Physics + Astronomy

UCSB physics professors John Martinis, left, and Michel Devoret

Theorists like Bruno Scheihing-Hitschfeld develop our descriptions of the exotic materials created within particle colliders.

The outer detector of the LZ dark matter experiment

Gary Horowitz

Artist's rendering of a young star surrounded by its protoplanetary disk, with elements furnished by NASA's Hubble Telescope

Joseph Polchinski at UCSB’s Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, where he advanced pivotal ideas in string theory and quantum gravity.

A researcher at work in materials scientist Stephen Wilson's Lab

Six images of galaxies taken from nearly 800,000, from upper left to lower right: the present-day universe, and 3, 4, 8, 9 and 10 billion years ago

Majorana 1, the eight-qubit topological quantum processor unveiled at Microsoft Station Q's 2025 conference

Concept illustration of non-radiative recombination, in which electron-hole interaction at a defect in the atomic structure results in heat, rather than light, being emitted. Jim Speck will use his Vannevar Bush Award to advance understanding of the physics of such interactions.