Public Lectures

Physics for the Inquiring Mind

KITP 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.

Image showing KITP Public Lectures happening on stage

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.

 

 

 


 

The Force of Nothing: Attraction, Repulsion, and Motion in the Quantum Void

 

Speaker: Mehran Kardar
Date: Tuesday, June 9, 2026
Time: Reception at 5:00 PM | Talk at 6:00 PM
Location: Kohn Hall, Lagoon Rd, UC Santa Barbara, CA | Zoom Webinar
 

 

Diagram of parallel plate capacitor with blue ovals between plates and arrows labeled E, B, H.

KITP Public Lectures Archive

Event Information
Artificial intelligence: success, limits, myths and threats
Speaker: Marc Mezard
Date: 2019-01-30
Watch Talk
Chaos, Black Holes and Quantum Mechanics
Speaker: Stephen Shenker
Date: 2018-10-24
Watch Talk
New Challenges for Climate Science Following the Paris Agreement
Speaker: Stephen Belcher
Date: 2018-05-30
Watch Talk
Novel Directions in the Search for New Physics
Speaker: Asimina Arvanitaki
Date: 2018-04-18
Watch Talk
Impact and Intrusion
Speaker: Sidney Nagel
Date: 2018-02-28
Watch Talk
Yzurdiaga Chair Inauguration: Magical Magnetism & Other Strange Stuff
Speaker: Leon Balents
Date: 2017-11-28
Watch Talk
How Hearing Happens
Speaker: A. James Hudspeth
Date: 2017-06-14
Watch Talk
Black Holes and Gravitational Waves -- Was Einstein Right?
Speaker: Saul Teukolsky
Date: 2017-05-15
Watch Talk
Beyond Chaos: The Continuing Enigma of Turbulence
Speaker: Nigel Goldenfeld
Date: 2017-02-01
Watch Talk
Realizing Feynman’s Dream of a Quantum Simulator
Speaker: Immanuel Bloch
Date: 2016-09-28
Watch Talk
Do I have to draw you a diagram? A tale of quantum gravity
Speaker: Zvi Bern
Date: 2016-04-20
Watch Talk
The Biological Future of Theoretical Physics
Speaker: Curt G. Callan
Date: 2016-02-10
Watch Talk
Weight, Weight... Do Tell Me!: QCD and the Origin of Mass
Speaker: Andreas Kronfeld
Date: 2015-09-23
Watch Talk
Starquakes and Exoplanets in the Milky Way
Speaker: Conny Aerts
Date: 2015-09-18
Watch Talk
How Cells Package and Traffic Proteins for Export
Speaker: Randy Schekman
Date: 2015-08-19
Watch Talk