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.


KITP Public Lectures Archive

Event Information
Quantum Theory of the Classical
Speaker: Wojciech Hubert Zurek
Date: 2019-05-29
Artificial intelligence: success, limits, myths and threats
Speaker: Marc Mezard
Date: 2019-01-30
Chaos, Black Holes and Quantum Mechanics
Speaker: Stephen Shenker
Date: 2018-10-24
New Challenges for Climate Science Following the Paris Agreement
Speaker: Stephen Belcher
Date: 2018-05-30
Novel Directions in the Search for New Physics
Speaker: Asimina Arvanitaki
Date: 2018-04-18
Impact and Intrusion
Speaker: Sidney Nagel
Date: 2018-02-28
Yzurdiaga Chair Inauguration: Magical Magnetism & Other Strange Stuff
Speaker: Leon Balents
Date: 2017-11-28
How Hearing Happens
Speaker: A. James Hudspeth
Date: 2017-06-14
Black Holes and Gravitational Waves -- Was Einstein Right?
Speaker: Saul Teukolsky
Date: 2017-05-15
Beyond Chaos: The Continuing Enigma of Turbulence
Speaker: Nigel Goldenfeld
Date: 2017-02-01