Wolfram Science Winter School Sponsored by Wolfram, makers of Wolfram Language, Mathematica & Wolfram|Alpha
January 5–16, 2026
The Wolfram Science Winter School offers students and researchers a unique opportunity to study the core ideas of Wolfram Science and explore how they apply to foundational questions in physics, mathematics, biology, computation, ruliology and beyond. Participants will engage with a broad range of topics from the world of simple programs and metamathematics to AI, adaptive systems and philosophy.
Through lectures, guided readings, discussion sessions and structured research exercises, students in the Wolfram Winter School develop a deeper understanding of Wolfram Science and practice applying its methods. Most students finish the program by writing a computational essay and giving a short presentation that summarizes their work and findings. This foundation can prepare participants for future independent research, larger-scale projects or potential participation in the Wolfram Summer Research Institute (formerly Wolfram Summer School).
Individuals with an interest in foundational science and computational approaches are encouraged to apply, whether their background is in physics, mathematics, computer science or related areas. Prior experience with Wolfram Language is helpful but not required. Applications for the 2026 program will close on December 8, 2025.
Program Objectives
During the program, participants will:- Engage in Computational Exploration—Learn how to frame good questions, design computational experiments in Wolfram Language and build intuition about how systems behave in the computational universe.
- Develop Computational Exposition—Learn how to communicate findings clearly through well-structured notebooks, effective visualizations and computational essays that explain ideas both to yourself and to others.
- Practice Computational Thinking—Learn to formulate concepts in computational terms, gain fluency in Wolfram Language and apply paradigms from A New Kind of Science, the Wolfram Physics Project and the ruliad to deepen your understanding of foundational science.
Schedule Outline
(Please note: lectures and presentations will be held between 9am and 9pm US Eastern Time.)Week Zero (December 29, 2025–January 2, 2026)
- Self-guided required and additional readings
Week One (January 5–9, 2026)
- Technical lectures on Wolfram Science
- Discussion sessions on lecture content and readings
- Structured research exercises to build understanding
- Optional project time
Week Two (January 12–16, 2026)
- Technical lectures on Wolfram Science
- Discussion sessions on lecture content and readings
- Structured research exercises and optional project time
- Final presentations of computational essays and explorations