By Donald Gilpin

The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) is one of the world’s great institutions for theoretical research, intellectual exploration, and academic alliances. It is famed as the former home base of Albert Einstein, J. Robert Oppenheimer, and many other celebrity scholars — but it remains somewhat of a mystery to many locals.

The aura of mystery is possibly due to its relative isolation, ensconced on about 600 acres on the southwestern edge of Princeton, and to the esoteric and complex nature of much of the work that is done there in the loftiest realms of science, mathematics, history, and social sciences.

A current posting, titled “Institute Instances,” on the Institute website at ias.edu will help to dispel some of the mystery. Through one to two-minute video snapshots of individuals who talk about their experiences at IAS, “Instances” provides a variegated picture of some of the work and other activity that goes on at the IAS.

There are 16 of these snapshots posted so far, more in the works, and all are interesting and accessible without requiring that the viewer possess any advanced degrees. It’s an unusual opportunity to learn about what goes on at this renowned institution.

Presented are individuals who are “pushing beyond the present limits of human knowledge,” in the words of IAS Founding Director Abraham Flexner. The IAS website notes that these “instances” of Institute life are “designed to show how everyone can play a role in actualizing discovery, and to celebrate a community devoted to excellence in scholarship.”

Subtitled “Profiles in Discovery,” the posting is all about people who are making discoveries in their work, and it also offers the outside viewer a rich array of discoveries about these unusual individuals.

The snapshots include leading scholars — scientists, mathematicians, historians, and social scientists; a librarian; a biographer, a composer, an archivist who worked with Christopher Nolan and the Oppenheimer movie crew, academic assistants, and a dining room manager.

Derek Bermel, composer, clarinetist, and IAS artist-in-residence (2009-2013), describes his conversations with IAS Mathematics Faculty Member Helmut Hofer, which inspired Bermel to write a symphony about symplectic geometry.

“I think I would want to jam with Einstein because he was a violinist and loved music, and I think he certainly understood the power of music and understood the anatomy of it and the way it related to his work,” Bermel says in the video. He goes on to relate how Hofer wanted a piece that involved his field of symplectic geometry, and during a conversation at lunch he mentioned the concept of deterministic chaos.

“So that was the genesis of the symplectic piece,” Berman explained. ”What I tried to do was to take some of his ideas and musicalize them, put them into sound form. Also take some of the deterministic chaos and put that into a structure for inviting musicians into thinking about how to create a piece on their own.”

He continued, “What I gained from being here so much was not only more insight into the historical and sociological, but a meeting with the scientific and mathematical. How all those things fit together is somehow at the root of what is so special about the Institute.”

Other Institute “instances” are equally compelling. Emma Moore, the mathematics and natural sciences librarian at IAS who tells of her “work with the archivist to surface the untold stories of the Institute,” relates the history of the library from the early days of the IAS through the tenure of the first permanent librarian, Judith Sachs (1944-64).

“Sitting in the office, I like imagining that I’m sitting and watching the 1950s and ’60s go by,” Moore says. “I’d like to tell her that what she built has lasted and that I’m part of her legacy at the library.”

Lia Medeiros, a visitor in the IAS School of Natural Sciences, describes her “fruitful and happy time at IAS” with some “pretty exciting scientific results that I’m proud of,” as she created an algorithm to produce new images of the black hole at the center of our galaxy that can be used to test Einstein’s theory of gravity.

In her two-minute video snapshot, Historical Studies School Member Sarah Davis-Secord focuses on how her understanding of transregional histories and connections has evolved through interactions with colleagues from different fields. “It’s not just a process of me producing my own work, but learning from my fellow Members and learning in the daily conversations over tea or lunch,” she says.

Other Institute individuals who appear for one to two-minute video snapshots include Lehigh University Associate Professor Maria Barbara Zepeda Cortes, who is working on a biography of an 18th century Spanish statesman; Princeton University Assistant Computer Science Professor Pravesh Kothari, who describes interacting with IAS “celebrities” and making connections between pure mathematics and computer science; IAS Archivist Caitlin Rizzo, who supplied research and stories about the history of IAS to help the visiting Oppenheimer movie-makers; and Social Science Research Associate Marc Aidinoff and Astrophysicist Digvijay Wadekar, who both comment on the significance of interdisciplinary collaboration at IAS.

Geoff Mann, political economist and political theorist, focuses on the “extraordinary amount of uncertainties” in trying to understand how the world and its climate work, and he finds IAS a place where uncertainties are welcomed. “There’s a real chance here to take a leap,” he says. “This is a really special place to be.”

Other snapshot interviews feature Renee Robinson, the IAS catering supervisor and dining room manager, who describes how the many different food-related gatherings at the Institute create community and collaborations; Academic Assistant Suparna Mahableshwarkar, who tells about the variety of lectures and events she has attended while working at IAS; Historian Priyamvada Gopal, who talks about “how other peoples’ work can inspire” and “you find synergies,” as she notes how hearing a talk at IAS about Franz Schubert inspired her own research on decolonization; mathematician Sean Howe, who has learned about a new branch of mathematics on the playground, where he talked with other parents as their young children played together; astrophysicist Sihao Cheng, who is searching to discover a distant ninth planet in our solar system; and Jenna Kelly, academic assistant in the Social Science School, who emphasizes the she has found new ideas, academic engagement, and deep friendships at IAS.

More information and a direct look at these video snapshots are available at ias.edu.