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In 1884, a new physics laboratory opened
at Harvard, the first of its kind in the Nation. It was
based on the revolutionary idea that "the department
of physics in a University must embrace both teaching
and investigation" (John Trowbridge, 1877).
From those pioneering days and throughout the Department's long and illustrious history, its faculty and students have been engaged in groundbreaking research and standard-setting instruction, contributing importantly to Harvard's reputation as one of the premier institutions of higher learning in the world. Among Harvard's 43 Nobel laureates, 10 are or were physics faculty members. Today, the latest generation of Harvard physicists continues to bring new insights into the exploration of fundamental problems involving physics at all length scales, and to provide outstanding and innovative educational opportunities to the many talented men and women who enroll in Harvard's flexible undergraduate and graduate programs.
From those pioneering days and throughout the Department's long and illustrious history, its faculty and students have been engaged in groundbreaking research and standard-setting instruction, contributing importantly to Harvard's reputation as one of the premier institutions of higher learning in the world. Among Harvard's 43 Nobel laureates, 10 are or were physics faculty members. Today, the latest generation of Harvard physicists continues to bring new insights into the exploration of fundamental problems involving physics at all length scales, and to provide outstanding and innovative educational opportunities to the many talented men and women who enroll in Harvard's flexible undergraduate and graduate programs.
Department News and Updates
| Save the dates (October 24-25, 2008): INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE: 40 Years after Andrei Sakharov's "Reflections on Progress, Peaceful Coexistence and Intellectual Freedom"; The World Then and Now. |
The Conference,
organized by the Sakharov Program on Human Rights & The
Cold War Studies Project at The
Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies in
conjunciton with the Harvard Department of Physics, will
take place at the American Academy
of Arts and Sciences.
Please consult the Conference
website for further information. |
| "Gelation of particles with short-range attraction" |
Harvard Physics
grad student Peter
Lu, Prof. David
Weitz, and colleagues from University of Rome and
University of Edinbourgh published a letter in Nature,
in which they reported on their study demonstrating that
gelation of short-ranged attractive particles is driven
by phase separation: P.J. Lu, E. Zaccarelli, F. Ciulla,
A.B. Schofield, F. Sciortino, & D.A. Weitz, Nature 453,
499-503 (22 May 2008) | doi:10.1038/nature06931. |
| Prof. Roy Glauber was awarded the Gold Medal of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas... |
at a ceremony
in Madrid on April 22, 2008. It is the highest award
of Spain's new Ministry of Science. |
| Prof. Eric Mazur was elected to the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen). |
| Prof. Lisa Randall was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences on April 29, 2008... |
in recognition
of her "distinguished and continuing achievements in
original research". |
| Prof. Gerald Holton has been chosen by the Republic of Austria to be awarded the Order of Merit (Österreichisches Ehrenzeichen für Wissenschaft und Kunst, I. Klasse). |
The honor was
conferred by the Austrian Minister of Science and Research
at his office at the Ministry on June 23, 2008. |
For
more news items, go to News
page
For
recent faculty publications, go to Publications
page
To search for people in the Department, go to People page.
Commencement 2008 (slide show)
Physics
2008 Commencement Party (video)