In this survey lecture (which will be continued), I plan to explain basic aspects of the representation theory of finite groups, and how these are applied to various questions regarding expansion and random walks on groups.

In the aftermath of several great imperial expansions, especially those of the Arabs and the Europeans, one sees the phenomenon of the native who has accepted the religion and/or culture of the hegemonic foreigners, only to rediscover his native identity and proceed to take political action against them. In this lecture, Crone will explore what lies behind this reaction and why it was much less characteristic of Islamized natives than it has been of Westernized ones.

The quest for understanding the origin of our universe has been dramatically transformed since the expansion of the universe was discovered by Edwin Hubble in 1929, thanks to impressive advances in astronomical observations and laboratory experiments. Cosmology is now widely regarded as a precision science. Although confidence in our models has increased, deep questions remain unanswered.

Bodies bound by gravity can evolve in surprising ways. In accord with everyday experience and physical law, heat flows from regions of high to low temperature, and angular momentum from regions of fast to slow spin. However, counter to intuition, in bodies supported by thermal pressure, the hot regions become hotter, whereas in those supported by rotation, the regions of rapid spin spinup. Goldreich will explain this behavior and describe its ultimate consequences.

For the past decade, the Institute’s Science Initiative Group (SIG) has worked with the World Bank and other partners to strengthen science in developing nations. In this talk, Phillip Griffiths, who helped create SIG when he was Director of the Institute from 1991 to 2003, will address the context for and evolution of SIG’s programs, with emphasis on the new Carnegie–IAS Regional Initiative in Science and Education (RISE), which prepares Ph.D.-level scientists and engineers in sub-Saharan Africa through university-based research and training networks.

Although the concept of randomness is ubiquitous, it turns out to be difficult to generate a truly random sequence of events. The need for “pseudorandomness” in various parts of modern science, ranging from numerical simulation to cryptography, has challenged our limited understanding of this issue and our mathematical resources. In this talk, Professor Jean Bourgain explores some of the problems of pseudorandomness and tools to address them.

Peter Paret, Professor Emeritus in the School of Historical Studies, will discuss aspects of the work of the sculptor and dramatist Ernst Barlach, a major figure in German modernism. As independent in his politics as in his art, he opposed National Socialism on grounds of common decency, was included in the Degenerate Art Exhibition, and died in 1938 a forbidden but unrepentant modernist.