John Hopfield, Ph.D. ’58, wins Nobel Prize in physics 
John Hopfield, Ph.D. ’58, has received the 2024 Nobel Prize in physics.
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John Hopfield, Ph.D. ’58, wins Nobel Prize in physics
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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Physics Events
Oct
21
Monday
04:00 PM
Department of Physics Colloquium - Henley Lecture, Professor Vedika Khemani
Rockefeller Hall
210, Schwartz Auditorium
Oct
28
Monday
04:00 PM
Department of Physics Colloquium - Gold Lecture, Professor Lyman Page
Rockefeller Hall
201, Schwartz Auditorium
Nov
04
Monday
04:00 PM
Department of Physics Colloquium, Professor Bonnie Fleming
Rockefeller Hall
201, Schwartz Auditorium
Nov
11
Monday
04:00 PM
Department of Physics Colloquium - Krumhansl Lecture, Professor Karen Kasza
Rockefeller Hall
201, Schwartz Auditorium
Nov
18
Monday
04:00 PM
Department of Physics Colloquium, Professor Cory Dean
Rockefeller Hall
201, Schwartz Auditorium
Nov
25
Monday
04:00 PM
Department of Physics Colloquium, Professor Lionel Levine
Rockefeller Hall
201, Schwartz Auditorium
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.
Physics News
Leading particle physicist headlines fall 2024 Bethe Lectures
Beate Heinemann, professor at Universität Hamburg and director for particle physics at DESY in Germany, will share the stories of two outstanding women scientists in a public lecture.
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Indie drama depicts Cornellian couple's role in web history
Set in the 1980s, The Man Who Saved the Internet with a Sunflower chronicles two ’69 classmates in Silicon Valley
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Active Learning Initiative welcomes new director, says goodbye to longtime leader
In June 2024, longtime Active Learning Initiative director Peter Lepage handed the initiative's reins to incoming director, Timothy Riley, professor of mathematics.
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Microscale kirigami robot folds into 3D shapes and crawls
Researchers created a robot less than 1 millimeter in size that is printed as a 2D hexagonal “metasheet” but, with a jolt of electricity, morphs into preprogrammed 3D shapes and crawls.
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From portfolios to pizza, fall A&S career events explore diverse fields
"Cornell alumni are generous with their time and efforts to assist students, to answer questions from students, or connect them to people and places."
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NSF-funded postdocs to research education across disciplines
Engaging with a whole set of mentors will allow the CIDER postdocs to approach questions about student learning and experiences across disciplinary boundaries and use techniques from multiple fields.
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"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