Public Lectures

Physics for the Inquiring Mind

Public LecturesKITP Public Lectures connect you with people and research that is transforming our understanding of the universe. This popular series of 3-4 public lectures each year takes advantage of the presence of the many distinguished scientists who visit KITP to collaborate on the most fascinating and challenging questions in their fields. 

Speakers have included, among others, Conny Aerts, Peter Galison, Asimina Arvanitaki, Murray Gell-Mann, John Grunsfeld, Stephen Hawking, Robert Kirshner, Nathan Lewis, and M. Cristina Marchetti. Talks have ranged from how stars ring, projects at the large hadron collider (LHC), how the brain works, challenges for global energy, the potential in the human genome, and black holes.

Friends of KITP receive priority seat reservations, and an informal reception follows each lecture.


Upcoming Event

Public Lectures

Voyage from Outer Space to Inner Space: From Gravitational Waves to the Higgs Boson

Speaker: Lance Dixon
Date: Thursday, February 20, 2025, 6:00 PM
Location: Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, Fred Kavli Auditorium Public Lectures

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KITP Public Lectures Archive

Event Information
Voyage from Outer Space to Inner Space: From Gravitational Waves to the Higgs Boson
Speaker: Lance Dixon
Date: 2025-02-20
Recreational Biology: Topological puzzles in cell biology
Speaker: Manu Prakash
Date: 2024-10-14
Living in the Matrix: Recent Advances in Understanding Quantum Spacetime
Speaker: Clifford V. Johnson
Date: 2024-04-18
The Search for Quantum Gravity
Speaker: Shiraz Minwalla
Date: 2023-02-15
Why Face Masks Work
Speaker: Eberhard Bodenschatz
Date: 2022-10-19
Lessons From Other Viruses: How Pandemics Start and End
Speaker: Richard Neher 
Date: 2022-04-27
Stars: The Ultimate Laboratory for Modern Physics
Speaker: Pascale Garaud
Date: 2022-04-07
The Radiant Universe: The Story of Electromagnetic Waves
Speaker: Ted Jacobson
Date: 2020-10-07
The Renaissance of Quantum Biology
Speaker: K. Birgitta Whaley
Date: 2020-06-18
The String Landscape, the Swampland, and Our Universe
Speaker: Cumrun Vafa
Date: 2020-02-26