Events archive

View upcoming and past public events at SLAC. Please also visit our events page for more information. Sign up for email alerts here.

Past Event · Art Meets Science

A Different Physics: The Poetics of Discovery

Presented by Lisa Rosenberg. How do poetic and scientific exploration create access and insight between domains? Can art created within the worlds of science and technology broaden expectations and possibilities for engagement? Formally trained in physics and poetry, Lisa Rosenberg...

Art Meets Science: A Different Physics
Past Event · Community Day

Community Day 2019

Community Day is an evening of enriching activities to learn about science and have fun doing it.

Scientist wearing a hard had showing a young person how to do a science experiment.
Particle accelerators are used every day in a wide range of scientific, medical and industrial applications. But did you know that the task of operating these machines is far from mundane? For example, for every experiment at  SLAC’s X-ray laser...
stillframe public lecture super human operator
Giant planets can be up to 13 times the mass of Jupiter, while the least massive stars are about 80 times the mass of Jupiter.  In between are objects called “brown dwarfs” – too massive to be called planets, but...
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Past Event · SLAC on Tap

Diamonds are (not) forever

In the film Diamonds are Forever, James Bond’s archnemesis uses diamonds to build a space-based  laser weapon that can blow up stuff on Earth. SLAC physicist and Bond villain in training Emma McBride, however, uses lasers to mimic the extreme...
An audience sits on a patio listening to a science talk and demonstration.

Presented by Sebastien Boutet. SLAC's X-ray laser, the Linac Coherent Light Source, launched a new generation of light sources when it opened 10 years ago last month, with beams 10 billion times brighter than any before.

stillframe from public lecture video Seeing is Exploding

Presented by Margaux Lopez. 

SLAC on Tap event series poster

A visit to SLAC in October 2018 inspired Nitin Sawhney to create an original audio composition for two short visualization movies on the origins of the universe. 

Portrait Nitin Sawhney
Past Event · Public Lecture

3D Printing for Perfect Metal Parts

Presented by Christopher Tassone. Throughout human history, improvements in the structure of metals have been essential to the sharpness of swords and the strength of steel girders.  Now we’d like to produce turbine blades and propellers with optimal shapes and...

stillframe for public lecture
Join us for the inaugural SLAC on Tap event at The Patio in Palo Alto. SLAC scientist Alan Fry will chat about lasers not attached to sharks, ultrafast science and the quantum mechanics of your sunglasses.  Have a drink, learn...
SLAC on Tap event series poster