William H. Miller III Department of Physics & Astronomy

For 150 years, Johns Hopkins University has redefined what is possible through research, education, and discovery. As we enter our Sesquicentennial year, it's time to celebrate the relentless pursuit of knowledge and the people behind it. 150.jhu.edu

First Hubble View Of The Crab Nebula In 24 Years Is A Thing Of Beauty… With Mysterious "Knots" It was definitely time to revisit one of the most famous supernova remnants.

Bill Blair's research on the Crab Nebula is the focus of a great @IFLScience article by @DrCarpineti - "A Thing of Beauty" indeed!
www.iflscience.com/first-hubble...

Next up in the talks from the #NaturalPhilosophy Symposium: Nima Arkani-Hamed offers Two Cheers for Shut Up and Calculate. (He previously was giving three cheers, but he's changed his mind just a bit.) Comments from me, of all people.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=72QL...

Don Lincoln

Join us for the department's Resnick Lecture today at 3:30PM in Schafler Auditorium featuring Don Lincoln from @Fermilab
presenting "Talking about science: Engaging the media, the government, students, and your mom"

Today's department-wide colloquium is at 4pm and will feature Ashvin Vishwanath from Harvard present "The Return of Anyons: From twisted layers to quantum platforms." Please join us in Schafler Auditorium!

Department-wide Colloquium Gravitational Waves: Sources and Next-Gen Observatories Matthew Evans (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) In 2016 the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) announced the first direct detection of gravitational waves; minute distortions in space-time caused by cataclysmic events far away in the universe. Nine years later, with almost 200 gravitational-wave sources detected to-date and the first-generation facilities now almost 30-years old, there is growing momentum towards the next-generation of gravitationalwave observatories. Projects are underway in Europe, Australia, Japan, India and the US to bring new observatories online. I will talk about the sources of the signals we detected, the physics behind the detectors, and prospects for building a next-gen gravitational-wave observatory known as Cosmic Explorer. Prof. Evans received a B.S. in Physics from Harvey Mudd College in 1996 and a PhD from California Institute of Technology in 2002. He worked on LIGO and Virgo until 2007, and then came to MIT as a research scientist working on the Advanced LIGO design. Prof. Evans moved to his current position at MIT in January 2013, at which point his research group began work on new technologies to improved Advanced LIGO sensitivity. He currently leads the US effort to develop a next-generation gravitational-wave detector known as Cosmic Explorer. Wine and Cheese to follow.

Join our department-wide colloquium today at 3:30 in Schfler Auditorium - Matthew Evans from MIT will present "Gravitational Waves: Sources and Next-Gen Observatories"

crabs

mallet handoff

crab feast

crab feast

Today the honorary pewter crab mallet was passed from the department's outgoing Chair, Bob Leheny, to the incoming Chair, Tyrel McQueen. Thank you Bob and good luck Tyrel! Special thanks to Kelley Key for organizing the "Welcome Back" Crab Feast for the department

astronomy on tap poster

Tonight! 7pm at Guilford Hall Brewing - 3 FREE astronomy talks for Astronomy On Tap!

Adam Reiss

Please read Adam Reiss' new important new article, "My Recent Experience Advocating for Science" on @aas.org

aas.org/posts/news/2...

The department gets their first look at the largest and fastest astronomical camera every built from the Rubin Observatory! #RubinFirstLook #capturethecosmos @vrubinobs.bsky.social

The Rubin Observatory watch party is underway! @vrubinobs.bsky.social

#RubinFirstLook #capturethecosmos

Graduate student Xiaolong Li preps the department with a seminar on the background of the Rubin Observatory!
@vrubinobs.bsky.social

#RubinFirstLook #capturethecosmos

Today's the day — it's officially T-0!

GET READY: Your full First Look at images from NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory is just hours away! We're about to reveal the preview of the greatest cosmic movie ever made 🎬 #RubinFirstLook #CaptureTheCosmos 🔭🧪

⌚️ 11am US EDT
🔗: ls.st/rubin-first-look-livestream

The new 90 GHz telescope receiver has arrived at the CLASS site! 📡✨ The team pictured will now assemble and test the receiver before putting it on the telescope! #NSFfunded

The Nobel Prize Winner Who Thinks We Have the Universe All Wrong Cosmologists are fighting over everything.

Fun piece from @rossandersen.bsky.social about the "Hubble tension"--the problem that different methods for measuring the expansion of the universe give apparently incompatible results, which is leading some researchers to believe that something is drastically wrong with standard cosmological ideas.

@rossandersen.bsky.social Excellent article!

The Nobel Prize Winner Who Thinks We Have the Universe All Wrong Cosmologists are fighting over everything.

Bloomberg Distinguished Professor Adam Reiss is the focus of the new article by Ross Andersen published in @theatlantic.com "The Nobel Prize Winner Who Thinks We Have the Universe All Wrong"

Johns Hopkins astrophysicist Rosemary F.G. Wyse elected to National Academy of Sciences Membership is a widely accepted mark of excellence in science and is considered one of the highest honors that a scientist can receive

Congratulations to astrophysicist Rosemary F.G. Wyse on being elected to the National Academy of Sciences. @jhuphysicsastro.bsky.social hub.jhu.edu/2025/05/01/r...

Logo for JHU Physics Fair 2025

JHU Physics Fair Returns! THIS SATURDAY - 4/26 - 11am - 5pm, Throughout Bloomberg Center - “Professor Extraordinaire," Ibou Bah, will present “The Waviness of Things” at 12:30pm and 4:30pm that is sure to be a highlight! Full schedule and details:
physics-astronomy.jhu.edu/events/annua...

Title card for podcast episode with Marc Kamionkowski.

Mindscape 310 | Marc Kamionkowski on Dark Energy and Cosmic Anomalies. Is evidence accumulating that we need to change the standard ΛCDM cosmological model? #MindscapePodcast

www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025...

Music for the Stars - Arts & Sciences Magazine Photography by Jon Schroeder One recent evening, space came down to Earth in the form of song on the Homewood campus.  As an audience watched

Music for the Stars featured in KSAS Magazine! magazine.krieger.jhu.edu/2025/03/musi... via @jhuartssciences.bsky.social

Eric Cornell and students after their run together.

It was an honor to host Eric Cornell as 2025 Brickwedde Lecturer in Physics last week! Recordings of his two talks are now available for department members to watch: livejohnshopkins.sharepoint.com/sites/Physic...

Annual Physics Fair | Physics & Astronomy After a hiatus of several years, the William H. Miller III Department of Physics & Astronomy at Johns Hopkins University is excited to announce the revival of the Physics Fair! Join us on Saturday, Ap...

Mark your calendars for the return of the department's PHYSICS FAIR - April 26, 2025, 11 - 5 at Bloomberg Center for Physics and Astronomy on the Homewood campus!
physics-astronomy.jhu.edu/events/annua...

Welcome David DeMille, who joins @JohnsHopkins as the Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Atomic/Molecular Physics and Precision Measurement. A pioneering physicist, DeMille is joining the Hub for Imaging and Quantum Technologies cluster. (1/4)

hub.jhu.edu/2025/03/03/d...

Music for the Stars concert is THIS THURSDAY, 2/27, at 7:30PM in Bloomberg Center for Physics & Astronomy! FREE!!

Jumping workouts could help astronauts on the moon and Mars, study in mice suggests Jumping workouts could help astronauts on the moon and Mars, study in mice suggests

Johns Hopkins study led by Marco Chiaberge hints at a likely way to counter cartilage damage in long space journeys - Jumping! hub.jhu.edu/2025/02/13/a... #spacetravel

NASA Joins Telescope, Instruments to Roman Spacecraft - NASA Technicians have successfully integrated NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope’s payload – the telescope, instrument carrier, and two instruments – to the

Technicians have successfully integrated NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope’s payload—the telescope, instrument carrier, and two instruments—to the spacecraft that will deliver the observatory to its place in space and enable it to function while there. 🔭 🧪

🎉The department’s chapter of the Society of Physics Students has been named an Outstanding Chapter for 2024 by @aip.bsky.social! Criteria for Outstanding SPS Chapter recognition includes participation in SPS meetings, outreach efforts, and student recruitment 🎉

Survey of 26,000 dead stars confirms key details of extreme stellar behavior Telescope observations of more than 26,000 dying stars match theories of hotter, puffier white dwarfs

#NewResearch: "White dwarfs are one of the best characterized stars that we can work with to test underlying theories of run-of-the-mill physics in hopes that maybe we can find something wacky pointing to new fundamental physics," said Nicole Crumpler hub.jhu.edu/2024/12/18/w...

Johns Hopkins Astrophysicists Observe Theoretically Predicted Effect in the Remnants of Dead Stars | Physics & Astronomy In a new paper published by The Astrophysical Journal today, a team led by PhD candidate Nicole Crumpler (pictured) has detected a long-theorized but very subtle effect in the White Dwarf  “mass-radiu...

In a new paper published by The Astrophysical Journal today, a team led by PhD candidate Nicole Crumpler has detected a long-theorized but very subtle effect in the White Dwarf “mass-radius relation.” physics-astronomy.jhu.edu/2024/12/18/j...