Robbert Dijkgraaf, Ph.D.

Robbert Dijkgraaf is a distinguished mathematical physicist and academic leader who recently served as minister of education, culture and science of the Netherlands. He was the director and Leon Levy professor at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, and a distinguished university professor of Mathematical Physics at the University of Amsterdam.

Dijkgraaf’s research focuses mainly on the interface between theoretical particle physics and mathematics. In addition to finding surprising and deep connections between matrix models, string theory and supersymmetric quantum field theory, Dijkgraaf developed precise formulas for the counting of bound states that explain the entropy of quantum black holes.

He is an experienced public policy adviser, having served as president of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences and the InterAcademy Partnership, the global alliance of science academies. Dijkgraaf is a passionate advocate for science. Many of his activities — including frequent lectures on television, newspaper columns, books for general audiences, and a science education website for children — are at the interface between science and society.

Photo credit: Gabi Porter, Institute for Advanced Study