# Institute for Advanced Study > **Machine-Evolution Nexus:** [[articles/Digital Darwinism and the Invisible World of Machine Evolution|Digital Darwinism and the Invisible World of Machine Evolution]] places this node within the history and governance of substrate-independent evolution. **Domain:** Institution / Mathematics / Computing **Doc Type:** Canonical Wiki Node **Maturity:** Developed ## Definition The Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton is an independent research institution central to twentieth-century mathematics, physics and early computing. ## Nexus Context Von Neumann’s computer project and Barricelli’s 1953 experiments placed self-reproduction theory and digital evolution in the same institutional environment. ## Evidence Boundary The IAS archive supports the chronology and reported phenomena; later interpretations should remain distinguishable from Barricelli’s own terminology and aims. ## Relationships [[wiki/IAS Computer|IAS Computer]], [[wiki/John von Neumann|John von Neumann]], [[wiki/Nils Aall Barricelli|Nils Aall Barricelli]], [[wiki/Artificial Life|Artificial Life]] ## Sources / Provenance - Institute for Advanced Study scholar and institutional-history pages.