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Unsurpassed in many areas

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The Cornell University Department of Physics, known for the versatility of its program, the breadth of its training, and Nobel Prize-winning work, is unsurpassed in many areas. The presence on campus of a particle accelerator, one of just a few of its magnitude anywhere in the world, contributes to Cornell’s reputation in particle and accelerator physics. 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.

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Cover Art for The Bethe Way

The Bethe Way: Department of Physics Magazine

The Bethe Way is the department's yearly magazine. In it, we share exciting highlights of  faculty hires, research breakthroughs, staff changes, teaching reform, faculty awards, and alumni connections.

Click here to read a recent issue.

Physics News

The telescope, a large white structure with the logo on the front, rises three stories in the air.

Next-generation telescope science highlighted at April workshop

Cornell University's Fred Young Submillimeter Telescope (FYST) was formally inaugurated on April 9 in Chile's Atacama Desert, marking a new era in submillimeter astronomy. The CCAT Observatory partnership telescope, led by Cornell, will map galaxy formation, cosmic microwave background radiation, and the epoch of reionization in the submillimeter range faster than any previous instrument.

Daniel Ralph

Ralph, Schlom elected to National Academy of Sciences

Physicist Dan Ralph, Ph.D. ’93, F.R. Newman Professor of Physics in Cornell's College of Arts and Sciences, is one of two faculty members elected to the National Academy of Sciences. April 28, the academy announced 120 members and 25 international members elected this year.

Two glowing red balls situated on blue waves

Soundwaves settle debate about elusive quantum particle

Brad Ramshaw, associate professor of physics in Cornell's College of Arts and Sciences, led a team measuring the movement of soundwaves rather than the flow of heat in Majorana fermions. The team discovered the thermal Hall effect in these particles was caused by chiral phonons.

Close up of two very large tubes, the one on the left with a yellow stripe, the one on the right with a blue stripe

Teaching AI to operate particle accelerators with DOE grant

Georg Hoffstaetter de Torquat, professor of physics in Cornell's College of Arts and Sciences, is leading a $2.9 million Department of Energy grant to teach AI to operate particle accelerators. Based at Brookhaven National Laboratory, the collaboration will train AI systems on computer models of two hitherto human-run accelerators.

Very large, while ring – a physics experiment setup – dwarfs equipment in its center and people working in it

Cornell physicist shares in 2026 Breakthrough Prize

Lawrence Gibbons, professor of physics in Cornell's College of Arts and Sciences, is among muon g-2 researchers awarded the 2026 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics. Working with Fermilab, Gibbons led measurements of a particle called the muon with implications for understanding the subatomic world.

The telescope, a large white structure with the logo on the front, with construction boxes around it and mountain tops and a plateau in the distance.

Major new telescope on Chilean summit opens window on universe

Cornell University celebrates April 9 inauguration of Fred Young Submillimeter Telescope in Chile. President Michael Kotlikoff marked milestone enabling wide-field submillimeter surveys to study dark energy, early universe conditions, and galaxy evolution.

trees with pink blossoms in front of a clock tower and a library building

2029 reaccreditation process begins with self-study

The first phase of Cornell University’s upcoming reaccreditation process with Middle States Commission on Higher Education is underway, with the naming of a steering committee that includes several College of Arts and Sciences faculty members and an invitation to the community to provide input.

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Peter Wittich

"On my first day after joining a research group in graduate school a professor said, I hear you’re interested in instrumentation.’ I didn’t know what that was, but I thought I’d better say yes. When people think about physics, they think about a guy with a pencil and paper, but physics is an experimental science.”

- Peter Wittich,  Professor and Director, Laboratory of Elementary Particle Physics

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