Physics Colloquia

Each week during the semester, the Department of Physics hosts prominent scientists from around the country to speak at our colloquium series. This is an excellent opportunity for faculty, students and the local science community to learn about some of the most intriguing topics in the field of physics today. Colloquia are held Tuesdays in the John S. Toll Physics Building, Room 1410 at 4:00 p.m. (preceded by light refreshments at 3:30 p.m.). The Spring 2013 schedule is listed below.

Parking is available in the Parking Garage 2 (PG2), across the street from the Physics Lecture Hall. An attendant will direct visitors within the garage. A free ShuttleUM bus runs to and from the College Park Metro station at about eight-minute intervals.

For further information, please contact the Physics Department at 301-405-5946 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

January 29	W.J. Carr Lecture Michael Devoret, Yale University The Road to the Poles: Quantum Measurements that Steer Rather than Collapse
February 5	David Thompson, Goddard Space Flight Center Exploring the Extreme Universe with the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope
February 12	Sankar Das Sarma, University of Maryland Computing with Quantum Knots: Majorana Modes, non-Abelian Anyons and Topological Quantum Computation
February 19	Ashvin Vishwanath, University of California at Berkeley Quantum is Different: Topology and Deconfinement in Solids
February 26	Seamus Davis, Cornell University & Brookhaven National Laboratory Emergent States of Complex Quantum Matter: Past, Present & Future
March 5	Michael E. Fisher, University of Maryland Atoms and Ions: Universality, Singularity, and Particularity. On aspects of Boltzmann's vision over a century later
March 12	Drew Baden/LHC Group, University of Maryland The Higgs and All That
March 19	Spring break - no colloquium
March 26	Thomas G. Mason, University of California, Los Angeles Entropic self-organization of hard Brownian polygons in two dimensions
April 2	Sarah Gibson, National Center for Atmospheric Research Magnetism and the Invisible Man: The Mysteries of Coronal Cavities
April 9	Dam Thanh Son, University of Chicago Extreme matter: from heavy ion collisions to black holes
April 16	Brad Marston, Brown University The Quantum and Fluid Mechanics of Global Warming
April 23	Brandon Morse, University of Maryland Art Department Emergence and Entropy: Systems as Metaphor
April 30	Phil Bucksbaum, Stanford/SLAC Ultrafast AMO Physics with Strong Laser Fields: High Harmonic Generation and X-ray Free Electron Lasers
May 7	Nader Engheta, University of Pennsylvania Of Light, Electrons and Metamaterials

March 26

Thomas Mason, University of California at Los Angeles

Department of Physics

University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742-4111
Phone: 301.405.3401
Fax: 301.314.9525