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Physics is an exciting, living, discipline that continually moves in new directions: biophysics, nanophysics, and experimental cosmology are all areas which did not exist until relatively recently. Some of the greatest challenges we now face, such as how to manage our dwindling resources of fossil fuels and how to control/mitigate global warming, require a deep understanding of physics. Additionally, with the recent turn-on of the Large Hadron Collider, we are on the threshold of a new era of particle physics.
The graduate physics program at Cornell is multidisciplinary, broad and congenial, and has access to superb facilities. Explore the links below to learn more.
Studying physics at Cornell is a gateway to your future. For our alumni, a degree from Cornell has opened doors to employment with companies like Apple, careers in law, and research and faculty positions across the globe. Our combination of first-class research facilities and congenial atmosphere provide our students with the best environment to learn theoretical and experimental physics. At Cornell there is no need to limit yourself to coursework within our department. Many of our students choose to expand their education with coursework and research in complementary fields like Astronomy, Engineering, Biology and Computer Science.
Researchers develop a new bacterium that can absorb DNA directly from its surroundings and incorporate it into its own genetic code.
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Cornell researchers and collaborators have developed a neural implant so small that it can rest on a grain of salt, yet it can wirelessly transmit brain activity data in a living animal for more than a year.
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Cornell physicists and computer scientists have developed a machine learning architecture inspired by the large language models (LLMs) behind ChatGPT to help them study the vastly complicated interactions that happen when nature's smallest particles interact.
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Thomas Hartman, professor in the Department of Physics in the College of Arts and Sciences, is one of two Cornell faculty members elected this year as fellows of the American Physical Society (APS).
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Cornell physicist Brad Ramshaw has been named a 2025 Experimental Physics Investigator – national recognition awarded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to a select group of researchers pushing the boundaries of experimental physics.
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These simulations, developed with significant input from Cornell researchers using code written at Cornell, help scientists analyze gravitational waves observed by the LIGO, Virgo and KAGRA detectors located in the U.S., Italy and Japan.
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After expanding to its peak size about 11 billion years from now, the universe will begin to contract – snapping back like a rubber band to a single point at the end, according to a Cornell physicist.
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A Cornell researcher and collaborators have developed a machine-learning model that encapsulates and quantifies the valuable intuition of human experts in the quest to discover new quantum materials.
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