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 Informationsort descending
Intellectual Courage and Scientific Ballooning
Speaker: Julian Nott
Date: 2007-01-07
Lessons From Other Viruses: How Pandemics Start and End
Speaker: Richard Neher 
Date: 2022-04-27
Life After Stellar Death: Supernovae, Neutron Stars, Pulsars and Black Holes
Speaker: Edward van den Heuvel
Date: 2011-03-23
Living in the Matrix: Recent Advances in Understanding Quantum Spacetime
Speaker: Clifford V. Johnson
Date: 2024-04-18
Mathematics and the Quantum Universe
Speaker: Robbert Dijkgraaf
Date: 2008-07-30
Mr. Feynman's Quantum Mechanics: A Field Guide for Curious Characters
Speaker: Steven M. Girvin
Date: 2000-11-01
Neutrinos Get under Your Skin!
Speaker: Boris Kayser
Date: 2003-04-30
New Challenges for Climate Science Following the Paris Agreement
Speaker: Stephen Belcher
Date: 2018-05-30
New Eyes for Space Exploration: Upgrading the Hubble Space Telescope
Speaker: John M. Grunsfeld
Date: 2002-10-03
Novel Directions in the Search for New Physics
Speaker: Asimina Arvanitaki
Date: 2018-04-18