News
Baha Balantekin, the Eugene P. Wigner Professor of Physics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, has been elected Speaker of the Council for the American Physics Society (APS). He will serve as Speaker-elect in 2020, Speaker in 2021, and Speaker Emeritus in 2022.
The APS Speaker of the Council presides over the Council, a body of elected leadership within the professional society. The Speaker also serves on the APS Board of Directors as well as presiding over the Council’s Steering Committee.
Two technical breakthroughs, from the realms of experimental physics and microscopic communities, have claimed top honors from WARF this year.
The 2019 WARF Innovation Award winners are: Mark Saffman (physics) and Ophelia Venturelli, Philip Romero and Ryan Hsu (biochemistry). Saffman has developed simplified optical hardware for quantum computing. His technology, recently licensed to ColdQuanta Inc., improves an apparatus for particle trapping, which will reduce the cost and complexity of next-generation quantum computing devices.
“We’re trying to push the envelope on how much computation we can do with a quantum computer,” said Saffman. “We currently have more than 100 quantum bits…that’s the largest number of quantum bits any lab in the world has been able to demonstrate to date.”
The Ingersoll Physics Museum and Steve Narf were featured in an article about museums and special collections within the College of Letters & Sciences.
Last week, crews at the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) in South Dakota strapped the central component of LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) – the largest direct-detection dark matter experiment in the U.S. – below an elevator and s-l-o-w-l-y lowered it 4,850 feet down a shaft formerly used in gold-mining operations. At UW-Madison, the experiment is led by Physics Prof. Kim Palladino.
The American Physical Society (APS) announced today, Oct 22, that Wesley Smith, a University of Wisconsin–Madison Professor Emeritus of Physics and former Bjorn Wiik Professor of Physics, has earned the 2020 W.K.H. Panofsky Prize in Experimental Physics.
The Panofsky Prize recognizes “outstanding achievements in experimental particle physics,” and is the top APS award in that field.
Smith developed systems that enabled the discovery of the Higgs boson, a previously elusive particle believed to give mass to all matter. Smith led a team of over 100 scientists on the CMS experiment trigger system that captured the data for the Higgs’ discovery at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Geneva.
The second annual Chicago Quantum Summit, hosted at the University of Chicago, will engage scientific and government leaders from around the globe and the industries that will drive the applications of emerging quantum information science research. With a focus on building international community, these experts will discuss the future of quantum information science and technology and strategies to build tomorrow’s quantum workforce.
Shimon Kolkowitz, a University of Wisconsin–Madison assistant professor of physics, has been selected as one of 22 members of the 2019 class of Packard Fellows for Science and Engineering.
The fellowship, awarded to early-career scientists from across the U.S., provides $875,000 of funding over five years. Kolkowitz will use the funds to develop his research program in ultra-precise atomic clocks, which he will use to investigate such fundamental aspects of physics as the relationship between quantum mechanics and gravity and the nature of dark matter.
The Physics Board of Visitors, their families and friends visited CERN, Geneva, to learn about the department research activities there. Professors Sau Lan Wu, Cary Forest and Sridhara Dasu hosted them. Thanks to Sylvie Padlewski and Aimee Lefkow for help organizing the event.
All prospective undergraduate Physics majors are invited to attend our Physics Major Fair on Thursday, Oct 17 from 4:30-5:30pm in the Physics Museum. Connect with facutly + current undergrad majors, learn about our clubs and student orgs, and eat tasty treats.
As the field of quantum computing grows, American Family Insurance and the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Wisconsin Quantum Institute (WQI) keep pace, announcing plans to work together in partnership to expand quantum computing research at UW.
American Family’s new relationship with WQI is part of the company’s ongoing partnership with UW–Madison supporting students, academic programs, research, athletics and charitable activities. This endeavor will help to attract top graduate students to UW–Madison and will fund a campus seminar series that brings leaders in the field to Madison. In turn, WQI researchers will collaborate with American Family researchers.