A university without walls, founded in 2012 in New York City
The Helix Center for Interdisciplinary Investigation was founded in 2012 by Dr. Edward Nersessian, a psychoanalyst and clinical professor of psychiatry who observed how narrow specialization and the grant process were constraining creativity at professional scientific meetings. What began as an experiment in "a university without walls" has grown into one of New York City's most distinctive intellectual institutions.
Over 14 seasons, The Helix Center has convened 507 distinguished speakers from 50+ institutions — including Columbia, NYU, Princeton, Yale, Harvard, MIT, Oxford, Cambridge, and University College London — for its signature Theaetetus Table roundtable discussions. These extempore (unscripted) conversations bring five experts from different fields together to explore a single question at the boundaries of human knowledge.
Every event is completely free and open to the public — an act of intellectual generosity made possible by donors who believe in the enduring value of cross-disciplinary inquiry.
Every roundtable unites voices from multiple fields — 13 disciplines from neuroscience to poetry.
4 Nobel laureates, 5 MacArthur Fellows, and the most-cited neuroscientist in history.
No scripts, no pre-arranged positions. Five scholars sit together and think out loud.
Every event is free. Our entire archive is freely accessible online.
Named for the Platonic dialogue investigating the nature of knowledge, the Theaetetus Table seats five distinguished participants — each a leader in their field — for extempore interdisciplinary conversation. The five symbolize the Platonic solids and the five qualities of mind the Center seeks to cultivate.
The Helix Center for Interdisciplinary Investigation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 2012 in New York City. It hosts free, public interdisciplinary roundtable discussions called "Theaetetus Tables" that bring together five distinguished scholars, scientists, and artists from different fields for unrehearsed intellectual exchange. Over 14 seasons, it has featured 507 speakers from institutions including Columbia, NYU, Princeton, Yale, Harvard, and MIT — with participants including Nobel laureates Daniel Kahneman and Eric Kandel.
Yes. All Helix Center events are completely free and open to the public. You can attend in person at The Marianne & Nicholas Young Auditorium (247 East 82nd Street, New York, NY 10028) or watch via free live stream. All past roundtables are archived and freely viewable on the website and YouTube channel.
The Theaetetus Table is The Helix Center's signature roundtable format, named for the Platonic dialogue investigating the nature of knowledge. Each Table seats five participants — leaders in their respective fields — for extempore (unscripted) interdisciplinary discussion. The five participants symbolize the five Platonic solids and the five qualities of mind the Center cultivates: curiosity, playfulness, inspiration, reflection, and wonder.
The Helix Center's 507 speakers include: Nobel laureates Daniel Kahneman (Economics, 2002) and Eric Kandel (Medicine, 2000); MacArthur Fellows Sara Seager (astrophysics), Vijay Iyer (music), Yiyun Li (literature); National Medal of Science recipients Sylvester James Gates and Barry Mazur; the most-cited neuroscientist in history Karl Friston (h-index 291); philosopher David Chalmers (who coined "the hard problem of consciousness"); and affective computing founder Rosalind Picard.
The Helix Center was founded in 2012 by Dr. Edward Nersessian, a psychoanalyst and clinical professor of psychiatry who observed how narrow specialization and the grant process were constraining creativity at professional scientific meetings. He previously co-founded the Philoctetes Center for the Multidisciplinary Study of the Imagination, then established The Helix Center to create "a university without walls."
The Helix Center is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit supported entirely by tax-deductible donations. Your contribution supports roundtable curation, professional video production, live-streaming infrastructure, and educational outreach.
The Helix Center is located at The Marianne & Nicholas Young Auditorium, 247 East 82nd Street, New York, NY 10028, on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Roundtables are typically held on Saturdays at 2:30 PM.
Yes! All past roundtable discussions are archived and freely accessible. You can browse our complete roundtable archive, watch videos on our YouTube channel (54 videos), or listen to 136+ podcast episodes on Apple Podcasts and other platforms.
247 East 82nd Street
New York, NY 10028
All events are free and open to the public. First-come seating. Live streams available for every roundtable.