Issues

Just as golfers gauge the slope of a green before holing a putt, chemists seeking to predict a reaction’s outcome need to know the potential energy between reactants.

A fundamental quantum effect involving the feeble interaction of light with free electrons requires intense lasers for its experimental realization. But that’s just part of the story.

A sophisticated array of devices to detect the potential weapons of terrorism—chemical and biological agents, radioactive material, and explosives—are being developed by scientists working long hours to try to prevent future attacks.

In the 40 years since its creation, the Niels Bohr Library has become the world center for preserving the historical record of modern physics and allied fields, and for helping people show this record to the public.

By making a relativistic electron beam wiggle its way through an array of magnets, one can generate intense coherent light with wavelengths tunable from centimeters to angstroms.

Music offers a powerful yet accessible context for introducing the techniques and principles of the scientific method.