  We compute the exact spectral density of random matrices in the ground state
of the quantum hamiltonian corresponding to the matrix model whose double
scaling limit describes pure gravity in 2D. We show that the non-perturbative
effects are very large and in certain cases dominate the semi-classical WKB
contribution studied in the earlier literature. The physical observables in
this model are the loop averages with respect to the spectral density. We
compute their exact ground-state expectation values and show that they differ
significantly from the values obtained in the WKB approximation. Unlike the
alternative regularizations of the nonperturbative 2D quantum gravity, based on
analytic continuation of the Painlev\'e transcendent, our solution shows no
pathologies.

High Energy Physics - Theory;High Energy Physics - Lattice