Department of Physics

Scientists have developed what they believe is the thinnest-possible semiconductor, a new class of nanoscale materials made in sheets only three atoms thick.

Three major experiments aimed at detecting elusive dark matter particles believed to make up most of the matter in the universe have gotten a financial shot in the arm. Two of the projects are at large national laboratories; the other is at the University of Washington.

UW physics students build their own version of the Atlas particle detector, only much smaller - and using Legos.

In order to make predictions about the future of the ice sheet and the impact it will have, scientists across different departments at the University of Washington are conducting multifaceted research. Ian Joughin, a glaciologist at the UW Applied Physics Laboratory, explained that they used computer modeling to analyze the large Thwaites glacier, which has the potential for contributing two feet of sea level rise once it disappears completely.

The UW College of Arts and Sciences organized a town-hall meeting last night in Kane Hall in response to the request to halt the closure of the Physics-Astronomy Reading Room (PARR).

Seattlepi.com's science blogger adds a book to the summer reading list: "Einstein's Bridge," a science fiction novel published in 1998 by UW emeritus professor of physics John Cramer.

Nearly 800 students and supporters have signed a petition on Change.org hoping to halt plans to repurpose the Physics-Astronomy Reading Room (PARR) into an eScience Data Science Studio.

Robijanto Soetedjo, a neurophysiologist and research assistant professor at the UW Department of Physiology and Biophysics, was awarded $25,000 after coming in second place in the national Science, Play, and Research Kit competition (SPARK) for his prototype of a "Bioelectricity Toy Set." His invention could help lead the way in introducing children to neuroscience through play.

The same physics that gives stability to tornadoes lies at the heart of new UW research and could lead to a better understanding of nuclear dynamics in studying fission, superconductors and the workings of neutron stars.

A UW physicist who has been looking for evidence that causality can go backward in time says he's making progress on nailing down the theoretical foundations for such quantum weirdness.

Although a population of bacteria may be genetically identical, individual bacteria within that population can act in radically different ways.

Quantum entanglement, a perplexing phenomenon of quantum mechanics that Albert Einstein once referred to as "spooky action at a distance," could be even spookier than Einstein perceived.

The University of Washington's Center for Experimental Nuclear Physics and Astrophysics is about to go hunting. Their quarry: A theorized-but-never-seen elementary particle called an axion.

UW physicist have made the first-ever accurate determination of a solid-state triple point in a substance called vanadium dioxide, which is known for switching rapidly from an electrical insulator to a conductor.

Earning a PhD is accomplishment enough for most graduate students, but three recent grads received the A&S Graduate Medal along with their doctorates this spring