Latest news and comment

On Saturday 15 March, particle physicists from the Department of Physics were tasked with sharing their love of fundamental physics with the wider public for the ATOM Festival of Science and Technology.

Scientists from Oxford University are among the thousands of researchers worldwide honoured with the 2025 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, awarded to the ATLAS Collaboration at CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) alongside its sister experiments.

Researchers have unveiled an innovative experimental approach using an X ray free electron laser (XFEL) to probe for axions – elusive particles that may make up dark matter.

Secondary school students taking part in the Big Data: ATLAS project have had their results published in the European Physical Journal Plus.

Together with professors Aneesh Manohar, Paolo Nason and Giulia Zanderighi, Professor Gavin Salam has been awarded a 2024 Frontiers of Science Award from the International Congress of Basic Science.

The Department of Physics is partnering with the University of Nottingham's ARTlab to host artist-in-resident Matthew Woodham as he works on an original art piece inspired by the Atom Interferometry Observatory and Network (AION) project.

We work among extraordinary people doing extraordinary things; get to know some of them by reading these quick-fire interviews.

Professor Daniela Bortoletto, Head of Particle Physics, has been appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to particle physics and to gender equality.

Professor Fabrizio Caola has been awarded a sought-after ERC Consolidator Grant; he talks about his quest to develop extremely sophisticated theoretical predictions to match the exquisite precision of the LHC data…

Professor Ian Shipsey FRS, Head of Department, has been awarded honorary fellowship of the Institute of Physics in recognition of his leadership in experimental particle physics.

Professor Gavin Salam FRS has been awarded the 2023 Institute of Physics Paul Dirac Medal and Prize for his profound, wide-ranging and impactful contributions to particle physics.

Data collected by an observatory in Antarctica has produced our first view of the Milky Way galaxy through the lens of neutrino particles. Emeritus Professor Subir Sarkar from the University of Oxford comments in The Conversation.