Department Colloquia | Department of Physics and Astronomy

Nov
13
2019

Rittenhouse Lecture: “The Illustris TNG hydrodynamic simulation of the Universe”

Lars Hernquist (Harvard University)

4:00pm - 5:00pm David Rittenhouse Laboratory, A8

A predictive theory of galaxy formation remains elusive, even after more than 50 years of dedicated effort by many renowned astrophysicists. The problem of galaxy formation is made difficult by the large range in…

Dec
04
2019

Physics and Astronomy Colloquium: "Interstellar Objects"

Greg Laughlin (Yale University)

4:00pm - 5:00pm David Rittenhouse Laboratory, A8

During the past two years, two objects -- 1I 2017 'Oumuamua and C/2019 Borisov -- have been observed to pass through the Solar System after arriving from interstellar space. 'Oumuamua presented a series…

Jan
22
2020

Physics and Astronomy Colloquium

Amy Nicholson (University of North Carolina)

4:00pm - 5:00pm David Rittenhouse Laboratory, A8

Feb
19
2020

Physics Colloquium

Paul Chaikin (New York University)

4:00pm - 5:00pm David Rittenhouse Laboratory, A8

Mar
18
2020

Physics and Astronomy Colloquium

Pablo Jarillo-Herrera (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

4:00pm - 5:00pm David Rittenhouse Laboratory, A8

Apr
01
2020

Primakoff Lecture

Nigel Goldenfeld (University of Illinois)

4:00pm - 5:00pm David Rittenhouse Laboratory, A8

Apr
22
2020

Physics and Astronomy Colloquium

Margaret Murnane (University of Colorado)

4:00pm - 5:00pm David Rittenhouse Laboratory, A8

Past Department Colloquia

Oct
23
2019

Physics and Astronomy Colloquium: "Finding Other Earths – New Frontiers in Exoplanet Science with Next-Generation Doppler Spectrometers"

Cullen Blake (University of Pennsylvania)

4:00pm - 5:00pm David Rittenhouse Laboratory, A8

The Doppler technique is a key tool for discovering and characterizing planets orbiting other stars. By measuring periodic shifts in stellar spectral…

Oct
16
2019

Physics and Astronomy Colloquium: "Top Down Approach to Quantum Fields"

Jonathan Heckman (University of Pennsylvania)

4:00pm - 5:00pm David Rittenhouse Laboratory, A8

Quantum Field Theory (QFT) is the common language of particle physicists, cosmologists, and condensed matter physicists. Even so, many fundamental aspects of QFT remain poorly understood…

Oct
02
2019

Physics and Astronomy Colloquium: "Exploring physics beyond the standard model of particle physics with neutrinos"

Christopher Mauger (University of Pennsylvania)

4:00pm - 5:00pm David Rittenhouse Laboratory, A8

Neutrinos are the most abundant type of fermion that we know exists, yet we do not understand basic properties of these particles like their masses. Since neutrinos are unaffected by strong and…

Sep
11
2019

Physics and Astronomy Colloquium: "Dynamics of living flows"

Eleni Katifori (University of Pennsylvania)

4:00pm - 5:00pm David Rittenhouse Laboratory, A8

Complex life larger than a humble nematode would not be possible without a circulatory system. Plants, fungi, and animals have developed vascular systems of striking complexity to solve problems of long…

Apr
10
2019

Department Colloquium (joint with CBE): "Structuring Matter over Multiple Length Scales using the Self-Assembly of Colloidal Particles"

Marjolein Dijkstra, Debye Institute for Nanomaterials Science, Utrecht University

4:00pm - 5:00pm David Rittenhouse Laboratory, A8

In 1960, Feynman challenged us to think “from the bottom up” and to create new functional materials by directing and manipulating the arrangements of individual atoms ourselves. With recent advances in the synthesis…