Physics Colloquium is held on Thursdays, 4:00pm - 5:00pm over Zoom and in-person in the Feynman Lecture Hall, 201 E. Bridge. Attendance is limited. Only those with a valid Caltech ID are permitted to attend in person.
All talks are intended for a broad audience, and everyone is encouraged to attend.
Watch previous talks on PMA's YouTube page
• Upcoming Colloquia
• Past Colloquia Recordings & Information
• History of Caltech Physics Colloquium
THURSDAY | Simulating the quantum world on a classical computerSpeaker: Garnet Chan Host: John Preskill Due to technical difficulties, this talk was not recorded. |
THURSDAY | Galaxies as Probes of the Particle Physics Nature of Dark Matter |
THURSDAY | Companion-Disk Interaction: From Protoplanetary Disks to AGN DisksSpeaker: Zhaohuan Zhu Host: Sterl Phinney View talk here |
THURSDAY | The Cosmic Neutrino Background (CvB): Its Distribution on the Surface of the Earth and its Manipulation on Laboratory Scales |
THURSDAY | Wielding Frequency Dependent Squeezing against Quantum Back-Action in the LIGO Gravitational Wave Observatories |
THURSDAY | Deep Learning for Theory: from Particle Physics to the Poincaré Conjecture |
THURSDAY | Ultracold polar molecules: an emerging tool for quantum science |
THURSDAY | Relativistic Fluid Dynamics: From Particle Colliders to Neutron Star MergersSpeaker: Jorge Noronha Host: Elias Most Christy Lecture View talk here |
THURSDAY | Moiré MaterialsSpeaker: Allan H. MacDonald Host: Nai-Chang Yeh Lauritsen Lecture View talk here |
THURSDAY | Error correction of a logical quantum bit beyond the break-even pointSpeaker: Michel Devoret Host: John Preskill Biard Lecture *This talk will not be recorded. |
THURSDAY | Why are astrophysical plasmas always magnetized?Speaker: Axel Brandenburg Host: Sterl Phinney View talk here |
THURSDAY | Magnetic power of neutron starsSpeaker: Andrei Beloborodov Host: Elias Most View talk here |
THURSDAY | Opportunities for Machine Learning in PhysicsSpeaker: Max Welling Host: John Preskill View talk here |
THURSDAY | Topology and "impossible" electronic devicesSpeaker: Andrea Young Host: David Hsieh View talk here |
THURSDAY | Clocks with ultracold moleculesSpeaker: Tanya Zelevinsky Host: Nick Hutzler *This talk will not be recorded. |
THURSDAY | Neutron Star Mergers: Frontiers in Computational Relativistic AstrophysicsSpeaker: Elias Most Host: Sterl Phinney View talk here |
THURSDAY | Neutron Star MergQuantum networks linking diamond spin qubits, inside and outside the labers: Frontiers in Computational Relativistic AstrophysicsSpeaker: Ronald Hanson Host: Andrei Faraon View talk here |
THURSDAY | Is it really cold and quiet? How mundane backgrounds that cause quasi-particle poisoning in superconducting sensors limit meV-GeV dark matter searches today and could ultimately limit superconducting QUBITs.Speaker: Matt Pyle Host: Kathryn Zurek *This talk will not be recorded. |
THURSDAY | Quantum materials on the mesoscaleSpeaker: Phillip Moll Host: Linda Ye View talk here |
THURSDAY | Programmable control of indistinguishable particles: from clocks to qubits to many-body physicsSpeaker: Adam Kaufman Host: Nick Hutzler *This talk will not be recorded. |
THURSDAY | New frontiers for many-body physics: from non-equilibrium to non-EuclideanSpeaker: Vedika Khemani Host: John Preskill View talk here |
THURSDAY | New frontiers for many-body physics: from non-equilibrium to non-EuclideanSpeaker: Vedika Khemani Host: John Preskill *This talk will not be recorded. |
THURSDAY | Quantum Critical Metals and the Fermion Sign ProblemSpeaker: Erez Berg Host: Gil Refael *This talk will not be recorded. |
THURSDAY | The Magic of Moiré Quantum MatterSpeaker: Pablo Jarillo-Herrero Host: Nai-Chang Yeh Lauritsen Lecture *This talk will not be recorded. |
THURSDAY | Searching for topological superconductors using ultrasoundSpeaker: Brad Ramshaw Host: Linda Ye *This talk will not be recorded. |
THURSDAY | Talk cancelledSpeaker: Host: |
THURSDAY | The Generalized Landau Paradigmhttps://www.caltech.edu/campus-life-events/calendar/physics-colloquium-20 **This talk will not be shown via Zoom and will not be recorded.** |
THURSDAY | Black holes and random matricesSpeaker: Stephen Shenker Host: David Simmons-Duffin *Mask must be worn for this talk* Bring your own or take one (N95) at the door. |
THURSDAY | Laser cooling and trapping radioactive atoms and moleculeshttps://www.caltech.edu/campus-life-events/calendar/physics-colloquium-24 |
THURSDAY | Quantum matter, clocks, and fundamental physicshttps://www.caltech.edu/campus-life-events/calendar/physics-colloquium-25 Lauritsen LectureSpeaker: Jun Ye |
THURSDAY |
THURSDAY | Talk cancelledSpeaker: Host: |
THURSDAY JANUARY 19, 20234:00pm - 5:00pm | Angular Momentum Radiation in Field Theory and GravitySpeaker: Aneesh Manohar Host: Clifford Cheung View talk here |
THURSDAY | Axion Dark Matter and Quantum Measurement: ABRACADABRA to DMRadio |
THURSDAY | Minerva: Solving Quantitative Reasoning Problems with Language Models |
THURSDAY | Understanding Mechanisms for Creating Complex Materials with Built-In Cross-Coupled Responseshttps://www.caltech.edu/campus-life-events/calendar/physics-colloquium-31 |
THURSDAY | Quantum Transport in 2D Superconductors and Semiconductors Speaker: Jeanie Lau Host: Gil Refael |
THURSDAY | Ineffective Field TheoryLauritsen LectureSpeaker: Lisa Randall Host: Mark Wise View talk here |
THURSDAY | Quantum Materials by DesignSpeaker: Andrea Damascelli Host: David Hsieh Talk was not recorded. |
THURSDAY | Oscillating Stars in Bloom: Asteroseismology and Wave Transport PhenomenaChristy Lecture |
THURSDAY | Nonlinear Topological PhotonicsSpeaker: Mikael Rechtsman Host: Gil Refael View talk here |
THURSDAY | Energetic Constraints on Biological Assembly and MotionThis talk will NOT be recorded. |
THURSDAY |
Black holes, information and wormholes |
THURSDAY *Via Zoom* |
First Results from the Muon g-2 Experiment at Fermilab's Muon Campus
Speaker: Chris Polly Host: Nick HutzlerView talk here |
THURSDAY |
Progress and Prospects for the Second Quantum RevolutionThe Robert F. Christy Lecture
Speaker: Steve Girvin
View talk hereHost: John Preskill |
THURSDAY |
Away from Equilibrium: Shining New Light on Quantum Matter |
THURSDAY |
Quantum Computing at the Speed of Light |
THURSDAY |
Creating and measuring the elusive Majorana fermion |
THURSDAY |
Electrically charged skyrmions and superconductivity |
THURSDAY *Via Zoom* |
Electrons in 2D moiré superlattices
Speaker: Jie Shan ** via Zoom** Host: David Hsieh **Zoom viewing restricted to those with valid Caltech ID** This talk will not be recorded. *Contact [email protected] for Zoom link*.
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THURSDAY **TALK POSTPONED** **Check back for new date** |
Energetic Constraints on Biological Assembly and Motion
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THURSDAY |
Iterating Infrastructure from High Volts to X-Rays to Nuclear Physics: Early Caltech Science in the Archives |
THURSDAY JANUARY 27, 2022 |
Cold and ultra-cold molecules for quantum science
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THURSDAY |
Unveiling the Higg's secrets to unlock new physics |
THURSDAY |
Neutrino and Dark Radiation Properties from Cosmic Datasets |
THURSDAY |
14 Billion years on, what can learn about Original Imperfection?Biard Lecture View talk here |
THURSDAY 4:00pm - 5:00pm | Cold and ultra-cold molecules for quantum scienceThis talk will NOT be recorded. |
THURSDAY |
Programming' Quantum Simulators with Atoms and Ions
View talk here |
THURSDAY |
Machine learning and knots
View talk here |
Rescheduled for May 26, 2022
THURSDAY |
Quantum Many-body theory in the Quantum Information era |
THURSDAY |
There is no colloquium on April 21, 2022.
Speaker: Hosts: |
THURSDAY |
Broken Symmetry Clues for Fundamental Physics |
THURSDAY |
Playing with quantum toys: Atomic Newton's cradles and Archimedes' screws
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THURSDAY |
CANCELLEDTowards a theory of strange quantum metals
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THURSDAY |
Searches for New Physics with Quantum Sensors in the Laboratory and in Space
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THURSDAY |
Quantum Many-body theory in the Quantum Information era |
THURSDAY |
Bootstrapping quantum gravitySpeaker: Thomas Hartman
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THURSDAY
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Emergent hydrodynamics in a strongly interacting dipolar spin ensemble
Speaker: Norman Yao
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THURSDAY
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The Information Paradox in the Age of Holographic Entanglement EntropySpeaker: Netta Engelhardt
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THURSDAY
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Search for Dark Matter with Atomic Precision Spectroscopy |
THURSDAY
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Caltech, quantum teleportation, and GKP qubitsSpeaker: Akira Furusawa
Host: Jeff Kimble
View talk here
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THURSDAY |
Effective Evaluation Practices: Evidence from research on bias and its consequencesSpeaker: Joyce Yen
Host: Hirosi Ooguri
This talk will not be recorded. |
THURSDAY |
Direct observation of anyonic braiding statisticsSpeaker: Mike Manfra
Host: Jason Alicea
View talk here
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THURSDAY |
Capturing the First Image of a Black Hole & Designing the Future of Black Hole Imaging |
THURSDAY |
Multipole moments and fractional corner charges of insulating materialsSpeaker: Haruki Watanabe
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THURSDAY |
Enabling Novel Light Phenomena at the Subwavelength Scale |
THURSDAY |
Choreographing Quantum Spin Dynamics with Light
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THURSDAY |
Neutrino Geoscience: measuring the Earth's neutrino flux and constraining its composition
Speaker: Hiroko Watanabe
Host: Sterl Phinney
View talk here |
THURSDAY |
Predicting the universe today from looking at the past with the Atacama Cosmology TelescopeSpeaker: Suzanne Staggs
Host: Sterl Phinney This talk will not be recorded. |
THURSDAY |
Pushing the limits of hydrodynamics
Speaker: Pavel Kovtun
Host: Hirosi Ooguri
View talk here |
THURSDAY |
Quantum Field Theory and Beyond
Speaker: Nathan Seiberg |
THURSDAY |
Stacking van der Waals atomic layers: quest for new quantum materialsView talk here |
THURSDAY |
Precision Instrumentation Enabled Physics at the LHC & QIS Enabled Discovery for High Energy PhysicsSpeaker: Cristian Peña
Host: Maria Spiropulu View talk here |
THURSDAY |
Designer Atoms and Molecules for Fundamental Science
Speaker: Ronald Fernando Garcia Ruiz
Host: Nick Hutzler View talk here |
THURSDAY |
Quantum Science with Tweezer ArraysSpeaker: Manuel Endres
Host: David Hsieh View talk here |
THURSDAY |
AI for physics & physics for AISpeaker: Max Tegmark
Host: Sean Carroll View talk here
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THURSDAY |
Unveiling Our Dynamic Infrared SkySpeaker: Mansi KasliwalHost: Sterl Phinney View talk here |
THURSDAY |
Active TopologyHost: Nai-Chang YehThis talk will NOT be recorded. |
THURSDAY |
The Dark Phase of Quantum Matter
Speaker: Louis Taillefer
Host: David Hsieh
Host: David HsiehView talk here |
THURSDAY |
New Directions for Light Dark MatterSpeaker: Yonit Hochberg
Host: Clifford Cheung
View talk here |
THURSDAY |
The Cosmological Bootstrap
Speaker: Daniel Baumann
Host: Clifford Cheung
View talk here
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THURSDAY |
Searching for Dark Matter Interactions throughout Cosmic HistorySpeaker: Kim Boddy
Host: Rana Adhikari
View talk here
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THURSDAY |
Black Holes - Nature or Nurture?: The Roles of Rotation and Accretion in Powering Cosmic Sources
Speaker: Roger Blandford
Host: Sterl Phinney
View talk here
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THURSDAY |
Cavity acoustodynamics: insight into quantum noise in materials and opportunities for quantum computing
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THURSDAY |
Emergence of Statistical Mechanics via Spontaneous Breaking of Unitarity |
THURSDAY |
Carving out Theory Space |
THURSDAY
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Fractonicity from elasticitySpeaker: Leo Radzihovsky
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THURSDAY
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New frontiers in exoplanet science with high-contrast imaging and spectroscopy
Speaker: Dimitri Mawet
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THURSDAY
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Compact Proton Therapy: Improving Access to Advanced Cancer Treatment
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THURSDAY
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The ADMX Search for Dark Matter AxionsSpeaker: Gray Rybka
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THURSDAY
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Exploring QCD Matter
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THURSDAY |
Testing Dark Matter Interactions Through Cosmic History
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THURSDAY |
Looking through the Gravitational Wave Window on the UniverseSpeaker: Laura Cadonti
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THURSDAY |
Detecting Gravitational Waves Using the public LIGO-VIRGO data: Doubling the sample of Binary Black Hole Mergers
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THURSDAY |
Life is what?
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THURSDAY |
Instruments for the exploration of the Universe
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THURSDAY |
Cosmology in the era of multi-messenger astronomy with gravitational waves
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THURSDAY |
From Scattering Amplitudes to Gravitational Waves
Speaker: Zvi Bern
Host: Clifford Cheung
View talk here |
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THURSDAY |
Arrow of time in fluctuations of living systems
Speaker: Nikta Fakhri
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THURSDAY |
Cosmic alchemy in the era of gravitational wave astronomy
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THURSDAY |
Super-resolution imaging of transcription in living cells
Speaker:Ibrahim Cissé
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THURSDAY |
The Physical Dynamics of Ice Crystal Growth
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THURSDAY |
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THURSDAY |
CANCELED
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THURSDAY |
CANCELED
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THURSDAY |
CANCELED
Speaker: John Preskill
Host: Mark Wise
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THURSDAY |
CANCELED
Speaker: Vladan Vuletić
Host: Manuel Endres
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THURSDAY |
CANCELED
Speaker: Angel Rubio
Host: Gil Refael
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THURSDAY |
CANCELED
Speaker: Jason Alicea
Host: Nai-Chang Yeh
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THURSDAY |
CANCELED
Speaker: Andrew Mills
Host: David Hsieh
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THURSDAY |
CANCELED
Speaker: Krysta Svore
Host: John Preskill
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THURSDAY |
CANCELED
Speaker: Tom Hartman
Host: Hirosi Ooguri |
THURSDAY |
CANCELED
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2018-2019
Date |
Speaker* |
Title* |
Host |
October 4
| Edward Farhi Google/MIT |
John Preskill |
|
October 11
|
Ali Yazdani |
Jason Alicea |
|
October 18
|
Nevin Weinberg MIT |
Rana Adhikari
| |
October 25
|
Felix von Oppen
Freie Universität Berlin | Gil Refael
|
|
November 1
|
Suzanne Staggs |
Jamie Bock |
|
November 8
|
William Newton Texas A&M University |
Sterl Phinney |
|
November 15
|
Gabriel Orebi Gann UC Berkeley |
Maria Spiropulu |
|
November 29
|
Kate Scholberg Duke University |
Brad Filippone |
|
December 6
|
Douglas Stanford Stanford University |
Hirosi Ooguri |
|
January 10
|
David Wolpert Santa Fe Institute |
Sean Carroll |
|
January 17
|
Markus Greiner |
Manuel Endres |
|
January 24
|
Jason Petta Princeton University |
Gil Refael |
|
January 31
|
Si Xie |
||
February 7
|
Aleksandra Walczak |
Maria Spiropulu |
|
February 14
|
David Van Valen Caltech |
Rob Phillips |
|
February 21
|
Andrea Young UC Santa Barbara |
Xie Chen |
|
February 28
|
David Wallace USC |
Sean Carroll |
|
March 7
|
Hirosi Ooguri |
||
April 4
|
Ranny Budnik Weizmann Institute |
Sunil Golwala |
|
April 11
|
Xiao-Gang Wen MIT |
Jason Alicea/Ashmeet Singh |
|
April 18
|
Kang-Kuen Ni Harvard University |
Manuel Endres |
|
April 25
|
Rachel Ivie American Institute of Physics |
Jason Alicea |
|
May 2
|
Xie Chen Caltech |
||
May 9
|
Antoine Browaeys Istitut d'Optique, Paris |
Manuel Endres |
|
May 16
|
Lina Necib Caltech |
Sean Carroll |
|
May 23
|
Duncan Brown Syracuse University |
Sterl Phinney |
|
May 30
|
Natalia Toro SLAC |
Clifford Cheung |
2017-2018
Date |
Speaker* |
Title* |
Host |
September 28
| Xiaowei Zhuang Harvard University |
David Hsieh |
|
October 5
|
Renato Renner ETH Zurich |
Fernando Brandao |
|
October 12
|
Matt Dobbs McGill University |
Sunil Golwala
| |
October 19
|
Mikhail Lukin
Harvard University | Manuel Endres
|
|
October 26
|
Steve Giddings |
Rana Adhikari |
|
November 2
|
Subir Sachdev Harvard University |
David Hsieh |
|
November 9
|
James Crutchfield UC Davis |
Sean Carroll |
|
November 16
|
Chen-Yu Liu Indiana University |
Brad Filippone |
|
November 30
|
Mohammad Hafezi Joint Quantum Institute, University of Maryland |
Gil Refael |
|
January 4
|
David Simmons-Duffin Caltech |
Fiona Harrison |
|
January 11
|
David Hsieh Caltech |
||
January 18
|
Clifford Cheung Caltech |
||
January 25
|
Scott Tremaine Institute for Advanced Study |
Sterl Phinney |
|
February 1
|
Jeffrey Harvey University of Chicago |
Hirosi Ooguri |
|
February 8
|
William Irvine University of Chicago |
Jason Alicea |
|
February 15
|
Anne Schukraft Fermilab |
Maria Spiropulu |
|
February 22
|
Alexei Kitaev Caltech |
||
March 1
|
Daniel Harlow MIT |
John Preskill |
|
March 8
|
Zaven Arzoumanian NASA Goddard Space Flight Center |
Sterl Phinney |
|
April 5
|
Vicky Kalogera Northwestern University |
Hirosi Ooguri |
|
April 12
|
Nicholas Hutzler Caltech |
Fiona Harrison |
|
April 19
|
Lulu Qian Caltech |
Sean Carroll |
|
April 26
|
Brian Metzger Columbia University |
Sterl Phinney |
|
May 3
|
Ann E. Nelson University of Washington |
Clifford Cheung |
|
May 10
|
Charles Kane U of Penn |
Jason Alicea |
|
May 17
|
Xiaoliang Qi Stanford University |
Jason Alicea |
|
May 24
|
Eva Halkiadakis Rutgers University |
Maria Spiropulu |
|
May 31
|
Rana Adhikari Caltech |
2016-2017
Date |
Speaker* |
Title* |
Host |
September 29
| William Joseph Weber Università di Trento |
Sterl Phinney |
|
October 6
|
Matthew P.A. Fisher KITP/UC Santa Barbara |
Jason Alicea |
|
October 13
|
Zahid Hasan Princeton |
David Hsieh
| |
October 20
|
Kathryn Zurek
LBNL | Maria Spiropulu
|
|
October 27
|
Boris Shraiman |
Alexei Kitaev |
|
November 3
|
Tracy Slatyer MIT |
Sean Carroll |
|
November 10
|
Abhay Pasupathy Columbia University |
David Hsieh |
|
November 17
|
John Preskill |
||
December 1
|
Sara Seager MIT |
Chris Martin |
|
January 5
|
Dan Stamper-Kurn UC Berkeley |
Rana Adhikari |
|
January 12
|
Ryan Patterson Caltech |
||
January 19
|
Sergei Gukov |
||
January 26
|
Dimitri Mawet Caltech |
Fiona Harrison |
|
February 2
|
David Pines Santa Fe Institute and UC Davis |
Tom Rosenbaum |
|
February 9
|
Scott Aaronson University of Texas at Austin |
Rana Adhikari |
|
February 16
|
Asimina Arvanitaki Perimeter Institute |
Mark Wise |
|
February 23
|
Dam Son University of Chicago |
Jason Alicea |
|
March 2
|
Patrick Lee, MIT |
Nai-Chang Yeh |
|
March 9
|
Justin Khoury University of Pennsylvania |
Sean Carroll |
|
April 6
|
Beverley McKeon Caltech |
Sean Carroll |
|
April 13
|
Manuel Endres Caltech |
Fiona Harrison |
|
April 20
|
Michael Roukes Caltech |
||
April 27
|
Ignacio Cirac
Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik |
John Preskill |
|
May 4
|
Anna Grassellino FNAL |
Maria Spiropulu |
|
May 11
|
Michelle Dolinski Drexel University |
Brad Filippone |
|
May 18
|
Gary Horowitz UCSB |
Hirosi Ooguri |
|
May 25
|
Henriette Elvang University of Michigan |
Clifford Cheung |
|
June 1
|
Risa Wechsler Stanford University |
Sunil Golwala |
2015-2016
Date |
Speaker* |
Title* |
Host |
October 1
| Holger Müller UC Berkeley |
Rana Adhikari |
|
Eugene Mele U Penn |
Jason Alicea |
||
Jim Fuller Caltech |
David Stevenson
| ||
Eric Mazur
Harvard | Gil Refael
|
||
Savas Dimopoulos Stanford |
Clifford Cheung |
||
Luis Lehner Perimeter Institute |
Mark Scheel |
||
|
Mansi Kasliwal |
Fiona Harrison |
|
Brian Swingle |
Sean Carroll |
||
Jorge Cham PhD Comics |
Jason Alicea |
||
Yuri Levin Monash University |
Rana Adhikari |
||
Omer Tamuz Caltech |
Fiona Harrison |
||
Stefan Leichenauer UC Berkeley |
Sean Carroll |
||
Sean Carroll |
|||
Anyes Taffard UC Irvine |
Maria Spiropulu |
||
Rafael Yuste Columbia |
Michael Roukes |
||
Cumrun Vafa Harvard |
Hirosi Ooguri |
||
Eric Betzig HHMI Janelia Research Campus |
Michael Roukes |
||
Michael Crommie |
Nai-Chang Yeh |
||
Steven Block Stanford |
David Hsieh |
||
Charles M. Marcus The Niels Bohr Institute |
Michael Roukes |
||
Maria Zuber MIT |
Sunil Golwala |
||
Patrick Huber
Virginia Tech |
Ryan Patterson |
||
Liam McAllister Cornell |
Chris Martin
|
||
Hitoshi Murayama UC Berkeley |
Clifford Cheung |
||
Ana Maria Rey JILA |
Jason Alicea |
||
Fernando Brandao Caltech |
Fiona Harrison |
||
Daniel Lidar USC |
Maria Spiropulu
|