Message

Hirosi Ooguri
Director of the Kavli IPMU

Inaugural Address tothe Kavli IPMU Scientificand Administrative Staff
Members
It is a great honor to succeed
Hitoshi as the second director ofthis institute. I have known Hitoshi
for more than 30 years. First when
he was a graduate student inTokyo in the ＇80s , then when wewere both faculty members atUC Berkeley. For the last 11 years,
I have been for tunate enoughto have worked with him again
at the Kavli IPMU and watched
his leadership closely. Thanks toHitoshi and the effort of manyothers , the institute has grown
and flourished beyond my wildest
imagination.
Over the last 11 years, the Kavli
IPMU has produced high impact
discoveries in mathematics, physics,
and astronomy and has become
one of the most attractive research
destinations internationally. We

have succeeded in training andmentoring students and young
scientists, and many of them havelanded distinguished academic
positions at leading universities
and research institutes all over theworld. We have introduced new
and more effective administrative
practices, and our initiatives aretransforming universities in Japan.
Nevertheless, I was stillpleasantly surprised when the Kavli
IPMU was chosen for the five-year
extension, which started last year.
Though there were many reasons
I can think of why we shouldhave been selected, it should not
escape anybody＇s attention thatthe research we do here is themost useless among those of thefive WPI centers. It is significant
that the Japanese government
recognized the importance of thebasic research we do here and careabout , as something they should
continue to promote.
Supporting basic science is agood investment in a long run, andthere have been many testimonies
to support the fact that curiosity
driven research has produced
enormous dividends to humanity.
In 1939, Abraham Flexner, thefounding director of the Institutefor Advanced Study in Princeton
wrote in his essay that“Mostof the really great discoveries
which had ultimately proven tobe beneficial to the mankind had
been made by men and women
who were driven not by the desire
to be useful but merely the desire
to satisfy their curiosity.”More recently, Jean-Lou
Chameau, the former president ofCaltech said —this one I heard inperson —“ While we cannot predetermine where scientific research
will lead, we believe that true
innovation comes when people
can dream with freedom andfocus. I believe that this philosophyof encouraging curiosity as well as
the pursuit of what may appear

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Messageuseless knowledge remains
an advantage of the country
that needs to be protected andnurtured.”I found it impressivethat Chameau, who is a civilengineer specialized in building
roads and bridges, thought that
pursuit of useless knowledge is ofnational interest.
The Kavli IPMU is supported by
the three partners: the Japanese
Government, the University ofTokyo, and the Kavli Foundation.
We are grateful to Dr. Christopher
Martin of the Kavli Foundation forbeing with us today. In this context,I believe the most important thingfor us to do is to continue todemonstrate that we are worthyof their support, by producing
ground breaking discoveries, bytraining and mentoring young
scientists to become future
leaders, and by inspiring systems
reforms within the University ofTokyo and by spreading them toother universities in Japan. My job
as the director will be to enable allof you to perform at the highest
level, by supporting your research
initiatives and by proving an ideal
environment for your research.
Usefulness of useless research
may be obvious to us here, but theidea does not come naturally tomany outside of this building. We
should not take their support for
granted; we need to earn it. On mypart, I will take every opportunity
to explain the importance of what
we do here and to communicate
your achievements effectively to
our partners and to the generalpublic.
Four years ago, Peter Goddard,
the former director of the Institutefor Advanced Study, visited here,and Hitoshi and I had a roundtable discussion with him. You
can read the transcript of ourconversation on the Kavli IPMU
News.＊ There are two things Peter
told us at the time, which havestayed with me.
One is that a truly academic
institution should stay focused
within its defined mission.
The Kavli IPMU has beensuccessful, and it is well-supported,
both in terms of funding and of
human resources. We have becomea permanent institution and ourfuture is secure. We have many
significant research achievements
and have earned a high reputation.
This means that many attractive
opportunities are coming to us,
and there are many good things
we could do with them. But, there
are only a limited number of things
we can do. Rather than trying todo every seemingly-good thingthat could be done, we shouldcarefully choose the research
directions that we are excitedabout and believe in, and do them

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Kavli IPMU News No. 44 December 2018

really well, identifying the mosteffective way to use our resources,
taking calculated risks, and aiming
to become the best in what we do.
The choices we make should beguided by our mission.
The genius of the Kavli IPMU
is in its mission, which is to solve
the most fundamental questions
about the Universe. The Universe isbig, and it can accommodate all ofus. There are many different ways
we can study it from mathematics,
from physics, from astronomy,
and contribute to advancement ofour knowledge, in astronomy, inphysics, and in mathematics.
My own research has also been
influenced by this mission. I am astring theorist, but my association
to the Kavli IPMU has made me
acutely aware that it is important
to ask why and how my researchis relevant to questions about theUniverse. This has impacted thedirection of my research, positivelyI hope.
When I was a high school
student, I read the book entitled“Science and Method”written
by Henri Poincaré, and it has had
a big impact on me. Toward theend of this book, Poincaré asked, Why do some researchhimself“＊“Round Table Talk : Peter Goddard withHitoshi Murayama and Hirosi Ooguri,”Kavli
IPMU News No. 26, June 2014, pp. 16 – 21and No. 27, September 2014, pp. 10 – 15.

directions give large returns andothers don＇t?”
He wanted to devote himself toresearch directions that give large
returns —the question is how toidentify them. His conclusion wasthat the best research directions
are the ones that inspire andinfluence progress in a broader
area of science. Poincaré wrote,“as these sciences developed, wehave recognized more clearly thelink which unites them —the mapof universal science.”He compares
such science as“the nodal point of
the Gotthard Pass in Switzerland,
from which water flows and feeds
four different basins.”
In the Google parlance, it isscience with high PageRank thatgives large returns.
At the Kavli IPMU, we areideally positioned to practice what
Poincaré preached. Our common
goal to solve fundamental
questions about the Universe
helps us place our work in thebig picture. The questions about
the Universe naturally motivate
mathematicians, physicists, andastronomers to work together andto recognize their links —the mapof universal science. Our missionis what unites us here. I will fosterand enhance the environment
where such collaborations thrive.
Another point Peter Goddard
made at our round-tablediscussion＊ was that one shouldhave an idea about timescale foran academic institution.
Hitoshi started the IPMU withhis grand vision, and it has worked
extremely well over the last 11years. I do not see any reason weshould change this basic model atthis point. But, we should not staycontent. Some of the projects westarted 11 years ago have matured,
and we should build upon
their successes to capture newopportunities. This year, the Kavli
IPMU became a permanent entity
within the University of Tokyo. We
have earned a high reputation,and many talented scientists wantto come here to work with us. Thismeans that there are things wecan do that we had not been able
to do before. It is a good time for
us to reflect upon the progress wehave made over the past 11 years
and plan for our future, by making
the most of our resources andopportunities available to us.
I believe the science at the Kavli
IPMU should be driven by people.
This is very different from 11 years
ago, when IPMU started fromnothing — no faculty members, nobuilding. Now the most important
assets we have are the people —and by that I mean you. Since thebeginning of last month, I havemet more than 25 scientific andadministrative staff members at

the Kavli IPMU to listen to theirdreams, learn new opportunities,
and find out how we can support
them. I will continue to do so inthe coming months. I will also
call upon some of you to work
together to construct our longterm strategic plan for the next 10years of the Kavli IPMU.
Finally, I would like to takethis opportunity to affirm
our commitment to provide
an inclusive and supportive
environment to the diverse groupof people in our community. To
realize our mission — solving themost fundamental questions about
our Universe — it is essential that allof us treat each other with respect,
maintain our professional working
environment free of harassment,challenge our preconceptions, andeducate ourselves on our own
biases, so that everyone can bringout the best in themselves. In thisintellectual environment, audacious
ideas are encouraged and shapedby rigorous argument from diverse
perspectives, and new avenues ofresearch are explored and realizedwith freedom and focus.
Together, we will boldly go
where no one has gone before.
Welcome to our 12th year atthe Kavli IPMU. I look forward toworking with you and serving thisinstitute as your new director.

5MessageHitoshi Murayama
Former Director of the Kavli IPMU

At long last the Kavli IPMU
became a permanent institution
in April this year thanks to the
support of the University ofTokyo and the commitment by
its President, Makoto Gonokami,
funding from MEXT, and from theprivate sector including the Kavli
Foundation.
Research institutes change
leadership on a regular basis
because the needs of the institutechange from its early days to thestage when it is a well-establishedorganization. Once the Kavli IPMU
was in a stable state, I felt the time
has come to find a new director.
Given that the final evaluation by
the WPI program is scheduled forthe fall in 2021, it was importantto change the director now, or it
would not give the next director
enough time to see the results of
his/her initiatives. There were otherfactors of course, such as the busy
schedule of traveling between theUS and Japan all the time, andstaying away from my family forlong periods of time. I＇m gratefulto President Gonokami for taking
in my proposal, and together
with Vice President Hiroaki Aihara
setting up a search committee,
which put forward Hirosi Ooguri＇s
name as the best candidate.
I can＇t imagine a better pickthan Hirosi. In order to make surethe continued success of Kavli
IPMU, my successor needs to be afirst-class scientist, internationallyrenowned and respected, and has
experience with management andleadership. There is no questionthat Hirosi qualifies on all counts.
He＇s also been vital to Kavli IPMU
since it was just a proposal, andhas been instrumental in bringing
physics and mathematics together,leading our string theory group,
advising hiring decisions, andorganizing conferences at the Kavli
IPMU.
I have no doubt the future isbright for research in Japan, and6Kavli IPMU News No. 44 December 2018

can move on knowing the Kavli
IPMU has been placed in goodhands.

Michael S. Turner
Director of the Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics at theUniversity of Chicago

Eleven years ago Hitoshi
Murayama founded a new kindof institute in Japan with boldambitions —to bring together
mathematicians, astronomers andphysicists from around the world
to solve some of the deepest
mysteries about the Universe welive in. He succeeded in creating
the IPMU as a world center, andsix years ago brought IPMU into
the Kavli family of world leading
institutes. With the appointment ofHirosi Ooguri, a Japanese trained
world leading researcher in string
theory, as the next Director hehas handed off IPMU to anothervisionary. We at the KICP havebenefitted from collaboratingwith Murayama and the KIPMU
and look forward to working withOoguri in the future.

Message

11th anniversary of the Kavli IPMU.

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