News Archive
Law Part of Team that Found Cosmic “Hamburger” has Ingredients of Giant Planet Formation
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Assistant Professor Charles Law leads team that observed the earliest phases of planetary formation in Gomez’s Hamburger, an object 450 light years from Earth.
School Welcomes Professor Charles Law
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Assistant Professor Charles Law is a new faculty member in the School of Physics and Astronomy and the Minnesota Institute for Astrophysics. He arrives from the University of Virginia and has already begun mentoring graduate student Alexis Riggs, who recently joined his Planetary Origins Lab. Law takes a cross-disciplinary approach, combining physics, chemistry, and astronomy to understand how planetary systems emerge and evolve.
Woodward Named Co-Chair of Important Astronomy Review Study
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Professor Charles "Chick" Woodward of the Minnesota Institute for Astrophysics and the School of Physics and Astronomy was made Co-Chair of the Astronomy and Astrophysics Mid-Decadal review study conducted by the National Academies / National Research Council.
Pospelov named Solvay Chair in Physics
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Professor Maxim Pospelov of the School of Physics and Astronomy and A.S. Fine Chair in Theoretical Physics, William I. Fine Theoretical Physics Institute has been named the 2027 Jacques and Mimi Solvay Chair in Physics.
University of Minnesota-led team helps explain what powers Jupiter’s brightest auroras
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NASA’s Juno spacecraft reveals how locally generated Alfvén waves accelerate particles and heat the planet’s upper atmosphere
Skillman and Olive Measure the Early-Universe Helium
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Evan Skillman, of the Minnesota Institute for Astrophysics, and Keith Olive of the Fine Theoretical Physics Institute, are part of The Large Binocular Telescope Primordial Helium Project which used precise helium measurements of the first five minutes after the Big Bang to provide useful constraints for cosmologists on possible physics beyond the standard model. John H. Miller, a graduate student in the School was also a co-author.
Lectures Series a Hit with Public
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The Quirky Quantum Lecture series drew hundreds of newcomers to the University this summer, earning enthusiastic feedback from attendees who said it made quantum physics approachable and rekindled their excitement for science.
Building on that success, the School of Physics and Astronomy is hosting three free public lectures this fall: Chris Lintott's Kaufmanis Lecture on interstellar objects (Sept. 16), Hitoshi Murayama's Van Vleck Lecture on the physics of our origins (Sept. 30), and Steven Griven's Misel Family Lecture on quantum computing (late October).
Remembering William “Bill” Zimmermann Jr.
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Professor Emeritus William “Bill” Zimmermann Jr. passed away in Minneapolis on July 12, 2026, at the age of 95.
Physicists go to extremes in the hunt for dark matter
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In the hunt for one of nature’s most elusive substances – dark matter, which makes up 85% of all matter in the universe – scientists are going to extremes. Deep underground and chilled to near absolute zero, the Super Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (SuperCDMS) SNOLAB – one of the world’s most sensitive dark matter searches – has begun collecting its very first scientific data, following a six month commissioning period for the newly installed experiment.
Sasli Proposal Approved for part of first cycle of observations at Roman Space Telescope
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Argyro Sasli, Postdoctoral Researcher in the School of Physics and Astronomy, has received word that her proposal has been accepted for the first ever cycle of observations at the Nancy Grace Roman Space telescope.