Press releases
The European Physical Society gives special recognition to physics at 69 Hoża Street
2013-01-10
In autumn 2011 the building of the Faculty of Physics of the University of Warsaw at 69 Hoża Street, a key location in the history and development of physics in Poland, became first EPS Historic Site. On 10 January 2013 a plaque commemorating that remarkable fact was unveiled, during a ceremony attended by the President of the European Physical Society.
"Quantum rulers" offer greater precision… and now we know how much greater
2012-09-20
The scientists from the Faculty of Physics, University of Warsaw, and the University of Nottingham, have developed theoretical tools making it possible to establish the limits of the precision actually attainable using entangled states under realistic experimental conditions. This has enabled current experimental achievements in the field of precision measurements to be compared, for the first time, against the fundamental limitations of quantum mechanics.
Transit of Venus with GLORIA
2012-05-30
It's now or never for seeing Venus walking on the Sun: should we miss the June 5th/6th transit, we’ll have to wait until 2117. A live coverage of the event – from Australia, Japan and Norway – will be broadcasted on the internet by the European citizen-science project GLORIA (GLObal Robotic-telescopes Intelligent Array). GLORIA proposal for the event also includes photo sharing and special activities for students.
The international research team led by Prof. Grzegorz Pietrzyński from the Astronomical Observatory of the University of Warsaw (AOUW) has published a fascinating paper in the prestigious journal Nature, reporting surprising findings about a unique binary star system near the centre of the Milky Way.
Photons with precisely specified properties are indispensable to nearly all experiments in quantum optics as well as in a growing number of its applications. Scientists from the Faculty of Physics, University of Warsaw have constructed a device which makes the generation of such photons easier and less expensive.
Although astronomers observe the cosmological effects of the impact of dark energy, they still do not know exactly what it is. A new method for measuring the largest distances in the Universe developed by scientists from our Faculty, and from the University of Naples Federico II helps solve the mystery. A key role is played by the most powerful cosmic explosions – gamma-ray bursts.
Large cosmic structures made up of dark and normal matter evolve along the same lines – this is one of the most important conclusions emerging from the latest computer simulations. The performed calculations mark the culmination of many years of work by a Polish, German and Russian team of astrophysicists and cosmologists.
The founding meeting of the Polish Society on Relativity took place on Saturday, May 14th, at the Faculty of Physics, University of Warsaw. Scientists from Warsaw, Cracow, Wrocław, Lublin and Białystok as well as Polish scientists working abroad decided to join their efforts to consolidate the Polish community of space-time and gravity researchers. The Society will consolidate eminent Polish relativists into a thriving community, and promote the achievements of the Polish science.
Modern gene therapies raise hopes of combating many diseases until now considered terminal. Nowadays, however, the methods are expensive and carry a risk of severe complications. Modifications of ribonucleic acid mRNA introduced by scientists from the Faculty of Physics, University of Warsaw in collaboration with the Louisiana State University are blazing a trail for safer and more effective gene drugs. Clinical trials of the first new-generation anti-cancer vaccine, developed in Germany with the aid of the Polish invention, will begin already later this year.
The latest experiment with photonic entanglement, conducted by Polish physicists working in the consortium National Laboratory for Quantum Technologies, may be of vital importance to make quantum cryptography a more widespread technology. It has been demonstrated that secret communication based on quantum phenomena, which guarantees unconditional security against eavesdropping, can be also realized using sources of quantum entanglement considered until now to be too corrupt.