People and History
Stanislav Petrov correctly judged that a satellite system’s warning of a U.S. nuclear missile attack was a false alarm — one triggered by an improbable optical illusion.
Deep underground, Japan’s “Super-K” detector picked up hints that the ghostly particles have mass — and switch from type to type.
In an interview, Troyer talks about his career, his involvement in APS, and his purpose in helping the Society launch its newest award.
An expanding universe, Lemaître reasoned, might have started with a single “primeval atom.”
Director Stanley Kubrick packed the iconic movie with accurate depictions of space and physics, and inspired a generation of sci-fi films.
In an interview, the 2026 APS president outlines his career, his goals for the year, and where he finds optimism in challenging times.
A group of University of Iowa scientists made the extraordinary discovery.
Halzen, the 2026 APS Medal winner, leads the world’s first gigaton neutrino detector — at the bottom of the world.
Manabe, who won the 2021 Nobel Prize, developed models that forecast the warming effects of greenhouse gases.
As a graduate student, Lorenzo Gavassino solved a problem that had puzzled physicists since the 1980s.
Murayama, the founder of Tokyo’s Kavli Institute and chair of the decadal P5 report on particle physics, believes that science is for everyone.
In a Q&A, Timothy Gay explains the aerodynamics of footballs, the precision required to throw a successful Hail Mary pass, and more.
Detection of waves emitted by colliding binary black holes opened a new era in astrophysics and proved that Einstein was right.
When she had to choose between looking after her baby and furthering her career, Carla Hermann Avigliano decided to advocate for caregiving scientists everywhere.
Heisenberg’s matrix mechanics fixed the holes in quantum theory by taking physics into the realm of pure abstraction and math.
The two-time Nobel laureate was recognized for her “transcendent service to science and humanity” with the gift of an essential ingredient for her life-saving research.
Around the world, hundreds or thousands of scientists are forced from their homes each year. Getting to safety is only half the battle.
In an interview, the 2025 APS president shares his academic journey, achievements from the field of atomic physics, and his vision for APS’ future.
The reactor, which achieved criticality in just nine months, had both wartime and peacetime utility.
The Keeling curve deepened our understanding of Earth’s workings, and continues to show how fossil fuel emissions are changing the planet.
The film’s visualization of a fictional black hole was both iconic and grounded in science.
An interview with the 2025 APS Medal winner and attosecond science pioneer.
A seminal paper by Paul Dirac, who relied on mathematical intuition, laid the foundation for quantum electrodynamics.
With new experiments coming online, Ratra is optimistic about the next decade.
Ruben Verresen’s pioneering work may someday advance quantum computing.
Fleming’s innovation kickstarted the age of electronics.
The IMB detector was built to look for proton decay, but an unexpected neutrino measurement defined its legacy.
APS’ newest topical group celebrates its first anniversary.
West’s research at a naval facility in Virginia proved crucial to navigation satellite systems.
In 1946, three physicists discussed via mail whether it was time to publish results that had been withheld during the war.
Years earlier, a physicist named Ross Gunn had recognized the potential of nuclear energy to power submarines.
Voyager 2 became the first spacecraft to probe the Solar System’s mysterious ice giants.
On a seawall at the U.S. Naval Academy, now an APS Historic Site, Michelson measured the speed of light more accurately than anyone had before.
Alexander Friedmann used Einstein’s general theory of relativity to propose a universe that could expand or contract.
Narges Mohammadi, physicist and activist, has fought for human rights for decades.
With APS support, Polina Kofman joined 13,000 physicists in Minneapolis and then headed to New Orleans to spend a month at Tulane.
Kids of all ages poked and prodded, smushed and mixed, and played and created while exploring the softer side of physics.
Before an audience of some 500 fellow physicists, Allen Austin delivered a powerful speech about the bureau’s core values.
Tatiana Erukhimova, APS Nicholson Medal winner, reaches millions of people worldwide with her demonstrations.
George Carruthers' invention of an ultraviolet telescope was the first telescope set up on another planetary body.
In clever experiments studying what he called “radiant heat” — what we now know as infrared light — Herschel realized there might be light we can’t see.
CUWiP’s 2024 keynote speaker addressed thousands of attendees across the U.S.
After an injury derailed his athletic career, Dakotah Tyler pivoted to exoplanets.
At the APS Annual Leadership Meeting, the heads of physics societies throughout the Americas discussed their visions for the future.
APS’s newest Historic Site celebrates 65 years since its first radio telescope came online.
In an interview with Kim, an experimental physicist and 2024 APS president, physics has always transcended borders.
Chemist Bertram Boltwood published a paper in the American Journal of Science detailing a novel method of dating rocks.
An interview with this year’s recipient of APS’s biggest research award.
Emil Rupp’s research, which fooled even Einstein, is exposed as fraud.
Geoffrey Penington’s groundbreaking work as a graduate student has helped kickstart advancements in quantum information.
Inventor Granville T. Woods became locked in a patent battle over an invention which allowed stations to communicate with trains.
In an interview with APS News, Kolb discusses the Big Bang, parallel universes, and the need for public outreach.
The Gallery of Fluid Motion celebrates its 40th anniversary and will be showcased in in a National Academy of Sciences exhibit in DC this winter.
The Jurassic Park-themed game Trespasser made history using classical mechanics.
Joe Cossette, 2023 PhysTEC Teacher of the Year, speaks about his career path and approach to teaching.
By carefully studying earthquake shock waves, Lehmann realized that the prevailing view of Earth’s structure was incomplete.
A physics student finds success with the help of mentors and connections made through APS IMPact.
In 1856, an American woman named Eunice Newton Foote conducted a series of homespun experiments that concluded carbon dioxide could warm the earth.
Wise spots awkward phrasing and other red flags to identify fraudulent research papers.
In 1980 astronomer Vera Rubin published an influential paper, which charted the rotation curves of 21 spiral galaxies, with the conclusion that non-luminous matter exists beyond the optical galaxy.
The electret microphone is now found in nearly every consumer product that has a microphone.
Designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1987 and an APS Historic Site in 2019, the Adler today is an astronomical gem.
At this year’s meeting in Las Vegas, circus performers embodied mind-boggling quantum concepts on the stage.
The duo’s work energized the 1987 APS meeting that became known as the “Woodstock of Physics.”
Meenakshi, an experimental particle physicist who helped discover the top quark and pushed her field to be more diverse, died Jan. 1 in Providence, RI.
Physicist Trevor David Rhone thinks we are approaching a Quantum Age.
When the Venera 3 spacecraft hit Venus, it became the first human-made object to touch the surface of another planet.
In February 1947, fruit flies became the first animals to rocket Into space.
Robert Rosner takes the helm as 2023 APS President.
Sidney Nagel, the recipient of the 2023 APS Medal for Exceptional Achievement in Research, finds beauty and complexity in disordered systems.
Leon Lederman's findings demonstrate that physicists can learn from failure to make significant discoveries.
Fascinated by physics from a young age, Laura D. Vega's participation in the APS Bridge Program has accelerated her astrophysics career.
Six young women programmed the world’s first modern electronic computer (ENIAC), which ran its first, top-secret program in 1945.
The American Physical Society recognizes undergraduate achievements in physics with the LeRoy Apker Award.
A global event celebrates the achievements of Chien-Shiung Wu.
Step into the world of Lina Necib, a physicist on a relentless pursuit of the invisible.
In November 1964 John Stewart Bell published the seminal quantum theory paper "On the Einstein Podolsky Rosen Paradox" but recognition came slowly.
Michelle Lollie, APS Bridge Program graduate, started over from banking to physics.
Albert-László Barabási unveils the hidden patterns of complex networks, linking the internet, brain neurons, and cellular metabolism.
Lee and Yang's explosive paper in 1956 cracked the mirror of parity.
An interview with the 2022 PhysTEC Teacher of the Year.
John Schiffer, an experimental nuclear physicist who steered the course of nuclear physics for over half a century, died in Illinois.
Physics Magazine publishes an article celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Higgs boson discovery.
In 1887 electrical engineer James Blyth built the world's first wind turbine in his front yard.
In 1972, Willie Hobbs Moore became the first African-American woman to receive a PhD in physics in the United States.
Harvard chemist and APS Fellow Dr. George Whitesides is one of four recipients of the 2022 Kavli Prize in Nanoscience.
Tom Gaisser, a particle physicist who calculated the complexities of cosmic rays, died February 20.
Elisabetta Matsumoto is a physicist uses knitting as a way to discover and explain physical structures of the universe.
Launched on April 24, 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope represents one of the most ambitious undertakings in the history of unmanned space study.
The APS LeRoy Apker Award recognizes up-and-coming scientists who demonstrate great potential in physics based on outstanding achievements in undergraduate research.
The first real measurement of a rogue wave occurred on January 1, 1995.
The public generally associates Samuel Morse with the invention of the telegraph, but decades earlier, Sir Francis Ronalds, created his own version of an electric telegraph.
Matthew Salter will join the APS senior management team as publisher in January 2016.
The newest regional section of APS will have its inaugural meeting in October.
Today, we think of physics and astronomy as being inexorably linked, thanks to the work of Johannes Kepler.
Wolfgang Pauli first proposed the existence of neutrinos in 1930 while investigating the conundrum of radioactive beta decay.
In 1824 French mechanical engineer and physicist Sadi Carnot published Reflections on the Motive Power of Fire, which led to the discovery of the law of thermodynamics.
In April 1954, researchers at Bell Laboratories demonstrated the first practical silicon solar cell.
In October 1958, Physicist William Higinbotham created what is thought to be the first video game.
In March 1896 Henri Becquerel discovered spontaneous radioactivity.
In December 1938, physicists Lise Meitner and Otto Frisch realized that a uranium nucleus could be split in two.
At around 240 B.C., Eratosthenes devised a clever method of estimating the circumference of the Earth.
Ernest Rutherford, in 1911, published his findings that opened the way for modern nuclear physics.
In 1905 Einstein published a paper explaining the photoelectric effect, in which he extended Planck's quanta to light itself.
Every major field of science has benefited from the use of some form of microscope, an invention that dates back to the late 16th century and a modest Dutch eyeglass maker named Zacharias Janssen.
The task force was given a very general charge.
Few scientific breakthroughs have had as immediate an impact as Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen's discovery of X-rays, a momentous event that instantly revolutionized the fields of physics and medicine.