Events archive

Presented by James Cryan. SLAC has just unveiled the world's first X-ray laser, the LCLS. This machine produces pulses of X-rays that are ten billion times brighter than those from conventional sources. One of the goals of this machine is...

SLAC has converted its giant particle accelerator into the world's first X-ray laser. By a billion fold the world's brightest X-ray source, the laser packs a trillion photons into pulses as short as a millionth of a billionth of a...

Presented by Wendy Mao. The deeper we go into the Earth, the higher the pressure. At the pressures found within the center of our planet, minerals do not simply compress. Pressure dramatically alters all materials properties, in the process creating...

The universe is home to numerous exotic and beautiful phenomena, some of which can generate almost inconceivable amounts of energy. While the night sky appears calm, it is populated by colossal explosions, jets from supermassive black holes, rapidly rotating neutron...

Black holes are everywhere in the Universe. They form when massive stars end their life in a simultaneous violent collapse and energetic explosion. Galaxies end up littered with small black holes, each roughly the mass of ten Suns. Nearly every...

Water, H2O, is familiar to everyone - it shapes our bodies and our planet. But despite its abundance, water has remained a mystery, exhibiting many strange properties that are still not understood. Why does the liquid have an unusually large...

In this public lecture, longtime SLAC physicist Greg Loew will present a trip through SLAC's origins, highlighting its scientific achievements, and provide a glimpse of the lab's future in "Big Machines and Big Science: 80 Years of Accelerators at Stanford."

In this public lecture we will explore the mystery of antimatter: Where did it go? Why is the universe made up of only matter, with no observable antimatter? And why does the universe have any matter left in it anyway...

Plants have been doing it with ease for millions of years, and yet science has yet to fully comprehend how: Photosynthesis. It's a fundamental process of all plant life on Earth, using the simple and abundant ingredients of water and...

Diamonds have been a prized material throughout history. They are scarce and beautiful, wars have been fought over them, and they remain today a symbol of wealth and power. Diamonds also have exceptional physical properties which can lead to unique...

Who we are

SLAC science explained

Vera C. Rubin Observatory LSST

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Shocking to the Core: Adventures in Earth Science

Molecules in the Spotlight

ZAP! The X-Ray Laser is Born

Journey to the Center of the Earth

Cosmic Accelerators: Engines of the Extreme Universe

Black Holes, the Brightest Objects in the Universe

Water: The Strangest Liquid

Big Machines and Big Science: 80 Years of Accelerators at Stanford

Antimatter: What is it and where did it go?

How Plants Do it: Light, Oxygen, Action!

The Mysteries of Diamonds: Bizarre History, Amazing Properties, Unique Applications