• Research News

    Researchers Spy Finish Line in Race for Majorana Qubits

    Our computer age is built on a foundation of semiconductors. As researchers and engineers look toward a new generation of computers that harness quantum physics, they are exploring various foundations for the burgeoning technology. Almost every computer on earth, from a pocket calculator to Read More
  • Research News

    Superconductivity’s Halo: Physicists Map Rare High-field Phase

     A puzzling form of superconductivity that arises only under strong magnetic fields has been mapped and explained by a research team of UMD, NIST and Rice University including  professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University. Their findings,  published in Science July 31, detail how uranium Read More
  • Research News

    New Protocol Demonstrates and Verifies Quantum Speedups in a Jiffy

    While breakthrough results over the past few years have garnered headlines proclaiming the dawn of quantum supremacy, they have also masked a nagging problem that researchers have been staring at for decades: Demonstrating the advantages of a quantum computer is only half the battle; Read More
  • Research News

    Work on 2D Magnets Featured in Nature Physics Journal

    University of Maryland Professor Cheng Gong (ECE), along with his postdocs Dr. Ti Xie, Dr. Jierui Liang and collaborators in Georgetown University (Professor Kai Liu group), UC Berkeley (Professor Ziqiang Qiu), University of Tennessee, Knoxville (Professor David Mandrus group) and UMD Physics (Professor Victor M. Yakovenko), have made Read More
  • Research News

    NASA’s Parker Solar Probe Reveals a Key Particle Accelerator Near the Sun

    Flying closer to the sun than any spacecraft before it, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe uncovered a new source of energetic particles near Earth’s star, according to a new study co-authored by University of Maryland researchers.  Published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters on May 29, 2025, Read More
  • Research News

    Time Crystal Research Enters a New Phase

    Our world only exists thanks to the diverse properties of the many materials that make it up. The differences between all those materials result from more than just which atoms and molecules form them. A material’s properties also depend on how those basic building Read More
  • Research News

    Mysteriously Mundane Turbulence Revealed in 2D Superfluid

    Despite existing everywhere, the quantum world is a foreign place where many of the rules of daily life don’t apply. Quantum objects jump through solid walls; quantum entanglement connects the fates of particles no matter how far they are separated; and quantum objects may Read More
  • Research News

    A New Piece in the Matter–Antimatter Puzzle

    aOn March 24, 2025 at the annual Rencontres de Moriond conference taking place in La Thuile, Italy, the LHCb collaboration at CERN reported a new milestone in our understanding of the subtle yet profound differences between matter and antimatter. In its analysis of large Read More
  • Research News

    Researchers Play a Microscopic Game of Darts with Melted Gold

    Sometimes, what seems like a fantastical or improbable chain of events is just another day at the office for a physicist. In a recent experiment by University of Maryland researchers at the Laboratory for Physical Sciences, a scene played out that would be right Read More
  • 1 Researchers Spy Finish Line in Race for Majorana Qubits
  • 2 Superconductivity’s Halo: Physicists Map Rare High-field Phase
  • 3 New Protocol Demonstrates and Verifies Quantum Speedups in a Jiffy
  • 4 Work on 2D Magnets Featured in Nature Physics Journal
  • 5 NASA’s Parker Solar Probe Reveals a Key Particle Accelerator Near the Sun
  • 6 Time Crystal Research Enters a New Phase
  • 7 Mysteriously Mundane Turbulence Revealed in 2D Superfluid
  • 8 A New Piece in the Matter–Antimatter Puzzle
  • 9 Researchers Play a Microscopic Game of Darts with Melted Gold

Physics is Phun

Department News

  • UMD Appoints Renowned Physicist to Lead Quantum Research and Education The University of Maryland has named Gretchen Campbell, an internationally recognized researcher and national leader in advancing the field of quantum science, as associate vice president for quantum research and education, effective July 13, 2025. In this newly established position, Campbell will collaborate with faculty, Read More
  • UMD Physics Rated #19 in the World The University of Maryland Department of Physics was ranked No. 19 globally in U.S. News & World Report’s list of 2025-26 Best Global Universities. Of U.S. campuses, only three public universities--and 10 overall--ranked higher in physics. "This is a tribute to all of us working Read More
  • Alumni Honored with NSF Fellowships Physics graduates Jade LeSchack, Elaine Taylor and Jeffrey Wack have received prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowships, which recognize outstanding graduate students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. This year’s awardees from the University of Maryland’s College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences (CMNS) Read More
  • Hafezi Receives Humboldt Research Award Mohammad Hafezi has received a Humboldt Research Award, which acknowledges his history of impactful research and supports visiting Germany to collaborate with colleagues there. Each year, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation gives the award, which is supported by the Federal Foreign Office and the Federal Ministry of Read More
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Upcoming Events

14 Aug
Adinkra Hangout III
Date Thu, Aug 14, 2025 9:00 am - 5:00 pm
29 Aug
JQI-QuICS Special Seminar: Lukas Bödeker
Fri, Aug 29, 2025 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
8 Sep
JQI Seminar - TBD
Mon, Sep 8, 2025 11:00 am - 12:00 pm
11 Sep
QMC COLLOQUIUM - Eric Pop; Stanford University
Thu, Sep 11, 2025 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm
15 Sep
JQI Seminar - TBD
Mon, Sep 15, 2025 11:00 am - 12:00 pm
15 Sep
Space and Cosmic Ray Physics Seminar
Mon, Sep 15, 2025 4:30 pm - 5:30 pm
22 Sep
JQI Seminar - TBD
Mon, Sep 22, 2025 11:00 am - 12:00 pm
22 Sep
EPT Seminar - Loris Del Grosso, Johns Hopkins University
Mon, Sep 22, 2025 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
29 Sep
JQI Seminar - Adam Kaufman
Mon, Sep 29, 2025 11:00 am - 12:00 pm

Physics 260: General Physics: Electricity, Magnetism and Thermodynamics

Second semester of a three-semester calculus-based general physics course. Electrostatics, magnetism, induction, DC and AC circuits; Maxwell's Equations, heat, and thermodynamics.

(revised Fall 2023)

2024

Semester Instructor Syllabus www
Fall Girvan, Michelle     
Fall Gebremariam, Hailu     

2022

Semester Instructor Syllabus www
Fall Skuja, Andris    
Fall Gebremariam, Hailu    
Fall Sohr, Erin    
Spring Skuja, Andris

 

 

 

2021

Semester Instructor Syllabus www
Fall Skuja, Andris  
Spring Mohapatra, Rabindra    
Spring Skuja, Andris

MWF 10 am

MW 4 pm

 

2020

Semester Instructor Syllabus www
Fall Mohapatra, Rabindra    
Fall Skuja, Andris    
Spring Mohapatra, Rabindra    
Spring Severson, Matthew    
Spring Skuja, Andris  
 

2019

Semester Instructor Syllabus www
Fall Gebremariam, Hailu    
Fall Girvan, Michelle    
Fall Mohapatra, Rabindra    
Summer Buerle, David     
Spring Gebremariam, Hailu   
 

 2018

Semester Instructor Syllabus www
Fall Girvan, Michelle  
Fall Milchberg, Howard    
Fall Mohapatra, Rabindra  
Fall Gebremariam, Hailu  
Spring Mohapatra, Rabindra

 
       

2017

Semester Instructor Syllabus www
Fall Mohapatra, Rabindra    
Summer Buerle, David    
Spring Einstein, Ted
   
Spring Mohapatra, Rabindra
 
 
       

2016

Semester Instructor Syllabus www
Fall Seo, Eun-Suk

 
Fall Kirkpatrick, Ted   (02xx)  (04xx)  
Fall Mohapatra, Rabindra

 
Summer Buehrle, David
   
Spring Einstein, Ted
   
Spring Mohapatra, Rabindra
 
 
       

2015

Semester Instructor Syllabus www
Fall Picozzi, Sergio  
 
Fall Gebremariam, Hailu    
Fall Smith, Andrew    
Fall Seo, Eun-Suk     
Fall Mohapatra, Rabindra    
Summer Buehrle, David    
Spring Mohapatra, Rabindra    
Spring Einstein, Ted    

2014

Semester Instructor  Syllabus  www
Fall Gebremariam, Hailu  
Fall Lathrop, Daniel  
Fall Picozzi, Sergio  
Fall Wellstood, Fred  
Summer Buehrle, David  

2013

 Semester Instructor  Syllabus  www
Fall Kirkpatrick, Theodore  
Fall Picozzi, Sergio  
Spring Ellis, Rick  
Spring Rapport, Michael  

2012

Semester Instructor  Syllabus  www
Fall Girvan, Michelle  
Fall Kirkpatrick, Ted  
Fall Pennington, Gary  
 
Fall Rapport, Michael  

 

OLDER