Discovery: Research at Princeton
Findings, feature articles, books and awards from Princeton University researchers
Tree, by Zhen James Xiang 2012 Ph.D. in electrical engineering Second-place winner in Princeton’s 2011 Art of Science competition The algorithm used here recursively cuts an image into smaller rectangular pieces. For each cut, a larger rectangle is divided either horizontally or vertically into Continue Reading →
Game theory could help researchers gain an understanding of the dynamics of cancerous-tumor evolution under stress, according to research published in the journal AIP Advances in March 2012 by researchers at Princeton and the University Continue Reading →
Princeton researchers collaborate closely with researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL), located about three miles from the University’s main campus at Princeton’s Forrestal Campus. GFDL is a Continue Reading →
Ask most people to draw a heart and they will make a symmetrical drawing with two equal sides. But the human heart is far from symmetrical. The right side is slightly smaller, built for pumping Continue Reading →
G. John Ikenberry, the Albert G. Milbank Professor of Politics and International Affairs in Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, provides the most systematic statement yet about the theory and practice of Continue Reading →
You’ve heard the song about a girl with diamonds on the soles of her shoes, but did you know that you have platinum in your sneakers? It also can turn up in shampoo, denim jeans, Continue Reading →
A rare and exotic mineral so unusual that it was thought impossible to exist came to Earth on a meteorite, according to an international team of scientists led by Princeton physics professor Paul Steinhardt. The Continue Reading →
By spanning the social sciences and the Americas in his research, Professor of Sociology Edward Telles is increasing our understanding of how race and inequality interact. Telles focuses his research on comparative studies of race Continue Reading →
Princeton researchers are applying Darwinian evolution principles to naturally occurring antibacterial molecules to create novel antibiotics for the food and drug industries. Bacteria secrete antimicrobial peptides — short chains of amino acids — for defense Continue Reading →
Nature is nothing if not green. It reduces, reuses and recycles whenever possible. Now Princeton researchers have discovered that bacteria can repurpose proteins used for cell growth into structural supports that maintain cell shape. “We’ve Continue Reading →
In an announcement that received international attention, the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) on July 4, 2012, said that physicists observed a new particle whose properties are consistent with the predicted Higgs boson, a Continue Reading →
In the basement of Princeton’s Hoyt Laboratory, Alexei Tyryshkin clicked a computer mouse and sent a burst of microwaves washing across a silicon crystal suspended in a frozen cylinder of stainless steel. The waves pulsed Continue Reading →
The first observation of a cosmic effect theorized 40 years ago could provide astronomers with a more precise tool for understanding the forces behind the universe’s formation and growth, including the enigmatic phenomena of dark energy and dark matter. A large Continue Reading →
Brian Kernighan, a celebrity in the world of computer science, has written a new book hailed as essential reading for non-geeks. D is for Digital (selfpublished, 2011) explains computers in everyday language and is Continue Reading →
As the Earth’s climate changes, the worst inundations from hurricanes and tropical storms could become far more common in low-lying coastal areas, a study from Princeton and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) suggests. The Continue Reading →
Despite negative stereotypes associated with poverty, people have very positive views of low-income people who are seen as striving to achieve, according to research by Ann Marie Russell, who earned her Ph.D. in Princeton’s Department Continue Reading →
Daniel Rodgers, Princeton’s Henry Charles Lea Professor of History, offers a powerful reinterpretation of the ways in which the decades surrounding the 1980s changed America in his Bancroft Prize-winning book. Through a contagion of visions Continue Reading →
Edgar Choueiri creates illusions with sound. He can conjure a distant trumpet or a voice whispering in your ear, but there is nothing there. “[Author] Arthur C. Clarke said any technology, if sufficiently advanced, appears Continue Reading →
Seeking to better understand the level of death and destruction that would result from a large meteorite striking the Earth, Princeton researchers developed a new model that can not only more accurately simulate the seismic Continue Reading →
Translations never produce quite the same phrasing, feeling or meaning as the original, according to Princeton professor David Bellos. In his 2011 book, Is That a Fish in Your Ear?: Translation and the Meaning of Continue Reading →
As the Department of Mathematics’ first female chair, Sun-Yung Alice Chang has taken a personal interest and central role in attracting more women to the field. Chang, Princeton’s Eugene Higgins Professor of Mathematics, served as Continue Reading →
Princeton researchers are leading an effort to put to pasture the long-held convention of cattle ranching that wild animals compete with cows for food. Two studies offer the first experimental evidence that allowing cattle to Continue Reading →
Thomas Christensen explains how problems in alliance politics complicate coercive diplomacy in international relations and thereby make war more likely and peace accords harder to reach. Christensen is the William P. Boswell Professor of World Continue Reading →
A banned adaptation of an important novel-in-verse. A lost score with 44 parts. A wait of nearly 80 years. These are the challenging elements that came together for Princeton’s staging of the classic Russian tale Continue Reading →
For his senior thesis, Princeton molecular biology major Kristan Scott studied a mutant gene linked to colorectal cancer and to the cancer’s ability to resist chemotherapy. Scott helped find the ideal combination of cancer treatments Continue Reading →
The Ethiopian saint Walatta Petros scolded her fellow females for wasting time on manicures instead of praying. She argued forcefully with the male leaders of her country. And she helped drive Portuguese missionaries from Ethiopia Continue Reading →
How important are government policies and institutions in encouraging savings? Very important. My book shows that people tend to save more when they are offered accessible, convenient and safe savings institutions. In the United States Continue Reading →
Poems, grocery lists and other works provide fascinating insights into Michelangelo’s personality — at times introspective and melancholy, at other moments light-hearted and irreverent. In his book Michelangelo: A Life on Paper, Leonard Barkan, the Continue Reading →
Toni Morrison, Nobel laureate and Princeton’s Robert F. Goheen Professor in the Humanities Emeritus, was named by President Barack Obama as a 2012 recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in Continue Reading →
Harold T. Shapiro (left), Princeton president emeritus and a professor of economics and public affairs in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, was awarded the 2012 National Academy of Sciences’ Public Welfare Continue Reading →
Two Princeton professors have received the 2012 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on science and engineering professionals in the early stages of their research careers. David Continue Reading →
Peter Brown, Princeton’s Philip and Beulah Rollins Professor of History Emeritus, and senior historian, received the 2011 Balzan Prize for his research on ancient history, specifically the Greco-Roman world. Four Balzan Prizes are awarded annually Continue Reading →
Tracy K. Smith, an assistant professor of creative writing in Princeton’s Lewis Center for the Arts, won the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for poetry for Life on Mars, which the prize committee called “a collection of bold, Continue Reading →
Princeton University faculty members were selected in 2012 as four of 21 inaugural Simons Investigators, a prestigious program aimed at supporting research by mathematicians, theoretical physicists and theoretical computer scientists. Each faculty member will receive Continue Reading →
Bonnie Bassler, the Squibb Professor in Molecular Biology and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, was among five scientists worldwide selected to receive the 2012 For Women in Science Award presented by UNESCO and cosmetics Continue Reading →
Princeton professor Christopher Sims was awarded the 2011 Nobel Prize in economics along with Thomas Sargent, a New York University economist and a visiting professor at Princeton at the time, for developing tools to analyze Continue Reading →
Discovery: Research at Princeton is published by the Office of the Dean for Research in collaboration with the Office of Communications. Editor and producer Catherine Zandonella Graphic design Laryssa Kwoczak Matilda Luk Kyle McKernan Megan Continue Reading →
The Office of the Dean for Research supports Princeton’s mission to be one of the leading research universities by uniting people, resources and opportunities for the creation, preservation and transmission of knowledge. The Dean for Research and the offices that Continue Reading →
Princeton University focuses emphatically on the education and training of future leaders, as well as on fundamental research that advances the understanding of our world and serves as the basis for new technologies that transform, Continue Reading →
Each second, the sun makes 100 million times more energy than the entire world population consumes in a year. Harnessing the source of the sun’s power — fusion — would ensure a safe, clean and virtually limitless Continue Reading →
Researchers at the Princeton Neuroscience Institute (PNI) are tackling some of the biggest mysteries of the human mind: Why we think and behave as we do, how we make decisions, how we choose what to ignore and Continue Reading →
High above the surfboards and beach umbrellas, a telescope on Hawaii’s tallest mountain is about to get a makeover. In collaboration with researchers from Japan, Taiwan, Brazil and France, Princeton astrophysicists are adding new instruments to the Continue Reading →
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