A renowned physicist who collaborated with researchers globally and mentored young scientists exploring physics careers, Narain spent 15 years on the Brown faculty and was the first woman to chair the physics department.
It is with deep sadness that we inform you that our colleague and friend, Meenakshi Narain, passed away on January 1, 2023. Meenakshi joined the Brown University Department of Physics faculty in 2007 and served as the first woman to chair the department beginning on July 1, 2022.
The Fall 2022 edition of Imagine, Brown University's Department of Physics magazine, is here. In this issue, you will learn about the latest cutting-edge research being done in our department, as well as stories about our students, alumni, and more.
New experimental findings bolster Stephon Alexander's 2006 theory that suggested that Chern-Simons gravity could also potentially solve one of the biggest mysteries in cosmology: why our universe contains more matter than antimatter. Alexander's theory predicted that the Chern-Simons interaction could have yielded a relative abundance of left-handed gravitons, which would, in turn, preferentially create left-handed matter over right-handed antimatter.
The Particle Astrophysics Group in the Department of Physics at Brown University will have an opening for a postdoctoral research associate starting July 1, 2023 or earlier if desired.
The Nanoscale Physics and Devices Lab led by Professor Gang Xiao in the Department of Physics at Brown University is seeking a Postdoctoral Research Associate to perform research on spintronic physics and devices.
The Center for the Fundamental Physics of the Universe (CFPU) in the Department of Physics at Brown University will have an opening for a postdoctoral research associate starting July 1, 2023, or earlier if desired.
Read Wired's story on some of the deepest problems faced by physicists today, which includes a profile of Brown Professor of Physics and self-described “deviant by default," Stephon Alexander: "The Unnatural Future of Physics."
A research team including Brown University faculty and students created a superconducting diode without a magnetic field in multi-layer graphene, a development that could form the basis for future “lossless” electronics.
As a software engineer intern, Allen Dufort is supporting a Brown physicist’s NASA-funded project to help build a telescope that will enable the study of distant planets.
Jonathan Pober, an assistant professor of physics, was one of six early-career researchers from across the U.S. to receive NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Technology Fellowship in Astrophysics.
Assistant Professor of Physics Jia (Leo) Li published "Zero-field superconducting diode effect in small-twist-angle trilayer graphene" in Nature Physics. Co-authors include Phum (Gene) Siriviboon Sc.B. '22, and Brown Postdoctoral Research Associate Jiangxiazi Lin.
The long search for dark matter, estimated to comprise 85% of all mass in the universe, took a major step forward with the underground LUX-ZEPLIN experiment in South Dakota now delivering initial results.
Physics Demonstrations manager Angella Johnson has begun publishing an ambitious series of educational videos on YouTube that draw on her experience in demonstrations, the knowledge of Physics faculty members, and professional expertise throughout the university.
Brown University Professor of Physics Stephon Alexander discusses everything from Dark Matter to Public Enemy to the future of physics with Janet Babin on The Wall Street Journal's The Future of Everything podcast.
Andrey Gromov, an assistant professor of physics, has been awarded a prestigious Sloan Fellowship for his research into exotic quantum states of matter that could enable quantum computing technology.
National Medal of Science Recipient Sylvester James “Jim” Gates, Jr. has published multiple papers on theoretical physics with undergraduate and high school students.
The article is written by Stephanie Melchor and published by Symmetry Magazine. Illustration by Sandbox Studio, Chicago with Corinne Mucha.
Listen as Professor Stephon Alexander explains to Alan Alda how his jazz informs his physics and his physics informs his jazz, and how he is using the two to seek a new understanding of the Universe on Alda's Clear+Vivid Podcast.
An active voice for women in physics, Brown graduate student Farrah Simpson will conduct research related to the Large Hadron Collider, the world’s most powerful particle accelerator, as a 2022 Graduate Scholar at Fermilab.
Skyrmions, tiny magnetic anomalies that arise in two-dimensional materials, can be used to generate true random numbers useful in cryptography and probabilistic computing.
A tunable, atomically thin materials platform may help researchers figure out how to create a robust quantum condensate that can flow without dissipation of energy — potentially paving the way for ultra-efficient lossless electronic devices.
A new discovery could help scientists to understand “strange metals,” a class of materials that are related to high-temperature superconductors and share fundamental quantum attributes with black holes.
Magnets and superconductors don’t normally get along, but a new study shows that ‘magic-angle’ graphene is capable of producing both superconductivity and ferromagnetism, which could be useful in quantum computing.
The Physics Department is proud to introduce Lab News, the inaugural newsletter for the Physics Laboratory. In this first issue, readers can meet the new Lab Director, Sara Muller, explore the various demonstrations happening in the labs, or catch up on updates from the Ladd Observatory.
Tune into "NOVA Universe Revealed: Black Holes" on November 17th at 9:00 PM as Brown University's Ford Foundation Professor of Physics S. James Gates Jr. and his daughter Delilah Gates, a member of Harvard University's Black Hole Initiative, describe how black holes can reshape entire galaxies, warp the fabric of space and time, and may even be the key to unlocking the ultimate nature of reality.
PREMIERES NOVEMBER 17, 2021 AT 9:00 PM ON PBS
"Take a seat on the ultimate thrill ride to explore nature’s strangest and most powerful objects. Black holes can reshape entire galaxies, warp the fabric of space and time, and may even be the key to unlocking the ultimate nature of reality. A new generation of high-energy telescopes is bringing these invisible voids to light, showing that “supermassives” millions or billions of times larger than our sun lurk at the center of nearly every galaxy, including our own. But what happens if you stray too close to one? And what lies beyond the black hole’s abyss? If nothing can ever escape it, is that the end of the story? Or could they be a portal to another dimension—or another universe, full of black holes?"
By observing how strange particles called anyons dissipate heat, researchers have shown that they can probe the properties of these particles in systems that could be relevant for topological quantum computing.