Undergraduates
I am a sceptic of relativity theory and am trying to become a believer. As far as I know (about this theory), time slows down when some one travels at the speed of light. What about blind people ? Will this effect happen for them as well ?.. I am curious because blind people have nothing to do with light.
Benjamin Lev's group achieves the world's first magneto-optical trapping of both the bosonic and fermionic isotopes of dysprosium, the most magnetic element in the periodic table.
A team from the University of Illinois, led by engineering physics sophomore James Kryger, wows the judges at the 22nd annual national Rube Goldberg Machine Contest.
The Center for the Physics of Living Cells is established by the National Science Foundation at the University of Illinois. The goals of the Center, one of only two national Physics Frontiers Centers in biological physics, are to catalyze new collaborative research in biological physics that exploits major technological advances and promote the teaching of biological physics.
The old Physics Building is designated a "site of historic significance to physics" by the American Physical Society to recognize the
pioneering work of University of Illinois researchers in understanding the mechanism of superconductivity during BCS@50,
an international conference celebrating the 50th anniversary of the publication of
"Theory of Superconductivity."
The Department of Physics, College of Engineering, and Office of the Provost launch the Institute for Condensed Matter Theory at the University of Illinois to establish a highly interactive research environment that stimulates members to take on the most challenging, long-term research problems in condensed matter theory.
Dale Van Harlingen is named the 10th head of Physics, following Jeremiah Sullivan's retirement.
Klaus Schulten's group carries out the first atom-by-atom simulation of an entire life form, the satellite tobacco mosaic virus.
Paul Kwiat's group, using an optical-based quantum computer, demonstrate "counterfactual computation," determining the answer to an algorithm—without ever running the algorithm. (O. Hosten at al., Nature 439, 949 [2006]).
Paul Selvin
and his student Ahmet Yildiz, in collaboration with colleagues from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the University of California,
San Francisco, show conclusively that kinesin, one of the most important molecular motors for moving cargo within the cell, moves with the
hand-over-hand motion of a mountain climber, rather than an inchworm-like motion.
Professor of Physics
Anthony J. Leggett shares the
Nobel Prize in Physics with Alexei Abrikosov and Vitaly
Ginzburg "for pioneering contributions to the theory of superconductors and superfluids," a day after former
Slichter postdoc Sir Peter Mansfield
shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with
UI Professor Paul C. Lauterbur.
Space is assigned to Physics in the six-floor "Engineering Sciences Building" to relieve some of the overcrowding in Loomis. After extensive remodeling, the condensed matter theorists and the upper-level teaching laboratories make the long trek north. The theorists are consoled in their northern exile by a state-of-the-art espresso machine.
Paul G. Kwiat is appointed the second John Bardeen Endowed Chair in Electrical and Computer Engineering and Physics. A team led by Kwiat receives a $4.6-million grant from the NSF to investigate the foundations of solid-state quantum information processing.
The department initiates a novel "Senior Thesis" program for undergraduate researchers, which comprises three semesters of integrated research and instruction.
Richard Martin (Physics), with Duane Johnson (MatSE and Physics), secures funding from the National Science Foundation and IBM Corporation to establish the multidisciplinary Materials Computational Center in the MRL.
