Physicist identifies how electron crystals melt
Eun-Ah Kim and Michael Matty, M.S. ’19, Ph.D. ’22, describe a phase in between the liquid and the solid for electron structures.
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Unsurpassed in many areas
About Us
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
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
Senior wins award from SETI Institute for planetary research
Ze-Wen Koh plans to pursue a doctorate in planetary science after graduation.
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Over 50 Students Receive NSF Graduate Fellowships
The National Science Foundation offers approximately 2,000 fellowships per year to research-based master’s and doctoral students pursuing STEM studies.
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$1.25M grant to advance control of 2D materials
The research will help give unprecedented insight into electron behavior and quantum phenomena.
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Electrons in a Strange Metal World
Why do electrons in high-temperature superconductors behave the way they do? A quantum explanation could have planetary payoffs.
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Staff changes will support interdisciplinary research
Julia Thom-Levy, professor of physics in the College of Arts and Sciences, has been named associate vice provost for physical sciences.
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Prestigious Buckley Prize awarded to physicist J.C. Séamus Davis
Quantum microscopes based on Davis designs have galvanized quantum materials visualization studies globally.
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Active Learning Initiative, at 10, elevates teaching and belonging
The initiative has supported classes in the humanities, the social and natural sciences, mathematics, information science and engineering.
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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