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Women in Physics Group inspires the next generation of physicists and astronomers
a group of women talking while sitting around a table

Willman (center) and a group of undergraduates, including physics majors as well as students studying other STEM-related disciplines, chatted informally over breakfast about their personal experiences as STEM students and researchers.   

Women in Physics Group inspires the next generation of physicists and astronomers

Students had the opportunity to interact with a world-renowned astronomer during a day of informal get-togethers, networking events, and physics lectures at the annual conference.

Erica K. Brockmeier

A physical model for forming patterns in pollen
Pollen structure types illustration

Four sets of pollen grains (from top left to bottom right: Alisma lanceolatum, Galium wirtgenii, Gaillardia aristata, Gomphrena globosa), showing the scanning electron microscopy image alongside the simulation of the physical model for the same geometry (Image credit: PalDat.org (SEM image) and Asja Radja (simulation)).

A physical model for forming patterns in pollen

Physicists have developed a model that describes how patterns form on pollen spores, the first physically rigorous framework that details the thermodynamic processes that lead to complex biological architectures.

Erica K. Brockmeier, Erica K. Brockmeier

The physics of multitasking
colorful dots arranged to look like the neurons inside a brain

The physics of multitasking

Penn physicists characterize the limits of multitasking in biological networks, paving the way for future applications in fields from biology to medicine.

Erica K. Brockmeier, Erica K. Brockmeier

Physics on display
a metal tube with a line of flames coming out of the top and a blurred person posing in the background

A Rubens’ tube, which uses pressurized propane to bring sound waves to life with fire, was one of several demonstrations from the lights and waves winter physics show.

Physics on display

Hundreds of regional junior high and high school students visited Penn’s campus in early January to beat the winter blues—and reds—by watching physics demonstrations about lights and waves.

Erica K. Brockmeier

Dark Energy Survey completes six-year mission
Dark energy telescope with star trails

Dark Energy Survey completes six-year mission

A global research effort to map a portion of the sky in unprecedented detail is coming to an end, but the task of learning more about the expansion of the universe has only just begun.

Erica K. Brockmeier

The nanotopography of an atomic world
landscape of mountains made with small colored dots

The nanotopography of an atomic world

Physicists offer insights into the structure of atomically thin materials using nanoscale images of 2D membranes.

Erica K. Brockmeier

Electric bond
Presentation ceremony with background image of Kane and Mele

During the gala ceremony held on Nov. 4 at NASA’s Hangar 1 in Mountain View, Calif., Charles Kane and Eugene Mele were presented the 2019 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics award by writer and science educator Lucy Hawking (the daughter of Stephen Hawking) and Google co-founder Sergey Brin.

Electric bond

Behind the discovery of a new class of electronic materials is a 20-year collaboration between two Penn physicists, winners of the 2019 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics.

Angelo Fichera

Celebrating science
a stack of books in front of a chalkboard with math equations

Celebrating science

Eight Penn faculty share their favorite general interest books about science.

Erica K. Brockmeier