The mission of the Kadanoff Center for Theoretical Science is to pursue research and education at the boundaries of theoretical physics. The Center's name honors Leo P. Kadanoff, a giant in 20th-century theoretical physics and applied mathematics who has made fundamental contributions to statistical mechanics, fluid mechanics, dynamical systems and the science of urban development.
The Kadanoff Center for Theoretical Science operated from 2013 to 2025 as the Kadanoff Center for Theoretical Physics. A major goal of the Center was to bring together physicists who ordinarily work in a specialty such as particle physics, relativity theory or condensed matter theory, and encourage them to work on problems of interest to all of those areas. In 2025 the Kadanoff Center for Theoretical Science became part of the Leinweber Institute for Theoretical Physics.