Robbert Dijkgraaf Joins Simons Foundation Board of Trustees

The Simons Foundation is pleased to announce that mathematical physicist Robbert Dijkgraaf has rejoined its board of trustees. Dijkgraaf was a board member from 2021 to 2022 before departing the position to serve as the minister of education, culture and science for the Netherlands.

Dijkgraaf is the chair of the International Science Council and a professor of science and society from an international perspective at the University of Amsterdam. He was previously 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 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 joins fellow Simons Foundation trustees Cori Bargmann, a neurobiologist and geneticist; physician-scientist Emery Brown; mathematician and physicist Ingrid Daubechies; mathematician David Eisenbud; investor and business leader Bill Ford; organizational advisor and investment professional Andrew Golden; physicist Peter Littlewood; mathematician Jill Pipher; computer scientist William H. Press; financial executive Ellen Taus; molecular biologist and vice chair Shirley M. Tilghman; and co-founder and chair Marilyn H. Simons.