The Department of Physics | Department of Physics

Uniquely versatile undergraduate and graduate programs, an unrivaled breadth of research training, and Nobel Prize-winning work in world class facilities, defines the Department of Physics at Cornell University as a national and global leader in physics training and education. The department has more than 40 active professors, approximately 180 graduate students and 65 undergraduate majors, and offers a full range of university-level work in physics, from general education courses for nonscientists to doctoral-level independent research.

Physics graduate and undergraduate students work on a superconductor project in Newman Laboratory

75 Years of Accelerator Physics in Newman Lab

Accelerator physics has revealed hidden universes, from the Higgs boson to the blood vessels and tissues seen on a CT scan – and much of that progress is thanks to work done in an unassuming building tucked away on Cornell’s North Campus: Newman Lab.

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Graduate Program Undergraduate Program Faculty Profiles Research Areas

Physics News

Meet some of the (many!) Cornellians who’ve won the Nobel

9/26/2023

From Hans Bethe to Toni Morrison, we offer a sampling of alums and profs who’ve earned one of the world’s highest accolades.

In helium-three, superfluid particles pair ‘like a dance in space’

9/21/2023

Enabled by a custom thermometer, Cornell researchers have observed superfluid fluctuation effects, possibly gaining new insight for quantum computing and the physics of the early universe.

Powerful X-ray laser ushers in a new era of science

9/18/2023

Cornell researchers contributed critical knowledge in the early days of the LCLS-II project.

Nobel Prize winner to talk about science education research

9/18/2023

Physicist Carl Wieman will visit campus Sept. 25-29 as an A.D. White Professor-at-Large, working with students and faculty and offering a public talk about his work in science education.

NIH-funded fly study to pinpoint brain’s role in navigation

9/13/2023

A NIH-funded project, led by Itai Cohen, professor of physics, will use the fruit fly to study how the brain processes multisensory information involved in flight, possibly offering insight into human neurological function.

Over 80 students receive NSF graduate fellowships

9/07/2023

Eighty-four students have been selected as National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (NSF GRFP) fellows in 2023, comprising the largest group of new fellows Cornell has ever fielded in one year.

Promising quantum state found during error correction research

9/06/2023

A team of Cornell researchers unexpectedly discovered the presence of a “quantum spin-glass” while conducting research designed to learn more about quantum algorithms.

The College welcomes new faculty for 2023-24

9/06/2023

Our 34 new faculty will enrich the College of Arts & Sciences with creative ideas in a vast array of topics.

More News

PhD student Prateek Sehgal works with shear thickening fluid in their Clark Hall lab.

Research Spotlight

Research in the department is organized in two laboratories, the Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics (LASSP) and the Laboratory for Elementary Particle Physics (LEPP). Explore the links below to learn more about the major research areas of the department and the facilities available to researchers.