Frontiers of Physics
Welcome to the Frontiers of Physics Public Lecture Series, presented by the University of Washington's Department of Physics. Our mission is to make the wonders of physics accessible and approachable to everyone, regardless of background. We invite renowned scientists to share groundbreaking discoveries and insights from the forefront of research. Best of all, these lectures are completely free, fostering curiosity and inspiring the next generation of thinkers. Join us in exploring the universe, from the tiniest particles to the vastness of space, and discover how physics shapes our world.
Here you can find the Frontier of Physics main website.
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To stay up to date with upcoming Frontiers of Physics events please subscribe to our mailing list For information on series sponsorship opportunities and the Department of Physics, please contact the Physics Front Office, physrecp@uw.edu or (206-543-3771). To make a gift in support of the series please visit our giving website.
Past Events
- Fluid or Solid? The Physics of Shape-Shifting Materials (Chiara Daraio, Caltech) -
- The Mystery of Dark Matter in the Universe (Katherine Freese, University of Texas Austin) -
- Opening the Infrared Treasure Chest with JWST (John C. Mather (2006 Nobel laureate in Physics), NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center) -
- More perfect than we imagined: A physicist’s view of life (William Bialek, Princeton University) -
- My Romance with the Warped Side of the Universe from Black Holes and Wormholes to Time Travel and Gravitational Waves (Kip Thorne (2017 Nobel laureate in Physics), California Institute of Technology) -
- Understanding our Universe from Deep Underground (Arthur B. McDonald (2015 Nobel Laureate in Physics), Queen’s University) -
- The Surprising Expansion History of the Universe (Adam Riess (2011 Nobel Laureate in Physics), Johns Hopkins University and the Space Telescope Science Institute) -
- Generating High-Intensity, Ultrashort Optical Pulses (Dr. Donna Strickland (2018 Nobel Laureate in Physics), University of Waterloo) -
- Gravity: the biggest open question in fundamental physics (Eric Adelberger, Blayne Heckel, & Jens Gundlach (2021 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics Winners), University of Washington) -
- A new Measure: the Revolutionary Quantum Reform of the Metric System (William D. Phillips (1997 Nobel Laureate in Physics), National Institute of Standards and Technology & University of Maryland) -
- The Many Worlds of Quantum Mechanics (Sean Carroll, California Institute of Technology) -
- What Really Happened 13.8 Billion Years Ago? (Dr. Paul Steinhardt) -
- How to Find an Inhabited Exoplanet (Dr. David Charbonneau, Harvard) -
- Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs (Lisa Randall, Harvard University) -
- Optical Atomic Clocks (David Wineland, 2012 Nobel Laureate in Physics) -
- Quantum Computing and the Entanglement Frontier (John Preskill, Caltech) -
- Gravitational Wave Astronomy, A New Way to Explore the Universe (Rainer Weiss, 2017 Nobel Laureate in Physics) -
- The Frontier of Fundamental Physics (David Gross, 2004 Nobel Laureate in Physics) -
- 50 Years of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation: What We Have Learned, What Questions Remain (Jim Peebles, Nobel Laureate 2019) -