News

July 22, 2010

Pioneering Nuclear Physicist Remembered with Graduate Study Fund

COLLEGE STATION — Texas A&M University graduate Dr. William A. Robba ’51 spent the bulk of his life traveling the country as part of a pioneering career in nuclear physics, yet he never forgot his educational roots. His family didn’t either, recently paying tribute to Robba, his lifetime of achievement and the university he said […]

May 20, 2010

Suntzeff Named Jefferson Science Fellow By State Department

COLLEGE STATION — Dr. Nicholas B. Suntzeff, professor of physics and astronomy and director of the astronomy program at Texas A&M University, has been named one of 12 Jefferson Science Fellows for 2010-2011 by the United States Department of State. As a Jefferson Science Fellow, Suntzeff will advise the U.S. State Department on scientific issues […]

May 17, 2010

Krisciunas Earns Distinguished New Faculty Award For Teaching

COLLEGE STATION — One of the first lessons students enrolled in Dr. Kevin Krisciunas‘s introductory astronomy course at Texas A&M University learn is to expect the unexpected. On any given day, for instance, it’s nothing out of the ordinary for the unconventional and extroverted instructor to show up to class dressed as a Renaissance-era minstrel […]

May 11, 2010

Texas A&M-Led Research Finds Ancient City Of “Modern” Galaxies

COLLEGE STATION — Using NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, a Texas A&M University-led team of astronomers has uncovered what may very well be the earliest, most distant cluster of galaxies ever detected. The group of roughly 60 galaxies, called CLG J02182-05102, is nearly 10 billion years old — born just 4 billion years after the Big […]

May 10, 2010

Scully Earns Sigma Xi Distinguished Scientist Award

COLLEGE STATION — Dr. Marlan O. Scully, a distinguished professor of physics at Texas A&M University, has received the Distinguished Scientist Award for 2010 from the Texas A&M chapter of Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society. Scully, a world-renowned pioneer of quantum optics and laser physics, was honored for his contributions to both fields as […]

April 8, 2010

Hawking Inspires Second Straight Sellout Crowd in Aggieland

COLLEGE STATION — A capacity audience sat spellbound Monday (April 5) evening in Texas A&M University’s Rudder Auditorium as world-famous physicist Stephen Hawking presented his lecture “Out of a Black Hole” yet laughed eagerly when he punctuated the standing-room-only event with trademark bits of humor, clearly indicating that his famed wisdom and wit remain as […]

March 25, 2010

World-Famous Physicist Stephen Hawking To Deliver Public Lecture

COLLEGE STATION — The Department of Physics and Astronomy at Texas A&M University encourages the Brazos Valley and campus communities to take advantage of a major opportunity to see one of the most brilliant scientific minds of all-time when Stephen Hawking returns to Aggieland next month to present a rare public lecture. Hawking, the world […]

March 9, 2010

Physics Festival to Feature Bubble Magic, Displays, Universal Fun

COLLEGE STATION — The Department of Physics and Astronomy and Department of Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University are teaming up to showcase science and technology later this month as part of Physics & Engineering Festival 2010, an entertaining and informative weekend scientific extravaganza for all ages. No fees or tickets are required for the […]

March 9, 2010

Texas A&M Mitchell Institute to Host Strings 2010 Conference

COLLEGE STATION — At the same time most Texas A&M University students, faculty and staff will be leaving Aggieland next week for spring break, many of the world’s foremost experts in string theory and M-theory will be gathering on the Texas A&M campus to participate in the 2010 Strings Conference, hosted March 15-19 by the […]

March 4, 2010

From 2-Trillion-Degree Heat, Researchers Create New Matter and New Questions

COLLEGE STATION — A worldwide team of researchers, including 10 physicists from Texas A&M University, have for the first time created a particle that is believed to have been in existence immediately after the creation of the Universe — the so-called “Big Bang” — a development which could lead to new questions and answers about […]

February 11, 2010

Dark Matter Search Results Published in Science

COLLEGE STATION — Nearly two months after unveiling their detection of two events with characteristics matching those of the particles physicists believe make up dark matter, scientists from the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) experiment — including physicists from Texas A&M University — celebrated another milestone Thursday (Feb. 11): publication in the prestigious journal Science. […]

February 10, 2010

Suntzeff Named Vice President of American Astronomical Society

COLLEGE STATION — Dr. Nicholas B. Suntzeff, professor of physics and director of the astronomy program at Texas A&M University, has been elected to a three-year term as a vice president of the American Astronomical Society, effective June 2010. Established in 1899 with a mission to enhance and share humanity’s scientific understanding of the Universe, […]

January 26, 2010

Astronomy Open House Set for Friday

COLLEGE STATION — The Astrophysics Group in the Texas A&M University Department of Physics and Astronomy will host its monthly Astronomy Open House Friday (Jan. 29) from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the campus observatory. The free, family-oriented event will feature telescope observing (weather permitting), hands-on demonstrations and a brief public talk by Texas A&M […]

January 21, 2010

Mahapatra Honored with Department of Energy Research Award

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Dr. Rupak Mahapatra, assistant professor of physics and astronomy at Texas A&M University, has been recognized with a 2010 United States Department of Energy Early Career Research Award for his achievements and future potential in high-energy particle physics research. Mahapatra, who studies dark matter and, specifically, detection of the weakly interacting massive […]

optical Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) data

January 20, 2010

Texas A&M Astronomers Find Baby Galaxies in Early Universe

COLLEGE STATION — Armed with a sample of the deepest near-infrared images yet, captured by NASA’s new Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) on board the Hubble Space Telescope, Texas A&M University astronomers Dr. Casey Papovich and Dr. Steven Finkelstein along with their collaborators have completed their initial analysis of the light from 35 galaxies formed […]

December 17, 2009

Physicist Sees With T-Rays

COLLEGE STATION — “T-rays” may make X-rays obsolete as a means of detecting bombs on terrorists or illegal drugs on traffickers, among other uses, contends a Texas A&M University physicist who is helping lay the theoretic groundwork to make the concept a reality. In addition to being more revealing than X-rays in some situations, T-rays […]

December 17, 2009

CDMS Opens the Box, Reveals Results in Search for Dark Matter

EDITOR’S NOTE: Texas A&M University’s Dr. Rupak Mahapatra, assistant professor of physics and principal investigator for the Texas A&M Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) experiment group, will be presenting a colloquium Friday (Dec. 18) on results from the experiment’s latest search using data collected during the past two years. Mahapatra’s talk, which will broadcast via […]

December 10, 2009

Research Quick Briefs Podcast Features Texas A&M Physicists

COLLEGE STATION — Texas A&M University experimental physicists Teruki Kamon, Alexei Safonov, David Toback and Peter McIntyre, and theoretical physicists Dimitri Nanopoulos, Bhaskar Dutta and Richard Arnowitt, are among the many researchers worldwide who are awaiting the first full-scale physics experiments to begin soon at the new Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world’s most powerful […]

December 4, 2009

Mitchell Physics Buildings Formally Opened

COLLEGE STATION — Establishing itself as one of the country’s leading academic institutions in physics, Texas A&M University today dedicated two new physics buildings named after one of the school’s most distinguished and charitable graduates — the George P. Mitchell ’40 Physics Building and the George P. and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics […]