News
Elon Musk Public Lecture: "Will Evolution and Information Theory Provide the Fundamentals of Physics?"
Join us for an evening with theoretical physicist Sylvester James Gates, Jr., as he talks about how the mathematical and theoretical aspects of his physics research have traversed concept spaces from equations to graphical imagery to coding theory error-correction, and how it points towards evidence that an evolution-like process may have acted on the mathematical laws that describe reality.
PhD Student Selected as a Winner of the 2017 Wiki Science Competition
PhD student Asja Radja’s image, "Three Species Pollen Grains,” was selected as one of the 25 winners of the 2017 Wiki Science Competition in the United States and will represent the United States at the international level. The cover image is a scanning electron micrograph of false-colored Passiflora (passionvine), Spathiphyllum (peace lily), and Aster (daisy) pollen showing intraspecific pattern sta
Penn Researchers Give the ‘Rap’ on Liquid Science
A video series (6:30 mark) in partnership with Red Bull follows American rapper, GZA on his visit to Penn’s Center for Nanotechnology. Teaming up with Professor A.T. Charlie Johnson and his lab group, they journey on a quest for knowledge hoping to discover new materials that will take us into the modern world.
Penn Researchers Establish Universal Signature Fundamental to How Glassy Materials Fail
Penn Physicists Douglas Durian, Andrea Liu and Arjun Yodh were part of an LRSM-MRSEC team that published a recent Science paper exploring connections between particle rearrangements and microscopic structure in glasses.
Physics and Astronomy Professor Featured in Forbes
Professor Liang Wu of Physics and Astronomy has been selected in the annual Forbes ‘30 under 30’ in Science list in recognition of his influential work on electrodynamics of topological insulators. This new class of materials, which was theoretically proposed by Prof. Kane and Prof.
Principal of Condensed Matter: A Symposium in Honor of Tom Lubensky
A special symposium to honor of Professor Tom Lubensky was held at the Laboratory for Research on the Structure of Matter, November 3/4, 2017. The symposium, which boasted well over 100 attendees comprised of researchers, former students, colleagues, and friends, celebrated Lubensky’s many contributions to Soft Matter Physics and recognized over 45 years of dedicated service to the Department of Physics and Astronomy. Congratulations, Tom!
Penn Researchers Demonstrate How to Control Liquid Crystal Patterns
Graduate Student Lisa Tran leads a study demonstrating new ways to control and organize patterns on the micron scale. Not only does this demonstrate the complexity of ordered liquid crystal phases on curved surfaces, but it also paves the way for new optical and mechanical materials.
https://news.upenn.edu/news/penn-researchers-demonstrate-how-control-liquid-crystal-patterns
Physics and Astronomy Professor Awarded $450K from Air Force Research Program
Physics and Astronomy Professor Bo Zhen is honored as a recipient of the Air Force Young Investigator Research Program award for his anticipated research in Non-Hermitian Topological Photonics.
The winners of this award will receive a grant tot
Third Annual Women in Physics Public Lecture
On Friday, October 27, the Physics and Astronomy Department will host the Third Annual Women in Physics Public Lecture, to be delivered by Dr. Jill Tarter, Bernard Oliver Chair at the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute. The event is made possible by a Fund to Encourage Women grant.
Women in Physics Public Lecture
Co-hosted by the Department of Physics & Astronomy
Laboratory for Research on the Structure of Matter Awarded $22.6M NSF Center Grant
The Laboratory for Research on the Structure of Matter (LRSM) was awarded a new NSF Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC), one of eight selected nationwide, for cutting-edge interdisciplinary materials research.