Three from MIT receive 2021 Hertz Foundation Fellowships
The five-year award aims to empower “the most promising innovators in science and technology.”
Department
Physics
LIGO and Virgo detect rare mergers of black holes with neutron stars for the first time
In a 3Q, Salvatore Vitale describes how gravitational-wave signals suggest black holes completely devoured their companion neutron stars.
Four MIT faculty members receive 2021 US Department of Energy early career awards
Faculty from the departments of Physics and of Nuclear Science and Engineering faculty were selected for the Early Career Research Program.
Revisiting a quantum past for a fusion future
Principal Research Scientist Abhay Ram circles back to his graduate school studies for a new initiative combining classical physics and quantum computing.
Physicists uncover secrets of world’s thinnest superconductor
First experimental evidence of spin excitations in an atomically thin material helps answer 30-year-old questions, could lead to better medical diagnostics and more.
Physicists bring human-scale object to near standstill, reaching a quantum state
The results open possibilities for studying gravity’s effects on relatively large objects in quantum states.
VELION focused ion beam scanning electron microscope expands MIT.nano capabilities
FIB-SEM is now available to researchers across the Institute for use in characterization, nanofabrication, and rapid prototyping.
Charting a new course
Former naval petty officer Manuel Morales now develops imaging applications to detect cardiac dysfunction in young patients.
CHIME telescope detects more than 500 mysterious fast radio bursts in its first year of operation
Observations quadruple the number of known radio bursts and reveal two types: one-offs and repeaters.
QS ranks MIT the world’s No. 1 university for 2021-22
Ranked at the top for the 10th straight year, the Institute also places first in 12 subject areas.
Accelerating AI at the speed of light
Yichen Shen PhD '16 is CEO of Lightelligence, an MIT spinout using photonics to reinvent computing for artificial intelligence.
Professor Emeritus Gordon Pettengill, radio astronomy pioneer, dies at 95
Planetary physicist and former director of the MIT Center for Space Research and the Arecibo Observatory helped repurpose military radar technology for science and space exploration.
Taking an indirect path into a bright future
Matthew Johnston ’20 uses physics and baseball skills to get remote villages on the grid.
Thirteen from MIT awarded 2021 Fulbright Fellowships
Grants will support their research, graduate study, and teaching abroad in 2021-22.
MIT turns “magic” material into versatile electronic devices
Work on three graphene-based devices may yield new insights into superconductivity.