• Research News

    Twisted Light Gives Electrons a Spinning Kick

    It’s hard to tell when you’re catching some rays at the beach, but light packs a punch. Not only does a beam of light carry energy, it can also carry momentum. This includes linear momentum, which is what makes a speeding train hard to Read More
  • Research News

    Repurposing Qubit Tech to Explore Exotic Superconductivity

    Decades of quantum research are now being transformed into practical technologies, including the superconducting circuits that are being used in physics research and built into small quantum computers by companies like IBM and Google. The established knowledge and technical infrastructure are allowing researchers to harness quantum technologies in Read More
  • Research News

    New Design Packs Two Qubits into One Superconducting Junction

    Quantum computers are potentially revolutionary devices and the basis of a growing industry. However, their technology isn’t standardized yet, and researchers are still studying the physics behind the diverse ways to build these quantum devices. Even the most basic building blocks of a quantum Read More
  • Research News

    HAWC Finds High-Energy Gamma-Ray Emissions from Microquasar V4641 Sagittarii

    A new study in Nature, “Ultra-high-energy gamma-ray bubble around microquasar V4641 Sgr,"   has  revealed a groundbreaking discovery by researchers from the High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) observatory:  TeV gamma-ray emissions from V4641 Sagittarii (V4641 Sgr), a binary system composed of a black hole and a main sequence Read More
  • Research News

    Nobel Prize Celebrates Interplay of Physics and AI

    On October 8, the Nobel Prize in physics was awarded to John Hopfield and Geoffrey E. Hinton for their foundational discoveries and inventions that have enabled artificial neural networks to be used for machine learning—a widely used form of AI. The award highlights how Read More
  • Research News

    High Altitude Water Cherenkov Observatory Sheds Light on Origin of Galactic Cosmic Rays

    HAWC observes Ultra-High Energy gamma rays confirming Galactic Center as a source of Ultra-High Energy cosmic ray protons in the Milky Way The High-Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) Observatory, located on the slopes of the Sierra Negra volcano in Mexico, has achieved a groundbreaking milestone Read More
  • Research News

    UMD Physicists Advance NASA’s Mission to ‘Touch the Sun’

    Those who say there’s “nothing new under the sun” must not know about NASA’s Parker Solar Probe mission. Since its launch in 2018, this spacecraft has been shedding new light on Earth’s sun—and University of Maryland physicists are behind many of its discoveries.At its Read More
  • Research News

    How Does Quantum Mechanics Meet Up With Classical Physics?

    In physics, there is a deep disparity between the quantum and classical perspective on physical laws. Classical mechanics is used to describe the familiar world around us. This is the physics that you may have been exposed to in high school or early college Read More
  • Research News

    LZ Experiment Sets New Record in Search for Dark Matter

    Figuring out the nature of dark matter, the invisible substance that makes up most of the mass in our universe, is one of the greatest puzzles in physics. New results from the world’s most sensitive dark matter detector, LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ), have narrowed down possibilities Read More
  • 1 Twisted Light Gives Electrons a Spinning Kick
  • 2 Repurposing Qubit Tech to Explore Exotic Superconductivity
  • 3 New Design Packs Two Qubits into One Superconducting Junction
  • 4 HAWC Finds High-Energy Gamma-Ray Emissions from Microquasar V4641 Sagittarii
  • 5 Nobel Prize Celebrates Interplay of Physics and AI
  • 6 High Altitude Water Cherenkov Observatory Sheds Light on Origin of Galactic Cosmic Rays
  • 7 UMD Physicists Advance NASA’s Mission to ‘Touch the Sun’
  • 8 How Does Quantum Mechanics Meet Up With Classical Physics?
  • 9 LZ Experiment Sets New Record in Search for Dark Matter

Physics is Phun

Department News

  • Nov 18, 2024 UMD Awarded $2 Million to Build a Quantum Biosensing Test Bed Physics Professor Wolfgang Losert, Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics Professor Kan Cao, Chemistry and Biochemistry Professor John Fourkas, and Electrical and Computer Engineering Associate Professor Cheng Gong were awarded $2 million by the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research to build a test bed to study Read More
  • Oct 15, 2024 Sasha Philippov Awarded 2024 Packard Fellowship Assistant Professor Sasha Philippov has been named one of 20 members of the 2024 class of Packard Fellows for Science and Engineering. Sponsored by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the $875,000, five-year award for early-career researchers provides “flexible funding and the freedom to take Read More
  • Oct 4, 2024 Chacko Elected APS Fellow Professor Zackaria Chacko has been elected Fellows of the American Physical Society. APS Fellowship recognizes excellence in physics and exceptional service to the physics community. Chacko, who is a member of the Maryland Center for Fundamental Physics (MCFP), was cited for discovering two of the major theoretical scenarios for Read More
  • Sep 16, 2024 William Douglass Dorland, 1965-2024 Bill Dorland, an esteemed plasma and computational physicist who last week received the American Physical Society’s James Clerk Maxwell Prize, has died at age 58. Since a 2004 diagnosis of chordoma, a rare cancer affecting the spine, he optimistically pursued emerging therapies while advocating for Read More
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Upcoming Events

19 Dec
Special talk: David Allcock (Oxford Ionics, Univ. Oregon)
Date Thu, Dec 19, 2024 10:00 am - 11:00 am
19 Dec
RQS Seminar: Liudmila Zhukas
Thu, Dec 19, 2024 11:30 am - 12:30 pm
8 Jan
QuICS Seminar: Victor Galitski
Wed, Jan 8, 2025 11:00 am - 12:00 pm
22 Jan
JQI-QuICS Special Seminar: Connor Hann
Wed, Jan 22, 2025 11:00 am - 12:00 pm
27 Jan
EPT Seminar - Reza Ebadi, UMD
Mon, Jan 27, 2025 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
17 Feb
QuICS Special Seminar: Yingkai Ouyang
Mon, Feb 17, 2025 11:00 am - 12:00 pm
21 Feb
QuICS Special Seminar: Esha Swaroop
Fri, Feb 21, 2025 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
24 Mar
EPT Seminar - Akash Saha, Indian Institute of Science
Mon, Mar 24, 2025 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm

Leonardo's Model

Bulent Atalay, University of Mary Washington
December 01, 2009

Leonardo was a part-time artist, a passionate scientist, and a consummate inventor, whose interests were frequently inseparable. Physicist-artist Bulent Atalay invokes ‘Leonardo’s Model,’ in order to achieve the larger goal of achieving a synthesis of the two fields by presenting science through art, and art through science

Part I. “The Artist Doing Science” Described by legendary art historian Lord Kenneth Clark as the “most relentlessly curious man in history,” Leonardo constantly sought patterns, symmetries and connections in all of his studies. His astonishingly sharp observational skills led him not to prefigure sciences not to be formally invented for centuries. With unmatched drafting skills, he illustrated his ideas that reveal him to be one of the greatest scientists ever. Leonardo was in the business of inventing the future, but, since he was not publishing his discoveries, was not influencing the future.

Part II. “The Scientist Doing Art.” An extraordinary level of reciprocity exists between Leonardo the artist and Leonardo the scientist-engineer. The qualities of timelessness and universality in his miraculous works speak eloquently for themselves. He created the two most famous works in the history of art. With ‘Leonardo's Model’ providing the unifying thread, however, it becomes possible, first, to glimpse his restless intellect, that extraordinary psyche; second, to see whence the ideas for his works of art came; and ultimately to appreciate his art at a different level.

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Colloquia are held Tuesdays in Room 1410 at 4:00 pm (preceded by light refreshments at 3:30). If you have additional questions, please call 301-405-5946.