Research Institute

Research Institutes

World-class institutes for basic science succeeded because they did not force usefulness or short-term results onto researchers, but instead gave exceptional scholars the maximum possible freedom.

IAS (Princeton): Founded by Abraham Flexner in 1930. It freed researchers from teaching, administration, and short-term practical demands, guaranteeing space for pure curiosity-driven research. It attracted leading scholars such as Einstein, von Neumann, and Gödel.

IHES (France): Founded in 1958 on the IAS model. By recruiting figures such as Grothendieck and Dieudonné, it became a world-class institute, especially in algebraic geometry. Its core strength was that teaching obligations and bureaucracy were minimal, while research freedom was maximized.

Main conclusion: KIAS should value the selection of outstanding talent and complete academic freedom more than paper counts, research funding, or immediate applicability. This is the key lesson to learn from the success of IAS and IHES.

IAS·IHES의 초기 역사

올해로 고등과학원은 창립 30주년을 맞는다. 고등과학원은 짧은 기간 동안 장족의 발전을 이뤘다. 개원 이래 고등과학원은 한국에서 호기심의 최전선으로 앞장서왔고, 창조성의 발상지로서 자리매김하도록 노력해왔고, 상상력의 무대로서 모두를 위한 토론의 장을 펼쳐왔다. 서른 살의 인간은 완전한 성인이다. 성숙한 고등과학원은 앞으로 30년간 제2의 도약을 통해서 새로운 차원의 발전을 이룩할 필요가 있다. 새로운 도약을 위해서 원래의 초심을 되돌이켜…

https://horizon.kias.re.kr/33722/

The Median Researcher Problem

Research practices spread through average, not top, researchers, often leading to flawed norms. Small, well-informed communities may outperform larger fields.

The Median Researcher Problem — LessWrong

Claim: memeticity in a scientific field is mostly determined, not by the most competent researchers in the field, but instead by roughly-median resea…