🌟✨We wish you all a wonderful New Year. May 2026 be filled with joy. Happy New Year!

We will be taking a social media break over the festive period and will return in January. In the meantime, on behalf of everyone at the Cavendish, have a safe and peaceful festive season and a Happy New Year! Image: Ray Dolby Centre ©Paul Raftery

Our research is featured among the top 3 physics discoveries of 2025 by Quanta Magazine. Using the JWST, scientists identified a huge black hole weighing 50 million Suns, challenging long-held ideas about how black holes and galaxies form. arxiv.org/abs/2508.21748

Cavendish Laboratory undergraduates win UKPT 2025 and will represent the UK at the International Physicists’ Tournament 2026, taking place in May at Oklahoma State University. Link for the complete story: buff.ly/OMiRrVb

Passionate about experimental physics? Love hands-on problem-solving and building skills in the lab? Applications are now open for the Experimental Physics Summer School for Undergraduates: 6 July – 1 Aug 2026. Deadlines: Early-bird 7 Jan | Final 15 Feb 2026 Find out more & apply: buff.ly/ZDIF7Eg

If you have a moment to slow down over the festive break, why not catch up on the latest Cambridge Physics Centre (CPC) Sixth Form Lecture recordings on our YouTube channel 🎄 ▶️ Recordings of this year’s and past lectures are available here: buff.ly/3ACksDm

Verity Allan is our #PeopleDoingPhysics guest this month. From studying Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic to working on the world’s largest radio telescope, her story proves that multiple interests and an open mind can lead to amazing opportunities. 🔊https://buff.ly/lapXhgm

MOONS, the UK’s most advanced astronomy instrument, is on its way to Chile, and researchers from the University of Cambridge played a leading role in making it happen. Read the full story: buff.ly/8JUSqmu #MOONS

🚀 Cavendish IV: A Space Odyssey by René Tronsgaard The image depicts The Orbital Frontier - a modular, self-sustaining space station imagined as the future home of the Cavendish Laboratory 150 years from now. Commended entry in the Cavendish Photography Competion 2025 under the AI Category 👨‍🚀

Scientists working on the @microboone experiment have found no evidence for a 4th type of neutrino. Though the new result rules out one explanation for anomalies seen in previous experiments, the mystery still remains. See Cambridge physicists' next steps: www.phy.cam.ac.uk/news/uk-scie...

Fantastic to hear that our new Cavendish Professor, Nicola Marzari, is a @foresightinst 2025 Feynman Prizes winner (Theory) for developing the theoretical and computational infrastructure that underpins modern atomically precise materials discovery. Many congratulations to him!

✨ The next event in the Cambridge Physics Centre Sixth Form Lecture Series is on 4 December, 6pm. Free and open to all. Matt Kenzie will explore newly discovered particles made of 4 and 5 quarks, and what they reveal about why our universe contains more matter than anti-matter. 👉 buff.ly/QqAZ20S

It was 30 years ago that the first Bose–Einstein condensation were created in alkali atoms, marking the beginning of an exciting and still-growing field. Cavendish researchers Zoran Hadzibabic and Ulrich Schneider congratulate and celebrate in @nature.com 👉 www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Royce Undergraduate Internship Scheme 2026 is now open for project proposals from UK HEIs. ⚠️ Deadline: 19 January 2026 at 09:00. Apply here: lnkd.in/gH_mP8Yx #RoyceCambridge #RoyceInternships #MaterialsScience #UndergraduateInternship #MaterialsResearch #UKResearch

Cambridge physicists have created a fine-tuned 'energy sandwich' that could transform how solar cells, LEDs and lasers are made, and make them cheaper and more efficient 🔋 New #research from @ceb.cam.ac.uk and @cambridgephysics.bsky.social#research👇 https://bit.ly/3XyHB0g 🧪

🚀✨ Dr Vijay Mahatma has been awarded a major VLA observing project, building on Cambridge’s radio astronomy legacy to study 73 of the brightest radio galaxies in unprecedented detail.

Rainbows from Order Hidden in Disorder🌈 A pink polymer film bursts into rainbows under polarised light, showing hidden molecular order. Beyond beauty, these aligned polymer chains are also highly functional. 📸@JunchengFan99 - Cavendish Photography Competition Commended Entry

🌈Happy LGBTQ+ in STEM Day! Today we celebrated with the amazing Cambridge University Women in Physics🎉 They had a table in the Ray Dolby Centre filled with snacks, stickers, and goodies to spread the love and pride. The celebration will end with a screening of SALLY at Sidney Sussex JCR , 7.30pm.

Scientists at the Cavendish Laboratory have identified a fundamental speed limit for how coherence spreads as a Bose–Einstein condensate forms - offering new insight into how long-range order emerges in quantum matter.✨ buff.ly/BAtcdnx #QuantumPhysics #UltracoldAtoms

Can a pinch of salt lead to better medical tests, cleaner energy, and smarter sensors? Researchers have shown that a layer of chloride ions, like those in table salt, can fundamentally alter the behaviour of gold nanoparticles. 🧂 buff.ly/qagjDoE

This week we are welcoming Year 9 students for the #CambridgePhysicsExperience – Girls into Physics Day 💫 During the day, students explore what it’s like to study at Cambridge - including a college tour, hands-on physics activities, and inspiring research talks.

Bounce or stick? Microdroplet Impact Dynamics by Jamie McLauchlan captures droplets thinner than a hair hitting a surface at 20 km/h! At gentle speeds they cling, at higher speeds they bounce, all in less than a 1000th of a second. This image was commended in this year's Cavendish Photo Competion.

Congratulations to Jeremy Baumberg for securing a prestigious @erc.europa.eu Synergy Grant for his nanomachinery project using light to manipulate DNA nanostructures: buff.ly/oWeItAF 👏 In true NanoPhotonics Group style, Jeremy and his team celebrated with a themed-cake 🍰

Many congratulations to Cavendish Professor Nicola Marzari, 2026 APS David Adler Lectureship Award winner for his "new theory and method developments that have advanced the predictive power of first-principles calculations".🏆

The Hidden Heart of #HARPS3 by Samantha Thompson has won First Prize in the 2025 Cavendish Photography Competition. ✨ HARPS3 is on its way from the Cavendish to the Isaac Newton Telescope, launching a new era in #exoplanet discovery. Find out more: buff.ly/mrk4UHH @terrahunting.bsky.social

✨ "Wrinkles" by Elliot Goldberg has won the Head of Department Prize in the 2025 Cavendish Photography Competition. 💚This microscope image of a polydimethylsiloxane film was inspired by this year's theme "Next 150 Years of Physics at the Cavendish". 🔗https://buff.ly/FpxVhLF

✨ Congratulations to Jesús Arjona Martínez, winner of the 2024 IOP Quantum Electronics and Photonics Doctoral Thesis Prize for his research 'A Nanophotonic Platform for the Tin-Vacancy Centre.' buff.ly/uBLTdQu

The Cavendish Laboratory Annual Prizewinners’ Dinner celebrated the brilliant young minds shaping the future of #Physics. On 24 Oct, students and recent graduates received their awards from Professor Ulrich Schneider, Director of Undergraduate Education. buff.ly/E5p7WLQ

Last evening was all about fun, and new beginnings at the Cavendish for our incoming PhD students this year! They got to know each other through games, “real vs fake” introductions, and a lively round of physics networking bingo - all along with plenty of pizza, of course! 🍕✨

Our final piece of kit, the cryogenics facility, has moved to the Ray Dolby Centre, officially wrapping up our 11-month, 14-phase relocation!🙌 Thanks to all our Cavendish community and our partners MovePlan and Restore Harrow Green for making this huge move a true team success👏

Have you been on our Self-Guided Cambridge Physics Walking Tour? 🎧 Stroll through the historic streets and cloisters of Cambridge where discoveries that changed the world were made. 🌍You can download the free tour via Voice Map app: buff.ly/v9I8zUm

A fresh academic year, a new beginning and a milestone moment! ✨ Earlier this week we saw the very first IB Lab session at the Ray Dolby Centre, marking an inspiring start to the term. Here’s to a year filled with curiosity, collaboration, and discovery! #RayDolbyCentre #IBLab

🎉Excited to celebrate QuanTour’s 2025 Institute of Physics Lise Meitner award! We were proud to host the travelling quantum light source in Cambridge and contribute to this groundbreaking initiative. Congrats to the QuanTour team for their brilliant work. ©D. Reiter/DR

Welcome to our first-year undergraduates👋✨ Today the Undergraduate Teaching Team (Rachael, Richard and Helen), our Director of Undergraduate Education Ulrich Schneider and Head of Department Mete Atature welcomed the Part IA cohort in the Ray Dolby Auditorium.

We are deeply saddened by the passing of Prof Jochen Guck, former Reader in Biophysics at the Cavendish and a great contributor to our Department. He will be missed by his former colleagues and friends. We send our most sincere condolences to his family. buff.ly/oLTNVRH

A proud moment🎉 Cavendish alumnus Prof John Clarke awarded the #NobelPrize2025, with Michel H. Devoret and John M. Martinis. They opened the door to quantum technologies based on superconducting qubits, putting quantum phenomena to work in real devices. buff.ly/lnm99ls

Welcome to the new academic year! 🎉 For the first time, all lectures across the academic year will take place in our new home, the Ray Dolby Centre. We wish all our students, both new and returning, the very best for the year ahead!

Researchers found that when a two-dimensional homogeneous Bose gas is driven far from equilibrium, it shows universal behaviour - following the same simple rules regardless of its starting point. 🔗 Read the full article: buff.ly/a9aIjMt #Physics #BoseGas #ColdAtoms

News flash: organic materials can generate electricity all by themesleves 💡 Exciting new collaborative research between Cavendish and @chemistrycambridge.bsky.social scientists that could transform the future of solar energy and electronics ☀️ See how: buff.ly/pzZGoCT @natmater.nature.com

Event course link ➡️ roycecleanroomtraining2026.eventbrite.co.uk @universityofleeds.bsky.social @swanseauni.bsky.social #CSConnected @cambridgephysics.bsky.social #RoyceCambridge #trainingcourse #transistorfabrication #semiconductor #nanofabrication #Research #Academia #Industry #CambridgeUK

✨ Join for a fascinating talk by Dr Sam Grimshaw from the Whittle Laboratory today at 6pm. Discover how the push towards zero-emission electric jet engines connects with the mysterious science of cricket ball swing.📍 Ray Dolby Centre, Cambridge Details: buff.ly/Nvm92qj

✨ Cavendish researchers have found a way to tune tiny clusters of metal nanoparticles to interact with light in surprising ways. The findings could improve non-invasive sensing technologies for #healthcare and environmental monitoring. Read the article: buff.ly/XFMKjCH

If you want evidence of science making a tangible difference, Prof Tuomas Knowles has 5 successful companies to show you: https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/the-protein-pioneer?utm_medium=social&utm_source=bluesky @cambridgephysics.bsky.social

At CORDE's #AtomScattering and #AtomMicroscopy Facility, we’re pushing the boundaries of what’s possible✨ Using helium atom scattering the researchers can carry out ultra-sensitive structural and dynamic analysis of 2D materials and surfaces. 🔗 Find out more: corde.phy.cam.ac.uk/characterisa...

🌐 We’re live! Cambridge’s Collaborative R&D Environment (CORDE) is here to connect ideas, people, and scientific innovation. Follow us for updates on how CORDE can support your research and open doors to new ideas and discoveries💡 corde.phy.cam.ac.uk #CORDE #Innovation #CambridgeResearch

The 40th edition of #PhysicsAtWork welcomed more than 2,000 students at the Ray Dolby Centre to explore the many different careers that a Physics degree can open up. From #robotics to forensic science to an inspiring talk on the #JWST, the event was packed with hands-on science. ℹ️ buff.ly/T5hSB4S

Calling all prospective PhD applicants! 🗓 Date: 7th October | ⏰ Time: 3–5 PM Join us for a special lab visit and get an inside look at our research and collaborative working environment. Interested in attending? Please complete the form by 22 September. buff.ly/uBGwquE

Molecules never sit still – always vibrating, twisting, stretching. Researchers at the Cavendish have shown that inside #plasmonic nanogaps (tiny cavities of trapped light), they start moving in sync – like tuning forks beating together. buff.ly/ddTFKaF #NanoPhotonics

Earlier this afternoon we also had an interesting discussion with world-leading physicists Prof Mark Thomson, Prof Jocelyn Monroe, Prof Graziano Venanzoni and Dr Saskia Charity about the intriguing complexities of #particlephysics @oxfordphysics.bsky.social @cambridgephysics.bsky.social

📢 Join us in Cambridge for the 17th European Conference on Molecular Electronics (ECME 2025) at the Ray Dolby Centre, 22-26 September. Speakers include Henry Snaith, Alberto Salleo, Sahika Inal, Thuc-Quyen Nguyen, Paul Blom and Stuart Parkin. 👉Find out more and register: buff.ly/HHQ84NU