MIT Physics

For many graduate students, waking up at noon after a 4 a.m. bedtime is a sign of a night well spent. For a group of MIT students, it was simply the start of their workday — timed not to the sun, but to the aurora. Their goal was simple: to study plasma phenomena using the […] The post MIT students study plasma physics beneath Alaska’s aurora appeared first on MIT Physics .

The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) has elected 120 members and 25 international members for 2026, including six MIT faculty members and 10 additional alumni.  Among MIT professors, Bengt Holmström, Michale Fee, Gareth McKinley ’91, Keith Nelson, Fan Wang, and Catherine Wolfram ’96 were elected in recognition of their “distinguished and continuing achievements in original […] The post MIT affi…

Zhurun (Judy) Ji, Assistant Professor of Physics, has been named one of 15 exceptional early-career investigators to join the prestigious Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) Global Scholars program for 2026–2028. Now in its eleventh year, the initiative empowers rising research leaders to secure global impact by providing leadership development and championing bold ideas through […] …

Researchers from the University of Ottawa and MIT have published a comprehensive roadmap in Newton detailing the potential of “magnetic topological materials.” These materials represent a cutting-edge fusion of magnetism and topology, a branch of mathematics dealing with shape and structure. They hold the promise of revolutionizing electronics by enabling faster, smaller, and significantly more […

MIT master’s student Sunshine Jiang ’25 and Rupert Li ’24 are recipients of this year’s Knight-Hennessy Scholarship. Now in its ninth year, the highly competitive scholarship provides up to three years of financial support for graduate studies at Stanford University.  Sunshine Jiang  ’25 Sunshine Jiang, from Hangzhou, China, graduated from MIT in 2025 with a […] The post Two from MIT named 2026 K…

Dark matter is thought to make up most of the matter in the universe, but the only way it interacts with its surroundings is through gravity. If two colliding black holes spiral through a dense region of dark matter and merge, gravitational waves rippling across space and time could carry an imprint of that dark […] The post A new way to spot signs of dark matter appeared first on MIT Physics .

Quantum computers could someday solve pressing problems that are too convoluted for classical computers, such as modeling complex molecular interactions to streamline drug discovery and materials development.  But to build a superconducting quantum computer that is large and resilient enough for real-world applications, scientists must precisely engineer thousands of quantum circuits so they perf…

Michael McDonald, Scott Hughes, Michael Reefe, Abell 402-BCG, James Webb Space Telescope, JWST, Very Large Telescope of the European Southern Observatory, black holes, Link redirects to full story on www.sciencenews.org M. McDonald et al. A kiloparsec-scale stellar cavity in the center of A402-BCG may be caused by dynamic interactions with an ultramassive black hole. The Astrophysical Journal Let…

Arup K. Chakraborty, a distinguished faculty member at the MIT School of Engineering, has been recognized for his exceptional scholarship and contributions to the field of biophysics. In winter 2026, Professor Chakraborty was named a Laureate of the 2026 Tel Aviv University International Prize in Biophysics. The prestigious prize is awarded to outstanding scientists whose […] The post Arup K. Cha…

Across the Milky Way galaxy, a planetary odd couple is circling a star some 190 light years from Earth. A normally “lonely” hot Jupiter is sharing space with a mini-Neptune, in a rare and unlikely pairing that’s had astronomers puzzled since the system’s discovery in 2020. Now MIT scientists have caught a glimpse into the […] The post Astronomers pin down the origins of a planetary odd couple app…

Scientists and engineers around the world are working to improve quantum bits, or qubits, the minuscule building blocks of the quantum computer. Qubits are incredibly sensitive, making it easy for errors to be introduced, lowering device yield. But a new cluster tool at MIT.nano introduces capabilities that will allow researchers to continue advancements in qubit […] The post A materials scientis…

The following is a joint announcement by the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing and IBM. IBM and MIT today announced the launch of the MIT-IBM Computing Research Lab, advancing their long-standing collaboration to shape the next era of computing. The new lab expands its scope to include quantum computing, alongside foundational artificial intelligence research, with […] The post The MIT-IBM Comp…

A new immersive sound installation at Oulu Cathedral, Finland, brings the research of MIT astrophysicist and associate professor of physics Kiyoshi Masui into a striking sensory form, transforming more than 4,000 cosmic signals into spatial audio. With its grand opening on April 4, “The Logos” project invites visitors to experience deep-space phenomena not as distant […] The post Transforming dee…

Physics is riddled with paradoxes: Think of how information leaks from supposedly inescapable black holes or how the conventional laws of physics break down at the quantum scale. Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski ’13 believes that within these apparent contradictions, new discoveries await. “What’s fun about physics is sometimes you think you know various things, and then […] The post On the hunt for “t…

Six MIT affiliates — Denisse Córdova Carrizales SM ’26; Ria Das ’21, MNG ’22; Ronak Desai; Stacy Godfreey-Igwe ’22; Arya Rao; and Ananthan Sadagopan ’24 — have been named 2026 P.D. Soros Fellows. In addition, P.D. Soros Fellow Avinash Vadali will begin a PhD in condensed-matter physics at MIT this fall. The fellowship provides immigrants […] The post Six from MIT awarded 2026 Paul and Daisy Soros…

Three MIT rising seniors have been selected to receive a 2026 Barry Goldwater Scholarship, including Deeksha Kumaresh in the School of Engineering and Anna Liu and Charlotte Myersin the School of Science. An estimated 5,000 college sophomores and juniors from across the United States were nominated for the scholarships, of whom only 454 were selected. The Goldwater […] The post Three from MIT nam…

CAMBRIDGE, MA — The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation has conferred a Humboldt Research Award upon Jesse Thaler, Professor of Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Professor Thaler was nominated for the award by Professor Tilman Plehn of Heidelberg University in recognition of his extensive academic record and fundamental contributions to theoretical particle physics. […] Th…

Four MIT faculty members are among the roughly 250 leaders from academia, the arts, industry, public policy, and research elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the academy announced April 22. Thirteen additional MIT alumni were also honored. One of the nation’s most prestigious honorary societies, the academy is also a leading center […] The post MIT affiliates elected to the Amer…

CAMBRIDGE, MA — The Breakthrough Prize Foundation has announced the recipients of the 2026 New Horizons in Physics Prize, honoring three researchers with significant ties to the MIT Department of Physics. Assistant Professor Shu-Heng Shao and alumnus Yifan Wang (PhD ’16) were recognized for their collaborative theoretical research, while former Pappalardo Fellow Benjamin R. Safdi […] The post MIT…

Physicists have proposed a new way to make neutrinos at accelerated rates. This method would use a state of matter close to absolute zero called a Bose-Einstein condensate. It would harness quantum effects that can produce neutrinos faster than ordinary radioactive decays. This tool would produce a large and controllable beam of neutrinos. They could have similar properties to photons (particles …