Thomas Sumner

Jan 16, 2025 | simonsfoundation.org | Thomas Sumner |Omar Vera

On a chilly, crystal-clear autumn night, you can see the farthest object visible in the universe without the aid of a telescope or binoculars. Just to the northeast of the Great Square of Pegasus, it appears as a spindle-shaped patch of haze with a bright center. It is the nearest galaxy to our Milky Way, the magnificent Andromeda galaxy. The faint light you are seeing left the spiral galaxy 2.5 million years ago to cross the immense gulf in intergalactic space toward Earth.

Jan 9, 2025 | simonsfoundation.org | Thomas Sumner

Simons Foundation co-founder Jim Simons — an award-winning mathematician and widely regarded as the father of modern quantitative investing — led an extraordinary life, championing new ideas and ways of thinking as a mathematician, an investor and a philanthropist. On May 10, 2024, Simons died at the age of 86, leaving behind an unparalleled legacy. In a new short film, those who knew Simons recall his incredible life and his impact on math, science and those around him.

Jan 6, 2025 | the-microbiologist.com | Thomas Sumner

Like Bill Murray in the movie “Groundhog Day,” bacteria species in a Wisconsin lake are in a kind of endless loop that they can’t seem to shake. Except in this case, it’s more like Groundhog Year. Source: Robin Rohwer/University of Texas at Austin. According to a new study in Nature Microbiology, researchers found that through the course of a year, most individual species of bacteria in Lake Mendota rapidly evolved, apparently in response to dramatically changing seasons.

Nov 8, 2024 | caltech.edu | Thomas Sumner

Elias Most, an assistant professor of theoretical astrophysics, did not want to be an astronomer or a physicist when he grew up. He studied physics but was more interested in computers; he even remembers buying a book about nonscience career paths for physicists, thinking he might end up in finance. His mind began to change in graduate school as he became interested in gravitational waves—ripples in the fabric of space-time generated by, among other violent events, the collisions of black holes.

Nov 1, 2024 | simonsfoundation.org | Thomas Sumner

The Simons Foundation welcomes applications for its next class of Flatiron Institute Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Advocacy (IDEA) scholars. The program invites distinguished scientists interested in increasing diversity and improving equity and inclusion in the sciences for extended visits at the foundation’s intramural computational research division, the Flatiron Institute.