Tag Physics
UW physicist receives American Ingenuity Award for IceCube effort
Francis Halzen, the University of Wisconsin–Madison physicist who was the driving force behind the giant neutrino telescope known as IceCube at the South Pole, has been named a winner of the 2014 American Ingenuity Award.
Physicist turns smartphones into pocket cosmic ray detectors
Soon, the growing capability of your smart phone could be harnessed to detect cosmic rays in much the same way as high-end, multimillion-dollar observatories. With a simple app addition, Android phones, and likely other smartphone brands in the not-too-distant future, can be turned into detectors to capture the light particles created when cosmic rays crash into Earth’s atmosphere.
‘Cabinet of curiosities’ captures nature through work of artists and scientists
Of all the places Sierra Swenson expected to end up during her first semester at college, precious few were lined with jars full of preserved reptiles.
Advanced physics tool to shut down after almost 30 years
Faced with a federal funding shortfall, the University of Wisconsin–Madison has decided to shut down its Synchrotron Radiation Center near Stoughton on March 7.
IceCube pushes neutrinos to the forefront of astronomy
The IceCube Neutrino Observatory, a particle detector buried in the Antarctic ice, is a demonstration of the power of the human passion for discovery, where scientific ingenuity meets technological innovation.
The sun also flips: 11-year solar cycle wimpy, but peaking
In a 3-meter diameter hollow aluminum sphere, Cary Forest, a University of Wisconsin–Madison physics professor, is stirring and heating plasmas to 500,000 degrees Fahrenheit to experimentally mimic the magnetic field-inducing cosmic dynamos at the heart of planets, stars and other celestial bodies.
Miron Livny: Collaborative spirit supports Nobel Prize-winning science
In 1964, François Englert and Peter Higgs theorized the existence of a subatomic particle that gives all other particles mass. Nearly 50 years later in 2012, a global team of researchers found evidence that supports the existence of the Higgs boson particle at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Geneva, Switzerland.
Vaterite: Crystal within a crystal helps resolve an old puzzle
With the help of a solitary sea squirt, scientists have resolved the longstanding puzzle of the crystal structure of vaterite, an enigmatic geologic mineral and biomineral.
UW–Madison physicist wins science image challenge
Close your eyes and picture an ocean reef: vivid violet, cool blue and tropical green intertwining in gentle curves and delicate edges. And that's just the urchin teeth.
Scientists begin effort to stir up a cosmic dynamo in the lab
For scientists trying to understand the subtleties of cosmic dynamos - the magnetic field-inducing phenomena at the hearts of planets, stars and galaxies - the physics, for the most part, must be done at vast distances.
UW scientists play key role in discovery of a new particle consistent with Higgs boson
Experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), aided by scientists from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, have narrowed the search for the elusive Higgs boson, discovering a new particle with a mass in the region of 125 GeV.