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.

Presented by Caterina Vernieri. The Higgs boson was discovered in 2012 at the world’s most powerful particle collider, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Geneva, Switzerland.

 At SLAC we are constructing the core of the biggest and fastest camera ever built to capture the Higgs boson in action.
Past Event · Public lecture

Improving Batteries from the Atoms Up

Presented by Yijin Liu. In batteries, energy is stored in tiny particles within the electrodes that individually breathe in and out and chemically evolve as the battery is charged and discharged.

Public Lecture | Improving Batteries from the Atoms Up presented by Yijin Liu
Past Event · public lecture

How Science Unlocks Copper's Hidden Powers

Presented by Diana Gamzina. In particle accelerators, electrons are pushed to extreme energies by electromagnetic fields that oscillate inside evacuated metal cavities. Those cavities are usually made of copper.

illustration of woman scientist observing stacked copper discs

Presented by Zeeshan Ahmed. Shortly after the birth of the universe, space was filled by a plasma that was literally red-hot. The light radiated by that plasma has traveled the vast emptiness of space for billions of years, with the...

Past Event · Public Lecture

Discovering the Colors of Fossil Creatures

Presented by Nick Edwards. Until recently, the colors of ancient life forms existed only in our imaginations.

video still frame from lecture about fossil colors

Presented by Maria Elena Monzani. The nature and origin of dark matter are among the most compelling mysteries of contemporary science.

Past Event · SLAC ON TAP

A battery walks into a bar...

Presented by Johanna Nelson Weker. X-ray vision might sound like the stuff of superheroes and science fiction, but at SLAC’s Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL) it’s what allows scientists to peer inside batteries and see what makes them tick.

Staff scientist Johanna Nelson Weker gives a talk about pushing the battery revolution.

Presented by Sebastian Ellis. The nature of dark matter is one of the most captivating and fundamental open problems facing physicists today. Over many decades, we have collected overwhelming evidence for the existence of dark matter in the universe.

illustration bending a stream of dark matter
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.

Visitors watch a science demonstration at Community Day 2019