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
Spacetime Warps and the Quantum: A Glimpse of the Future
Speaker: Kip S. Thorne
Date: 1999-02-24
Starquakes and Exoplanets in the Milky Way
Speaker: Conny Aerts
Date: 2015-09-18
Stars: The Ultimate Laboratory for Modern Physics
Speaker: Pascale Garaud
Date: 2022-04-07
Taking Measure of the Universe: How Big? How Old? How Do We Know?
Speaker: Robert Kirshner
Date: 1997-11-12
The Biological Future of Theoretical Physics
Speaker: Curt G. Callan
Date: 2016-02-10
The Future of Gravity
Speaker: James B. Hartle
Date: 2000-04-12
The Great Ideas of Biology
Speaker: Paul Nurse
Date: 2010-02-24
The Human Genome Project, where do we go from here?
Speaker: Arnold J. Levine
Date: 2003-06-11
The Interplay Between Art and Physics: Altering Perceptions of Reality
Speaker: Jean-Pierre Hébert
Date: 2003-09-10
The Nature of Space
Speaker: Michael Atiyah
Date: 2005-10-26