and mystique to reconcile its legendary Trojan origins with its presence in Italy. As Roman power grew, the city's name became synonymous with the center of imperial government and, as Christianity grew, of ecclesiastical authority too. But when Constantine transferred the imperial capital to Byzantium and renamed the city after himself, Constantinople became a new or second Rome. For many centuries, this eastern Rome was both the capital of the Byzantine empire and the center of orthodox Christianity. It succumbed to the Ottoman Turks in 1453, and the Russians, who had accepted Christianity from the Byzantine Greeks, could then claim that Moscow had become the Third Rome. This lecture explores the implications of the triadic concept and the lessons it has to teach us about our past and our present.
For more talks related to the School of Historical Studies, see a complete listing of videos here.
Alan B. Krueger, Leon Levy Foundation Member (2007–08) in the School of Social Science. Some economists view unemployment as a minor concern, while others argue that it is a serious malady. This Leon Levy Lecture presents new evidence on the lot of the unemployed, in the United States and other countries, including the psychological well-being of the unemployed and how the unemployed spend their time, with a particular focus on time spent searching for a new job. The effect of unemployment benefits on job search activity is considered from both a theoretical and an empirical perspective.
For more talks related to the School of Social Science, see a complete listing of videos here.
One of the oldest subjects in mathematics is the study of Diophantine equations, i.e., the study of whole number (or fractional) solutions to polynomial equations. It remains one of the most active areas of mathematics today. Perhaps the most basic tool is the simple idea of “congruences,” particularly congruences modulo a prime number. In this talk, Richard Taylor, Professor in the School of Mathematics, introduces prime numbers and congruences and illustrates their connection to Diophantine equations. He also describes recent progress in this area, an application, and reciprocity laws, which lie at the heart of much recent progress on Diophantine equations, including Wiles’s proof of Fermat’s last theorem.
For more talks related to the School of Mathematics, see a complete listing of videos here.