Michael Niemack, professor of physics and astronomy, works with grad student Alicia Middleton, center, and REU summer undergraduate researcher Isla Steinman in Niemack’s lab in the Physical Sciences Building.

World class physics education and training

The Department of Physics

Uniquely versatile undergraduate and graduate programs, an unrivaled breadth of research training, and Nobel Prize-winning work in world class facilities, defines the Department of Physics at Cornell University as a national and global leader in physics training and education. The department has more than 40 active professors, approximately 180 graduate students and 65 undergraduate majors, and offers a full range of university-level work in physics, from general education courses for nonscientists to doctoral-level independent research.

Physics News

Person in blue shirt stands in front of complicated silver equipment

Klarman Fellow honored for outstanding achievement in physics

Paul Malinowski, Klarman Fellow in physics in the College of Arts and Sciences, received the 2025 Martin and Beate Block Winter Award from the Aspen Center for Physics,

Don Hartill, longtime physics professor, Lansing mayor, dies at 86

Donald Hartill, a professor of physics emeritus in the College of Arts and Sciences and a driving force behind decades of experimental research in particle physics, died on April 16. He was 86.

Alum still lives in the house Frank Lloyd Wright designed for him

Centenarian Roland Reisley ’46, BA ’45, an A&S physics alum, has resided in the Hudson Valley home for more than seven decades.

Cornell Celebrates Breakthrough Prize for LHC Collaborations

Cornell researchers are helping upgrade the CMS detector at CERN, as LHC collaborations win the 2024 Breakthrough Prize for fundamental physics discoveries.

Inside arXiv—the Most Transformative Platform in All of Science

Modern science wouldn’t exist without the online research repository known as arXiv, Sheon Han writes in a Wired feature about arXiv's creator Paul Ginsparg, professor of physics.

Red buds on black branches in the foreground with a clock tower in the distance

Five early-career professors win NSF development awards

Researchers studying novel traits in organisms and the fundamental understanding of extreme weather are among the five Cornell assistant professors who've received National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Awards.

Quantum mechanics with a twist: spring 2025 Bethe lecture

Physicist Shahal Ilani will introduce the emerging field of twistronics, which is revolutionizing our ability to harness quantum phenomena, during a public lecture April 9.

Patches of dark blue, turquoise and orange scattered on a grid of black broken lines, with an oxagonal and a star-shaped line drawing next to it.

Clearest images yet of 380,000-year-old baby universe released

The new results confirm a simple model of the universe and have ruled out a majority of competing alternatives, says the research team.

More News

Physics Links

Graduate Program Undergraduate Program Faculty Profiles Research Areas

A Physicist is...

Steven Santos ’12

BA Physics and Math
Financial Analyst, Soccer Fan, Physicist!

Steven (he/him) turned his physics analysis skills to the field of finance. His path has led him through several different companies in various roles managing data and using complex forecasting models to inform financial decisions like product pricing, budgeting and strategic planning. In his free time, Steven enjoys reading non-fiction, soccer, and running his own stock portfolio.

The analytical and problem-solving skills from physics have been of much use to him in the corporate world

Victoria Gao ’12

BA Physics and Art History
Art Historian, Photographer, Physicist!

Victoria (she/her) followed her physics degree with a PhD in visual and cultural studies from the University of Rochester. She then became Director of the Bannister Gallery and Adjunct Professor of Art History at Rhode Island College. Through her career, Victoria has been able to turn her passions into her work. In her free time, she enjoys baking.

The critical thinking skills she developed as a physicist have always helped her along the way.

David Hackett ‘12

BA Physics and Economics
Lawyer, Boston Sports Fan, Physicist!

David (he/him) went from Cornell physics to Boston College where he earned degrees in law and business administration. He held several positions in both marketing and law and then became a lawyer for a biological engineering lab at Harvard. In his free time, he enjoys working on his house.

Physics has been his most valuable degree, developing his problem-solving and creative thinking skills.

PhD student Prateek Sehgal works with shear thickening fluid in their Clark Hall lab.

Research Spotlight

Research in the department is organized in two laboratories, the Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics (LASSP) and the Laboratory for Elementary Particle Physics (LEPP). Explore the links below to learn more about the major research areas of the department and the facilities available to researchers.

Physics Events

May 05

Monday 04:00 PM

Department of Physics Colloquium, Professor Howard Hui, Caltech

Rockefeller Hall 201, Schwartz Auditorium

May 06

Tuesday 12:20 PM

LASSP and AEP Seminar: Gervasi Herranz (Institute of Materials Science of Barcelona-ICMAB-CSIC)

Clark Hall 700

See all events