Physicist Stanley Deser is emeritus Ancell Professor of Physics at Brandeis University and Senior Research Associate at the Institute of Theoretical Physics, Caltech. His long career in theoretical physics is marked by deep contributions to the understanding of gravitation and quantum field theories.

Prof. Deser’s recent election as a Foreign Member of the Royal Society of London is a prestigious recognition reserved to eminent members of the scientific community who have made “a substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathematics, engineering science and medical science”. Indeed, there are only about 180, in all fields and countries. Prof. Deser thus joins theoretical physicists and Nobel prize winners Steven Weinberg and Chen Ning Yang, as well as Fields medalist Edward Witten.

Prof. Deser’s career is importantly interlaced with the history of IHES. He first stayed at the Ormaille residence during academic year 1966-1967, while he was a Guggenheim Fellow at Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. He came back several other times afterwards as a visitor between 1973 and 1976, and later to collaborate with Prof. Thibault Damour who had by then joined IHES as a permanent professor.

Prof. Deser was also a member of the Institute’s Scientific Council from 1991 to 1996. When the idea came to start a partner organization of IHES in the United States, he took part in the project and contributed to the founding of Friends of IHES in 1999, as one of the original signatories. He has remained a great Friend of the Institute ever since and Friends of IHES warmly congratulates him on this important achievement!