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Simons Foundation Lectures

Simons Foundation

The Simons Foundation’s mission is to advance the frontiers of research in mathematics and the basic sciences.

Co-founded in New York City by Jim and Marilyn Simons, the foundation exists to support basic — or discovery-driven — scientific research undertaken in the pursuit of understanding the phenomena of our world.

The Simons Foundation’s support of science takes two forms: We support research by making grants to individual investigators and their projects through academic institutions, and, with the launch of the Flatiron Institute in 2016, we now conduct scientific research in-house, supporting teams of top computational scientists.

Links:
Simons Foundation: https://www.simonsfoundation.org
Flatiron Institute: https://www.simonsfoundation.org/flatiron/
Simons Foundation Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SimonsFoundation
Flatiron Institute Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FlatironInstitute/
Simons Foundation Twitter: https://twitter.com/simonsfdn
Flatiron Institute Twitter: https://twitter.com/flatironinst

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  • 134 episodes
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  • Avg 59 min
  • English

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  • Yesterday · 1 hr 6 min

    Antoine Browaeys - Exploring Many-Body Problems With Arrays of Individual Atoms (October 11, 2023)

    Over the last twenty years, physicists have learned to manipulate individual quantum objects, such as atoms, ions, molecules, quantum circuits and electronic spins. Scientists can now build a synthetic quantum computer “atom by atom.” By controlling the interactions between atoms, scientists can study the properties of these elementary many-body systems, including quantum magnetism, transport of excitations and superconductivity, and thus gain a deeper understanding of the N-body problem. More recently, scientists realized that these quantum machines may find applications in industry, such as finding the solution of combinatorial optimization problems. Uploaded 08-11-23 In this lecture, Antoine Browaeys will present an example of a synthetic quantum system based on laser-cooled ensembles of individual atoms trapped in microscopic optical tweezer arrays. By exciting the atoms to Rydberg states, he and his colleagues can make the atoms interact even at distances of more than 10 micrometers. In this way, they can study the magnetic properties of an ensemble of more than a hundred interacting one-half spins in a regime in which simulations by usual numerical methods are already very challenging. Some aspects of this research led to the creation of a startup called Pasqal. More details: https://www.simonsfoundation.org/event/exploring-many-body-problems-with-arrays-of-individual-atoms/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • Yesterday · 44 min

    ICM 2026 Invited Section Lecture - Sibylle Schroll

    On Geometric Models in Representation Theory Geometric models have emerged as an important tool in the representation theory of algebras. Surface models associated to gentle algebras have been particularly fruitful in advancing our understanding of their module and derived categories. We give an overview of some of the theoretical advances that geometric surface models for the derived categories of graded gentle algebras and their connections to Fukaya categories of surfaces have made possible. Uploaded 06-10-26 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • Yesterday · 54 min

    Emery Brown - Rethinking General Anesthesia (October 20, 2021)

    General anesthesia is a drug-induced, reversible condition comprised of five behavioral states: unconsciousness, amnesia (loss of memory), antinociception (loss of pain sensation), akinesia (immobility), and hemodynamic stability with control of the stress response. Uploaded 22-10-21 In this lecture, Emery Brown will discuss work by him and his colleagues showing that a primary mechanism through which anesthetics create these altered states of arousal is by initiating and maintaining highly structured oscillations. These oscillations impair communication among brain regions. Brown and collaborators illustrate this effect by presenting human and non-human primate studies using high-density EEG and intracranial recordings. These studies have allowed them to give a detailed characterization of the neurophysiology of loss and recovery of consciousness due to propofol, and more recently, ketamine. In addition, they show how these dynamics change systematically with different anesthetic classes and with age. Consequently, they have developed a principled, neuroscience-based paradigm for using the EEG to monitor the brain states of patients receiving general anesthesia. In addition, they demonstrate that the state of general anesthesia can be rapidly reversed by activating specific brain circuits. Finally, they show that the state of general anesthesia can be controlled using closed-loop feedback control systems. The success of their research has depended critically on tight coupling of experiments, signal processing research and mathematical modeling. More details: https://www.simonsfoundation.org/event/rethinking-general-anesthesia/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • Yesterday · 1 hr

    Camillo De Lellis - When Reason Produces Monsters While It Is Wide Awake (October 25, 2023)

    “I turn with terror and horror from this lamentable scourge.” Henri Poincare uttered this sentence in response to Karl Weierstrass’ famous example of a continuous curve that has no tangent at any point. Uploaded 08-11-23 In this lecture, Camillo De Lellis will argue that this terrifying curve is just the first of a long series of counterintuitive mathematical objects that all share common aspects. In particular, they all result from piling up ‘appropriate waves’ at smaller and smaller scales in a suitable way. He will touch upon famous constructions of John Nash and Stephen Smale in the ’50s and ’60s, celebrated subsequent works of Mikhael Gromov, and relatively recent discoveries pertaining to the most basic equations in incompressible fluid dynamics. More details: https://www.simonsfoundation.org/event/when-reason-produces-monsters-while-it-is-wide-awake/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • Yesterday · 55 min

    Irit Dinur - High Dimensional Expanders in Theoretical Computer Science (October 27, 2021)

    Expander graphs have been useful in computer science with versatile applications, including coding theory, networking, computational complexity and geometry. Uploaded 02-11-21 High-dimensional expanders are a generalization that has been studied in recent years and hold promise for some new and exciting applications in theoretical computer science. In the talk, Irit Dinur will survey some fascinating local to global properties of high-dimensional expanders. Can these be harnessed for further computer science applications? She will describe the state-of-the-art and interesting future directions. More details: https://www.simonsfoundation.org/event/high-dimensional-expanders-in-theoretical-computer-science/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • Yesterday · 1 hr 4 min

    Mohammed AlQuraishi: How, and What, Does AlphaFold Learn About Protein Structure?

    In this Presidential Lecture, AlQuraishi will discuss recent evidence on the extent to which AlphaFold appears to learn to perform implicit physical modeling, and how this knowledge is acquired during its training. He will present use cases in which this implicit knowledge unlocks new capabilities and where it falls short. He also plans to discuss the differences between AlphaFold 2 and AlphaFold 3 regarding this question of implicit physical knowledge, and how their architectural differences may have led to different inductive priors. Uploaded 05-10-26 For more information please visit: https://www.simonsfoundation.org/event/how-and-what-does-alphafold-learn-about-protein-structure/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • Yesterday · 1 hr 4 min

    Slava Rychkov - Reductionism vs Bootstrap (Nov 6, 2019)

    Scientists love to reduce physical systems to a few elementary blocks, which they use like Lego building blocks to build more complicated ‘composite’ objects. Geoffrey Chew in the 1960s hypothesized, in connection with high-energy physics, a different type of situation. In this scenario, there are infinitely many particles, all of them equally elementary (or equally composite). The particles mutual existence is forced by tight requirements of self-consistency. He called this scheme ‘bootstrap,’ referring to a magical act of lifting oneself by one’s shoes. Uploaded 08-11-19 In this lecture, Slava Rychkov will explain how the ‘bootstrap’ idea recently found a concrete realization in the theory of critical phenomena, with the three-dimensional Ising model being the simplest bootstrap system. More details: https://www.simonsfoundation.org/event/reductionism-vs-bootstrap-are-big-things-always-made-of-elementary-things/https://www.simonsfoundation.org/event/reductionism-vs-bootstrap-are-big-things-always-made-of-elementary-things/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • Yesterday · 48 min

    ICM 2026 Invited Section Lecture - Jean Christophe Mourrat

    Spin Glasses and the Parisi Formula Spin glasses are models of statistical mechanics in which a large number of simple elements interact with one another in a disordered fashion. One of the fundamental results of the theory is the Parisi formula, which identifies the limit of the free energy of a large class of such models. Yet many interesting models remain out of reach of the classical theory, and direct generalizations of the Parisi formula yield invalid predictions. I will report on some partial progress towards the resolution of this problem, which also brings a new perspective on classical results. Uploaded 06-10-26 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • Yesterday · 1 hr 3 min

    Maxim Kontsevich - From Equivariant Blow-Ups to Modular Symbols (November 13, 2019)

    Part of the beauty of mathematics is the interplay between its different branches. In this lecture, Maxim Kontsevich will talk about a recent discovery of an unexpected relation between questions in birational algebraic geometry and the theory of automorphic forms. Computer experiments with an easy-looking system of equations played an essential role in the discovery. More details: https://www.simonsfoundation.org/event/from-equivariant-blow-ups-to-modular-symbols/ Uploaded 19-11-19 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • Yesterday · 40 min

    Matthieu Dartiailh - Phase signature of topological transition in Josephson juncts (Oct 11, 2019)

    Topological transition transforms common superconductivity into an exotic phase of matter, which holds promise for fault-tolerant quantum computing. A hallmark of this transition is the emergence of Majorana states. While two-dimensional semiconductor/superconductor heterostructures are desirable platforms for topological superconductivity, direct phase measurements as the fingerprint of the underlying topological transition are conspicuously missing. On gate tunable Josephson junctions made on epitaxial Al/InAs, we observe a closing and a reopening of the superconducting gap with increasing in-plane magnetic field. Since our junctions are embedded into a phase-sensitive SQUID, we are able to measure a π-jump in the superconducting phase across the junction coincident with the closing and reopening of the superconducting gap. Theoretical simulations confirm this transition is topological and compatible with the emergence of Majorana states while the magnetic field angle dependence of the transition further constrain this scenario. Remarkably, in each junction, this topological transition can be controlled by changing the gate voltage. These findings reveal versatile two-dimensional platforms for scalable topological quantum computing. More details: https://www.simonsfoundation.org/event/qclub-seminar-matthieu-dartiailh/ Uploaded 22-11-19 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • Yesterday · 49 min

    ICM 2026 Invited Section Lecture - Thomas Rothvoss

    The Subspace Flatness Conjecture The covering radius $\mu(\Lambda,K)$ of a convex body $K \subseteq \setR^n$ with respect to a full rank lattice $\Lambda \subseteq \setR^n$ is the minimum scaling needed so that translates of $K$ placed at every lattice point cover the whole $\setR^n$. A question going back to work of Kannan and Lov\'asz (1988) is how well the covering radius is described solely by the volume of $K$ and the density of the lattice, after projecting both into a suitable subspace. We report on significant progress on this question due to Regev and Stephens-Davidowitz (2016) who resolve this problem for ellipsoids and Reis and Rothvoss (2023) who cover the general case. We also survey applications of these results that give near-optimal bounds on the flatness constant as well as a $(\log n)^{O(n)}$-time algorithm for solving $n$-variable integer programs, following work of Dadush (2012). This is based on joint work with Victor Reis. Uploaded 06-10-26 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • Yesterday · 9 min

    Leelavati Prize: Ali Nesin

    Created by Old Bridge Media: John Hubbell - Creative Director, Writer and Senior Producer Lance Murphey – Cinematographer, Field Director and Editor Meredith Hogan - Producer Jennifer Smart – Editor and Illustrator Jonathan Kirkscey – Composer Kevin House - Audio Engineer Uploaded 07-09-18 Executive Producer: Philip Yam, Simons Foundation Opening Graphics: AST Studios © 2018 International Mathematical Union Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • Yesterday · 1 hr 3 min

    Thierry Emonet – Conflicts and synergies b/w individuality and collective behavior (November 19, 2019)

    Conflicts and synergies between individuality and collective behavior Cells live in communities where they interact with each other and their environment. By coordinating individuals, such interactions often result in collective behavior that emerges on scales larger than the individuals that are beneficial to the population. At the same time, populations of individuals, even isogenicones, display phenotypic heterogeneity, which diversifies individual behavior and enhances the resilience of the population in unexpected situations. This raises a dilemma: although individuality provides advantages, it also tends to reduce coordination. I will report on our recent experimental and theoretical efforts that use bacterial chemotaxis as model system to understand, the origin of individual cellular behavior and performance, and how populations of cells reconciliate individuality with group behavior. More details: https://www.simonsfoundation.org/event/ccb-colloquium-thierry-emonet/ Uploaded 25-11-19 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • Yesterday · 50 min

    ICM 2026 Invited Section Lecture - Jennifer Morse

    A Combinatorial Ride from Macdonald Polynomials to Schubert Calculus and Back When I started my Ph.D., I had never even heard of combinatorics. Adriano Garsia and Jeff Remmel eagerly stepped in and taught me that it is the study of a remarkable family of symmetric functions called Macdonald polynomials. By the time I discovered that their definition was not universally accepted, I had already been thoroughly indoctrinated. In this talk, I will share the Garsia–Remmel lessons, along with the story of how decades of playing with Young tableaux led to the development of a combinatorial architecture that underlies both these Macdonald polynomials and a branch of algebraic geometry known as Schubert calculus. Uploaded 06-10-26 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • Yesterday · 53 min

    Joakim Lunderberg - Molecular maps in tissue and disease (November 5, 2019)

    RNA-sequencing offers the possibility to analyze the expression of all genes in a sample. However, the spatial information of gene expression is lost. In the pioneering work, a method was described that allowed studies of gene expression in tissue sections using RNA-sequencing to uncover transcriptional patterns in situ (Ståhl et al, Science, 2016). The basic concept is remarkably simple; by placing tissue sections on arrayed reverse transcription oligonucleotides with positional barcodes, cDNA for RNA-sequencing can be generated with maintained positional information within the tissue. The quality of the obtained cDNA libraries is as high as with the best protocols for homogenized tissue. Applying this strategy has been demonstrated to work remarkably well and allows visualizing and quantifying the transcriptome in regular histological tissue sections, i.e. tissue domains can be matched to precise gene expression patterns. Furthermore, data-driven methods can be applied to discover in an unsupervised manner transcriptomic patterns in space. Such patterns correspond to cell-types, microenvironments, or tissue components that allows for novel avenues of research. More details: https://www.simonsfoundation.org/event/ccb-colloquium-joakim-lunderberg/ Uploaded 25-11-19 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • Yesterday · 58 min

    Michael Hiller - Linking phenotypic differences between species to ... (November 12, 2019)

    Identifying the DNA changes that underlie phenotypic adaptations is a key challenge in genomics and evolutionary biology. In the first part of the talk, I will address the fate of cis-regulatory elements in snakes that lost limbs and in subterranean mammals that have degenerated eyes. By combining genome sequencing and functional genomics with comparative analyses, we identified thousands of non-coding genomic regions that exhibit higher sequence divergence specifically in these lineages. We found that these diverged genomic regions often correspond to limb- and eye-specific regulatory elements and that sequence divergence resulted in an extensive loss of relevant transcription factor binding sites. Overall this reveals a genome-wide picture of the non-coding genomic changes involved in limb loss and eye degeneration. In the second part, I will present our work on investigating the role of gene inactivation (loss) for adaptive evolution in mammals. By developing a genomics approach to accurately detect gene-inactivating mutations and applying it to the genomes of 60 mammals, we discovered a number of lineage-specific as well as convergent gene losses that likely contribute to adaptations of different mammals to life in water or dietary specializations. More details: https://www.simonsfoundation.org/event/ccb-colloquium-michael-hiller/ Uploaded 25-11-19 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • Yesterday · 13 min

    Science Lives: Egbert Brieskorn

    Chapter 1, "Platonic Solids." Watch the complete interview at http://www.simonsfoundation.org/science_lives_video/egbert-brieskorn/ Uploaded 30-01-15 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Showing 21–40 of 134 episodes