Tuesday, October 28, 2025 at The Plaza Hotel
(768 5th Ave, New York, NY 10019)
Join us for an extraordinary evening where the elegance of cinema meets the brilliance of mathematics.
This year’s gala will celebrate the unexpected harmony between art and science with a keynote address by Nobel Prize-winning physicist Kip Thorne, renowned for his role as scientific consultant and executive producer of Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar.
The evening will also feature a conversation between Matthew Brown, director of The Man Who Knew Infinity, the acclaimed biopic on Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan, and Fields medalist Hugo Duminil-Copin, exploring the rich intersection of cinema and mathematics.
Held under the high patronage of Mr. Laurent Bili, Ambassador of France to the United States, and Mr. Cédrik Fouriscot, Consul General of France in New York, this unforgettable night will include:
- A refined gourmet dinner;
- An exclusive auction supporting IHES’s mission;
- The rare opportunity to engage with some of the most visionary minds from both science and film.
Stay tuned—more details to follow!
For more than 20 years, Friends of IHES has been a bridge between IHES and its community in the United States.
Friends of IHES, Inc. is a charitable 501(c)(3) organization created in 1999. Its primary goals are to increase the visibility of IHES in the United States, coordinate the network of current and former American visiting researchers to the Institute, and raise funds for IHES. Since its foundation, the Institute has nurtured very close connections to the US and about a quarter of visitors come from there, every year.
Founded in 1958, the Institut des Hautes Etudes Scientifiques (IHES) is a private, nonprofit advanced research institute in mathematics, theoretical physics and all related sciences. IHES is a community whose heart is in Bures‑sur‑Yvette, a small town outside of Paris, France, but whose reach and influence span the globe. Some of the most creative minds of the twentieth and twenty‑first centuries have called IHES their intellectual home – including eight laureates of the Fields Medal, three of whom are currently at the Institute. IHES is also a founding member of Université Paris-Saclay, ranked #1 university worldwide in mathematics and #1 in Europe in physics according to the Academic Ranking of World Universities.
Our key values
Independence and Freedom of Research
Permanent and Visiting Professors are completely free of teaching duties and administrative responsibilities or concerns.
Courage and Risk Taking
IHES stands out with its bold recruitment policy: not content with attracting those with established scientific reputations, the Institute bets on young talents.
Intellectual Curiosity and Ambition
IHES provides the supportive environment needed for fundamental science at the highest level, which relies on long-term research work.
Collaboration and Emulation
The intellectual life of the Institute is constantly stimulated and invigorated by scientists from all over the world.
8 Fields medalists & 3 Abel Prize laureates
Your impact
Your sponsorship will contribute to the Institute’s mission of advancing fundamental research. It will directly support the scientific activity of IHES, financing researchers from around the globe, and more particularly from the US ‑ where our largest population of visiting professors reside.
