MIT Physics

YouTube video by World Science Festival Are Space and Time Created by Quantum Error Correction?

Are Space and Time Created by Quantum Error Correction?

Prof Daniel Harlow joins Brian Greene to explore black holes, holography, and the surprising connection between spacetime and algorithms that perform quantum error correction.

MIT Physics Celebrates Professor Irwin Pless’s 100th birthday on March 11, 2025 The Official Website of MIT Department of Physics

MIT Physics Celebrates Professor Irwin Pless’s 100th birthday on March 11, 2025
Pless has made significant contributions to the fields of Experimental Particle Physics, Heavy ion collisions research, and Neutrino Astrophysics.

President Biden Honors Nearly 400 Federally Funded Early-Career Scientists | OSTP | The White House Today, President Biden awarded nearly 400 scientists and engineers the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on outst...

Congratulations! Professor Netta Engelhardt honored with 2025 DOE Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE)
www.whitehouse.gov/ostp/news-up...

Hale Van Dorn Bradt PhD ’61, professor emeritus and X-ray astronomy pioneer, dies at 93 » MIT Physics The Official Website of MIT Department of Physics

Longtime MIT faculty member, Hale Van Dorn Bradt PhD '61, passed away on Thursday, November 14, 2024, at Salem Hospital, surrounded by his loving family. He used X-ray astronomy to study neutron stars and black holes and led the All-Sky Monitor instrument on NASA’s Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer. #RIP

AXIS mission selected as NASA Astrophysics Probe competition finalist » MIT Physics The Official Website of MIT Department of Physics

"If selected to move forward," explains Erin Kara, associate professor of physics and deputy principal investigator for AXIS, "AXIS will answer some of the biggest mysteries in modern astrophysics."

MIT affiliates receive 2024-25 awards and honors from the American Physical Society » MIT Physics The Official Website of MIT Department of Physics

MIT Physics awardees include Professor Vladan Vuletić, graduate student Jiliang Hu ’19, PhD ’24; as well as 5 alumni. New APS Fellows include Professor Joseph Checkelsky and 4 alumni. Congrats to all!

The discovery that stuck — 20 years of graphene Two decades of 2D materials.

In 2004, physicists reported something remarkable: they had isolated ultrathin films of carbon atoms using sticky tape alone, and found that the films had astounding properties. The finding would forever change condensed-matter physics.

An exotic materials researcher with the soul of an explorer » MIT Physics The Official Website of MIT Department of Physics

Riccardo Comin says the best part of his job as a physics professor and exotic materials researcher is when his students come into his office to tell him they have new, interesting data. “That’s what makes it all worthwhile.”

YouTube video by Clarivate Pablo Jarillo Herrero - Citation Laureate 2024 in Physics

Professor Pablo Jarillo Herrero, a Clarivate Citation Laureate 2024 and distinguished physicist, discusses his groundbreaking research in condensed matter physics.

An interstellar instrument takes a final bow » MIT Physics The Official Website of MIT Department of Physics

John Belcher, the Class of 1922 Professor of Physics, who was a member of the original team that designed and built the plasma spectrometers, and John Richardson, principal research scientist at MIT Kavli, who is the experiment’s principal investigator, offered their reflections.

The Next Quantum Revolution » MIT Physics The Official Website of MIT Department of Physics

MIT has long been a pioneer of quantum technologies. Now, Quantum@MIT is setting the stage for a new era

How did dark matter shape the universe? This physicist has ideas Theoretical physicist Tracy Slatyer proposes new scenarios for dark matter and helped discover the Fermi bubbles.

Among scientists doing such work, “I don’t think there’s been anybody who’s been more impactful,” says Dan Hooper, a physicist at the University of Chicago. “She’s as big a deal as I can make her out to be.”

Study: Early dark energy could resolve cosmology’s two biggest puzzles » MIT Physics The Official Website of MIT Department of Physics

“You have these two looming open-ended puzzles,” says study co-author Rohan Naidu, a postdoc in MIT’s Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research. “We find that in fact, early dark energy is a very elegant and sparse solution to two of the most pressing problems in cosmology.”

Sara Seager, among three MIT professors, accepted this year's prestigious Kavli Prize from King Harald V of Norway in Oslo on Sept. 3. Congratulations again to Professor Seager!

When the lights turned on in the universe » MIT Physics The Official Website of MIT Department of Physics

By studying ancient, supermassive black holes called quasars, Dominika Ďurovčíková is illuminating an early moment when galaxies could first be observed.

In "Scientific InQueery," MIT PhD students Jack Forman and Miranda Dawson, with MIT alum Tunahan Aytas, interviewed queer MIT faculty about their experiences and the importance of visibility. As co-leads of LGBTQ+ Grad, the producers created the project to inspire young LBGTQ+ academics to take pride in the intersections of their identities and their academic work. The video features Nergis Mavalvala, the Curtis and Kathleen Marble Professor of Astrophysics and the dean of the School of Science; Sebastian Lourido, Associate Professor of Biology; Lorna Gibson, Professor of Materials Science and Engineering; Bryan Bryson, Associate Professor of Biological Engineering; Tunahan Aytas, PhD ‘23 in Materials Science and Engineering; Miranda Dawson, PhD candidate in Biological Engineering, and Jack Forman, PhD candidate in Media Arts & Sciences. Learn more: https://news.mit.edu/2024/scientific-inqueery-researchers-discuss-queer-visibility-in-academia-0613 Scientific InQueery

“People need to create spaces for researchers to be able to discuss their scientific work and also be queer,” says Nergis Mavalvala, the Curtis and Kathleen Marble Professor of Astrophysics and dean of the MIT School of Science.

Nancy Kanwisher, Robert Langer, and Sara Seager named Kavli Prize Laureates » MIT Physics The Official Website of MIT Department of Physics

Sara Seager named 2024 Kavli Prize Laureate physics.mit.edu?p=18668

Exotic black holes could be a byproduct of dark matter » MIT Physics The Official Website of MIT Department of Physics

“Even though these short-lived, exotic creatures are not around today, they could have affected cosmic history in ways that could show up in subtle signals today,” says David Kaiser, the Germeshausen Professor of the History of Science and professor of physics at MIT.

Physicists create five-lane superhighway for electrons » MIT Physics The Official Website of MIT Department of Physics

“This discovery has direct implications for low-power electronic devices because no energy is lost during the propagation of electrons, which is not the case in regular materials where the electrons are scattered,” says Professor Long Ju, and corresponding author of the Science paper. #cmx

graphic "congratulations physics graduates" with gold confetti

Congratulations to all our February 2024 and May 2024 graduates! Now go out into the world and make us proud!

The many-body dynamics of cold atoms and cross-country running » MIT Physics The Official Website of MIT Department of Physics

Senior Olivia Rosenstein balances cross-country competitions with research in quantum gasses and early-universe radio wave signals.

Erin Kara named Edgerton Award winner » MIT Physics The Official Website of MIT Department of Physics

Congratulations Erin!!!

Physics students to attend meeting of Nobel laureates » MIT Physics The Official Website of MIT Department of Physics

Congratulations to our students, physics junior April Cheng, and graduate students Mason Ng and Silviu-Marian Udrescu, for being chosen to attend the 2024 Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting

Physicist Netta Engelhardt is searching black holes for universal truths » MIT Physics The Official Website of MIT Department of Physics

Physicist Netta Engelhardt is searching black holes for universal truths
She says one question drives her work: “Which pillars of gravitational physics are just not true?”

Prof. Edmund Bertschinger shares his perspective on the importance of science activism and diversity in STEM
thetech.com/2024/03/21/b...

Study: Life’s building blocks are surprisingly stable in Venus-like conditions » MIT Physics The Official Website of MIT Department of Physics

Study: Life’s building blocks are surprisingly stable in Venus-like conditions. Results suggest the clouds of Venus could be hospitable for some forms of life.
physics.mit.edu/news/study-l...

Envisioning a time when people age without fear of dementia » MIT Physics The Official Website of MIT Department of Physics

Envisioning a time when people age without fear of dementia, Senior and physics/computer science double major William Li seeks to work on therapies for the disease. @mitscience.bsky.social
physics.mit.edu/news/envisio...

Three MIT alumni graduate from NASA astronaut training » MIT Physics The Official Website of MIT Department of Physics

Three MIT alumni, Marcos Berríos ’06, Christina Birch PhD ’15, and Christopher Williams PhD ’12, graduate from NASA astronaut training
physics.mit.edu/news/three-m...

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Choi, Necib, and Vanderburg named 2024 Sloan Research Fellows
physics.mit.edu/news/eight-f...

Three small purple spheres are on left, and one large purple sphere is on right. A bending stream of energy is between them. Graphene layers are in the background.

Four team members stand inside the lab around large white pipe and laptop.

Electrons become fractions of themselves in graphene, study finds
An exotic electronic state observed by MIT physicists could enable more robust forms of quantum computing.
physics.mit.edu/news/electro... #cmx #graphene