Congratulations, Dr. Mingyuan Zheng, for her work on the not-so-glass-like behavior of active matter being accepted in PRL! It’s a nice bow in our recent gathering in Suzhou. Updated June 4, 2025: Published!

Professor Charbonneau is the next Lead Editor of PRE, starting this coming January. Stay tuned for more on this theme…

Our long-thermalizing review on colloidal hard spheres is now out! In the (authors-revised) words or the publisher: “Hard spheres—simple particles that cannot overlap, like billiard balls—may at first glance seem to be a rather abstract model of matter. However, the Continue reading Hard spheres in focus→

The Scientific Vision of Women, an exhibit currently presented in the Mary Duke Biddle Room (until February 15, 2025) features an entry about Marie-Anne Paulze Lavoisier by Prof. Charbonneau and Prof. Hepler-Smith. The entry is derived from material presented in Continue reading Library Exhibit→

Last year, Prof. Charbonneau was interviewed about his project of tracing back the history of sucre à la crème, a confection he regularly uses in courses at Duke as well as in public (or conference) demonstrations to illustrate the importance Continue reading History of grained confections→

It’s a pleasure to celebrate the research achievements of Jean-Philippe Bouchaud, Leticia Cugliandolo, and Jorge Kurchan with the 2025 Lars Onsager Prize and those of Andrea Liu with the 2025 Leo P. Kadanoff Prize.

The first oral history interview I recorded for the History of RSB project was with this year’s Nobel Prize winner, John J. Hopfield. As a result, this prize feels more special than usual. To find out more, note that a Continue reading Nobel Prize for Prof. John Hopfield→

The book manuscript Women in the History of Quantum Physics: Beyond Knabenphysik is now with the editor. To learn more about WiHQP, see the group’s webpage. Update (January 9, 2025): In an editorial, the journal Nature has called the upcoming Continue reading WiHQP Book→

Prof. Charbonneau will spend the whole 2023-2024 academic year as visiting professor at Sapienza Università di Roma. To cross paths, stop by la cittadella universitaria.

Congratulations to Mingyuan for successfully defending her PhD thesis today. It is a wonderful work! All the best with your next projects.