That’s a wrap! 🎉 Our Phortigy Partner Highlight campaign is now complete. Here’s the full map of our European network. If you missed any, feel free to check our previous posts or visit our website. 💙 #Phortify #Photonics #EUcollaboration

We are pleased to announce that Phortify scholarships are officially launched and open for applications. 🚀

So sad to see the loss of another laser pioneer with the passing of Orazio Svelto on 10 Jan. As well as being an inspiring scientist who helped create the European ultrafast community, he was gracious and generous with his time and support for international science. www.ansa.it/canale_scien...

Addio a Orazio Svelto, pioniere della ricerca sui laser in Italia - Fisica e Matematica - Ansa.it

Addio al fisico Orazio Svelto: è morto oggi a Milano, a 89 anni, il pioniere della ricerca sui laser in Italia e figura cardine dell'elettronica quantistica a livello internazionale. (ANSA)

ansa.it

Wonderful news and heartfelt congratulations to UCL prof Polina Bayvel on being named a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2026 New Year Honours List. A truly outstanding and well-deserved achievement. Congratulations, Polina!

History of Quantum Dots: It was a pleasure to collaborate to this movie on the history of quantum dots. Produced as part of of the PÉPITES program of the French Optical Society, SFO. @c2n-nanos.bsky.social youtu.be/p89chOVElSA?...

L'histoire des boîtes quantiques

YouTube video by C2N Centre de Nanosciences et de Nanotechnologies

youtu.be

We here in Madison do not do a good job celebrating this, but we should:

John Dudley@johnmdudley.bsky.social · 9mo ago

John Bell released Bell's theorem on 4 November 1964. home.cern/news/news/ph... In 1972, Bernard d'Espagnat was the first to nominate him for the Nobel Prize. As the Nobel archives progressively come on line, we will surely see that he was nominated very many times afterwards as well ...

Today is Lise Meitner's birthday, as well as Marie Curie. I wrote this blogpost about Meitner and her life a while back. Let's celebrate the woman who 'never lost her humanity'. occamstypewriter.org/athenedonald...

John Bell released Bell's theorem on 4 November 1964. home.cern/news/news/ph... In 1972, Bernard d'Espagnat was the first to nominate him for the Nobel Prize. As the Nobel archives progressively come on line, we will surely see that he was nominated very many times afterwards as well ...

Nomination%20Archive

mycontent

nobelprize.org

Great news for Michael Berry who has received the Isaac Newton medal of the IOP. What I absolutely love about his work is that it cuts across so many different areas of physics - from the foundations of quantum physics to understanding the rainbow. physicsworld.com/a/theoretica...

Theoretical physicist Michael Berry wins 2025 Isaac Newton Medal and Prize – Physics World

Berry recognized for his contributions in mathematics and theoretical physics over a 60-year career

physicsworld.com

Those outside the field really don't pay enough attention to what goes on in condensed matter. Indeed, even the excellent DPG Quantum History Wall didn't include yesterday's Nobel Prize winning work on tunnelling in its list of quantum milestones of the 1980s! www.quantum-history.de

If you love supercontinuum (and who doesn't!) check out our forward-looking Perspective in EPL which is free to read. Thanks @jctravs.bsky.social Thibaut Sylvestre, Alex Heidt, Roy Taylor, Goery Genty iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1...

Reposting to @tsizer.bsky.social via JL Beylat. What about a tribute at the 100 year session at ECOC ?

John Dudley@johnmdudley.bsky.social · 12mo ago

Very sad to hear that the great soliton pioneer Akira Hasegawa has died on June 22. His work truly was revolutionary in so many ways and impacted so many different fields. An obituary from Columbia is below. www.apam.columbia.edu/memoriam-pro...

Very sad to hear that the great soliton pioneer Akira Hasegawa has died on June 22. His work truly was revolutionary in so many ways and impacted so many different fields. An obituary from Columbia is below. www.apam.columbia.edu/memoriam-pro...

Anyone with a library endowment fund who doesn't know what to do with it? First edition of Opticks for sale!

I just had some fun verifing the 1/r potential drop from a plasma ball. The idea is from @simonpoliakoff.bsky.social and his video is here: youtube.com/watch?v=crW7... To get close to the ball (5 mm) I used a 10kOhm feedthrough terminator which yields around 25 V peak-peak !

RIP the great Tom Lehrer ... www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcS3...

Tom Lehrer - The Elements - LIVE FILM From Copenhagen in 1967

YouTube video by The Tom Lehrer Wisdom Channel

youtube.com

RIP Tom Lehrer

No comment needed really ...

This is incredible from Les Wright ! It has everything: lasers, home grown nonlinear optics crystals, and a home made Arduino-driven diamond saw. If you're planning to colonize Mars to avoid an apocalypse, include Les in your passenger list! youtu.be/RxjqMh3gkx8?...

A DIY Pockels cell!

YouTube video by Les' Lab

youtu.be

Impact factors certainly do not tell the whole story, but in what is more or less an annual tradition, I have compiled a list for some physics/optics journals. Note that there are truly excellent articles in all of these journals and different journals play very different roles in the community.

Planning to apply for #research #funding from the ERC? From the next application rounds, expect changes to the: • proposal structure • evaluation process • extra funding you can request • eligibility for Starting & Consolidator #Grants (from 2027) More 👇 europa.eu/!RPHWvv

Changes to the 2026 and 2027 Work Programmes

With the launch of the competitions for grants under ERC Work Programme 2026 in July of this year, several changes to the submission of applications and the evaluation of proposals will apply. The mai...

europa.eu

Big changes to the ERC funding schemes! Note the new eligibility criteria from 2027 on: 📌 Starting Grant: 0-10 y post-PhD 📌 Consolidator Grant: 5-15 y post-PhD erc.europa.eu/news-events/...

Changes to the 2026 and 2027 Work Programmes

With the launch of the competitions for grants under ERC Work Programme 2026 in July of this year, several changes to the submission of applications and the evaluation of proposals will apply. The mai...

erc.europa.eu

Just learned that the Wii remote triangulates position via IR sources in the bar you place on the TV. Most phone cameras allow you to see the emitters (top) but in fact you don't need them. You can replace the bar by two candles and it works just fine! Am sure most people knew this already ...

Il n'y a pas "trop" de deux musées scientifiques à Paris! (surtout comparé au nombre de musées d'art 😅) Et surtout quand ceux ci apportent des choses différentes (tellement de souvenirs! ⚡👩‍🦱). NE LAISSONS PAS LE PALAIS DISPARAITRE! signez la pétition et partagez 🙏 ⬇️ www.change.org/p/sauvons-le...

Signez la pétition

Sauvons le Palais de la découverte

change.org

David Monniaux@monniauxd.bsky.social · last yr.

SAUVONS LE PALAIS DE LA DÉCOUVERTE www.change.org/p/sauvons-le... (Avis personnel : des musées comme le Grand Palais, il y en a plein à Paris. Il n'y a qu'un Palais de la Découverte.)

Our library holds a rare copy of the proceedings of the 1911 Solvay Conference on physics, and I enjoyed looking through it (very carefully) today. As well as the amazing discussions and pictures (these are from Perrin) it seems a previous reader had been practicing their French at the same time!

Good morning everyone! Just the seasons doing their thing!

Tenure-track Junior Professor Chair at Université Marie et Louis Pasteur & FEMTO-ST in micro/nanotech for healthcare. Top-tier research environment & amazing quality of life in Besançon. Details (FR/EN): www.femto-st.fr/sites/defaul... Deadline June 16 but make informal contact first!

Lighting up a handheld He-Ne tube in the field of a plasma globe #pintofscience Thanks to Andrei Ermolaev for the photo!

John Dudley@johnmdudley.bsky.social · last yr.

#PintofScience tonight! Slightly more of a logistical challenge than in a lecture theatre but still it all works out!

#PintofScience tonight! Slightly more of a logistical challenge than in a lecture theatre but still it all works out!

Today is the International Day of Light and the International Day of Peace! At DarkSky, we believe that thoughtful lighting can lead to a better and more peaceful tomorrow for all. 📷 By Clearsky Astrofoto / Jakob Arthur Andersen in Anholt, Denmark—An International Dark Sky Park.