MIT physicists snap the first images of “free-range” atoms
The results will help scientists visualize never-before-seen quantum phenomena in real space.
Department
Physics
Astronomers discover a planet that’s rapidly disintegrating, producing a comet-like tail
The small and rocky lava world sheds an amount of material equivalent to the mass of Mount Everest every 30.5 hours.
Unparalleled student support
Professors Andrew Vanderburg and Ariel White are honored as “Committed to Caring.”
MIT affiliates named 2024 AAAS Fellows
The American Association for the Advancement of Science recognizes six current affiliates and 27 additional MIT alumni for their efforts to advance science and related fields.
Professor Emeritus Earle Lomon, nuclear theorist, dies at 94
On the physics faculty for nearly 40 years and a member of the Center for Theoretical Physics, he focused on the interactions of hadrons and developed an R-matrix formulation of scattering theory.
MIT scientists engineer starfish cells to shape-shift in response to light
The research may enable the design of synthetic, light-activated cells for wound healing or drug delivery.
Device enables direct communication among multiple quantum processors
MIT researchers developed a photon-shuttling “interconnect” that can facilitate remote entanglement, a key step toward a practical quantum computer.
Professor Emeritus Lee Grodzins, pioneer in nuclear physics, dies at 98
An MIT faculty member for 40 years, Grodzins performed groundbreaking studies of the weak interaction, led in detection technology, and co-founded the Union of Concerned Scientists.
A dive into the “almost magical” potential of photonic crystals
In MIT’s 2025 Killian Lecture, physicist John Joannopoulos recounts highlights from a career at the vanguard of photonics research and innovation.
QS World University Rankings rates MIT No. 1 in 11 subjects for 2025
The Institute also ranks second in seven subject areas.
MIT physicists find unexpected crystals of electrons in an ultrathin material
Rhombohedral graphene reveals new exotic interacting electron states.
Five from MIT named 2025 Gates Cambridge Scholars
Markey Freudenburg-Puricelli; Christina Kim ’24; Abigail Schipper ’24; Sera Tolgay MCP ’18, SM ’18; and Rachel Zhang ’21 will pursue graduate studies at Cambridge University in the U.K.
MIT faculty, alumni named 2025 Sloan Research Fellows
Annual award honors early-career researchers for creativity, innovation, and research accomplishments.
Unlocking the secrets of fusion’s core with AI-enhanced simulations
Fusion’s future depends on decoding plasma’s mysteries. Simulations can help keep research on track and reveal more efficient ways to generate fusion energy.
Viewing the universe through ripples in space
Physicist Salvatore Vitale is looking for new sources of gravitational waves, to reach beyond what we can learn about the universe through light alone.