General News

Applications for undergraduate scholarships for the 2013-2014 school year are now being accepted. The deadline for applications is March 25, 2013. Find more information here on scholarships for physics majors. More »

The Super-TIGER (Trans-Iron Galactic Element Recorder) balloon flight was launched on December 8, 2012, and floated at an altitude of about 125,000 feet. The flight was ended on February 1, 2013. This flight, after nearly three orbits around the pole, established a new endurance record of 55 days, one hour and 34 minutes. The instrument was dropped by parachute 350 nautical miles from McMurdo. More »

James Kakalios Professor, School of Physics and Astronomy, College of Science and Engineering was elected in the Section on Physics "for distinguished contributions to the field of condensed matter and materials physics, particularly for experimental studies of amorphous semiconductors, and for innovative efforts in science communication."

School of Physics and Astronomy Professor Joseph Kapusta added his expertise to an article on a possible apocalypse in the St. Paul Pioneer Press. More »

Kenneth Heller, Professor, School of Physics and Astronomy, College of Science and Engineering was elected in the Section on Physics for distinguished contributions to the field of experimental high energy physics for investigations of spin dependent strong interactions and neutrinos, and to physics education research in the field of teaching problem-solving in college level introductory physics.

Professor Priscilla Cushman, School of Physics and Astronomy, has been named a 2012 Fellow of the American Physical Society. She was cited for her "outstanding contributions in the design and execution of experiments probing beyond the Standard Model especially the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search and the precise measurement of the muon magnetic moment, and the development of photodetection and low radioactivity instrumentation to advance the capabilities of high energy physics experiments."

You could advance science simply by looking at beautiful pictures from space. An international team of astronomers is seeking volunteers to explore Andromeda, the galaxy next door. The newly launched Andromeda Project will use people power to examine thousands of Hubble Space Telescope images of the galaxy to identify star clusters that hold clues to the evolution of galaxies. University of Minnesota researchers are part of the project. More »

Professor Vuk Mandic and his research group were selected by International Innovations as one of one hundred featured projects in science from around the world. Mandic discusses his Deep Underground Gravity Laboratory project here. More »

Al Nier's family, friends and colleagues unveiled a plaque on October 24, 2012 which designated Tate Laboratory as a historic site for Physics. The plaque, provided by the American Physical Society, cited the pioneering work of the late Regents Professor Alfred O. C. Nier and his colleagues in the development and application of mass spectrometry, including the first-ever separation of the Uranium-235 isotope. Nier's children, Janet Marx and Keith Nier, unveiled the plaque and shared reminiscences about their father. More »

Roger Stuewer, Professor Emeritus in the School of Physics and Astronomy and the Program in the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine, has been awarded the 2013 Abraham Pais Prize for History of Physics. The prize was established by the American Physical Society and American Institute of Physics to recognize and encourage outstanding contributions to the history of physics and is widely seen as the highest honor one can receive for work in the history of physics. More »