News: 2023

July

The most surprising discoveries in physics

July 28, 2023

Sanjana Curtis

A Scientific American article features a quote from postdoctoral researcher Sanjana Curtis on why the discovery of neutrino oscillations is one of the most significant findings in physics.


Computer scientist Ben Zhao discusses AI regulations and protections

July 27, 2023

Ben Zhao

Ben Zhao discusses the Biden Administration's efforts to regulate AI in an artnet news article, AI protections in relation to the Hollywood actor and writer strike in a story for The Intercept, and a tool designed to protect your photos from AI in a story for MIT Technology Review.


UChicago scientists make new discovery proving entanglement is responsible for computational hardness in quantum systems

July 27, 2023

Bill Fefferman

The model problem the team—led by computer scientist William Fefferman—debuted pinpointed a provable quantum speedup over any classical computer and indicates that entanglement is the cause.


Oppenheimer never won a Nobel Prize, but these 31 scientists with ties to the Manhattan Project did

July 25, 2023

Maria Goeppert Mayer

Of the 31 Nobel Prize-winning Manhattan Project scientists, 12 had UChicago ties, including Maria Goeppert Mayer.

Photo courtesy of the University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center


Prof. Lek-Heng Lim wins Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship

July 24, 2023

Lek-Heng Lim

University of Chicago professor of computational and applied mathematics Lek-Heng Lim has been awarded the 2023 Vannevar Bush Fellowship, the U.S. Department of Defense’s most prestigious award for basic research. It provides $3 million in funding to support transformative, “blue-sky” research at the limits of today’s technology.


Online product reviews are becoming a battlefield for modern AI

July 24, 2023

Ben Zhao

Computer scientist Ben Zhao says it’s “almost impossible” for AI to rise to the challenge of snuffing out AI-generated reviews because bot-created reviews are often indistinguishable from human ones.


What a Chicago physicists wants you to take away from Oppenheimer film

July 24, 2023

Don Lamb

In a video interview, astrophysicist Don Lamb discusses key takeaways from "Oppenheimer."


How Oppenheimer weighed the odds of an atomic bomb test ending Earth

July 24, 2023

Daniel Holz

Astrophysicist Daniel Holz comments on the discussions and calculations over the issue of atmospheric ignition, saying "you don’t often talk in certainties...you talk in probabilities. If you haven’t done the experiment, you are hesitant to say, ‘This is impossible. It will never happen.’ … It was good to think it through.”


What the film “Oppenheimer” probably will not talk about: the lost women of the Manhattan Project

July 21, 2023

Leona Woods at the center of a group photo

A Scientific American article describes the Lost Women of Science series and the launch of Lost Women of the Manhattan Project, sharing the stories of some women who worked on the atomic bomb, including Leona Woods and the team at UChicago's Metallurgical Laboratory.

Photo courtesy of the University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center


Crowd control

July 20, 2023

Cells with the membranes stained white and nuclei stained magenta

UChicago biophysicists from the Department of Physics and James Franck Institute discover that the way cells grow and multiply—normally considered part of the same process—are regulated separately.

Image courtesy John Devany


The Black scientists behind the Manhattan Project, the atomic bomb program that inspired the movie ‘Oppenheimer’

July 20, 2023

J Ernest Wilkins

There were at least 19 Black scientists and technicians who worked on the Manhattan Project, including mathematician J. Ernest Wilkins, the youngest student ever admitted to the University of Chicago at 13 years old who at 21 joined UChicago's Met Lab to research plutonium, and UChicago alums Moddie Daniel Taylor and Jasper Jeffries, whose scientific contributions were crucial to the Manhattan Project.

Photo courtesy of the University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center


Christopher Nolan on J. Robert Oppenheimer and his contradictions

July 20, 2023

Arthur Holly Compton

"Oppenheimer" director explains that he attributed the calculation contribution of the Trinity Test to Albert Einstein rather than Arthur Holly Compton, who directed an outpost of the Manhattan Project at the University of Chicago, because Einstein was more recognizable.

Photo courtesy of the University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center


U.N. officials urge regulation of AI at security council meeting

July 19, 2023

Rebecca Willett

Professor of statistics and computer science Rebecca Willett says that in regulating AI's use in automated weapons, it's important not to lose sight of the humans behind it, adding that "this is one of the reasons that the U.N. is looking at this...there really needs to be international repercussions so that a company based in one country can’t destroy another country without violating international agreements. Real enforceable regulation can make things better and safer.”


American Physical Society recognizes ‘Chicago Pile’ at University of Chicago as historic site

July 18, 2023

Event at UChicago commemorates site of first controlled nuclear chain reaction during Manhattan Project.


Rising ​“snow” deep in the Earth

July 18, 2023

Vitali Prakapenka

Researchers, including UChicago beamline scientist Vitali Prakapenka, have combined X-ray and laser techniques to illuminate the origin of mysterious deep-Earth structures.