Who will be our Discoverer of the year 2017? Which one of these brilliant researchers deserves this prize for their efforts according to you? As of now, you can cast your vote.

Leiden Lockdown Lab Lore is a series of short youtube videos aimed at keeping physicists lab instincts alive during the lockdown. This time, we have a physics contest: can you solve the Cola bubble mystery?

On the evening of Tuesday January 31st, the physics institute organizes its triannual meeting for over seventy high school teachers. The program consists of lectures on developments in modern physics and the latest initiatives in the world of education.

The European Physical Society has awarded the prestigieus Edison Volta Prize to Leiden physicist Michel Orrit. The prize is handed out every two years to an individual or a group of at most three scientists as an acknowledgment of an outstanding achievement in physics research.

Are quantum computers the scientific breakthrough of our time? In this podcast, Carlo Beenakker, Professor of Physics at Leiden University, explains quantum technology.

Tjerk Oosterkamp of the Leiden Institute of Physics managed to do the first-ever measurement of gravity on a tiny particle - just 0.43 milligrams - where the quantum regime starts. He explains in Physics World why this is so challenging.

Marileen Dogterom, Professor bionanoscience in Delft and Professor molecular physics in Leiden, will take a seat at the KNAW board as of June 1st. She is appointed for four years, one day per week. Dogterom succeeds Nobel Prize winner Ben Feringa, who completed his term.

Jan Aarts, Leiden professor in experimental physics, has been appointed Ridder in de Orde van de Nederlandse Leeuw. He received the royal distinction from the mayor of Leiden Henri Lenferink in the Hooglandse Kerk.

Leiden University organizes a course on quantum mechanics for high school Physics teachers. As the curriculum gains a new quantum component, the university enables teachers to give the best possible guidance to their students.

Theoretical physicist Helmut Schiessel receives an NWO Projectruimte grant of 390,000 euro. He will use this budget to hire a postdoc and a PhD student to continue his research on flexibility of double stranded DNA.

It is with great sadness that we have learned of the passing of Prof. Dr. Frans W. Saris.

On Friday April 6th, Leiden University organizes its biannual try-out day. We pay a visit to Physics and Astronomy, which saw their student numbers almost quadruple over the past decade.

Leiden physicist Anne Meeussen has been nominated for the title of New Scientist Science Talent. She will be up against 14 young scientists from other Dutch and Belgian universities. The polls are already open!

Metamaterials researcher Martin van Hecke has been elected American Physical Society (APS) fellow, an honour exclusive to only half a percent of the society's members.

Which brilliant scientist will be our Discoverer of the year 2018? Will it be a physicist, biologist, drug discoverer or an astronomer? Or an environmental scientist, a mathematician, chemist or computer scientist? As of now, you can cast your vote.

Quasicrystals are crystals with ‘impossible’ five-fold symmetries, which nevertheless were synthesized in the lab in 1982. Paul J. Steinhardt helped figure out their structure, but he didn’t stop at that.

Anne Meeussen is the winner of the Fysica 2020 Young Speakers' Contest. She was elected by the online attendants after delivering a talk about metamaterials.

Koenraad Schalm will be the new programme director of the Physics master starting 1 November. He has been appointed for a period of four years. Schalm succeeds Ana Achúcarro who has held the position since 2021.

On Wednesday September 26th, theoretical physicist Sean Carroll will give an Ehrenfest colloquium. It is part of a lecture series that has been running since 1912 and was founded by physicist Paul Ehrenfest.

Emeritus professor Victor Halberstadt has been honoured with the Cross of Honour of the Order of the House of Orange.

This season ASML will host the ASML online university challenge. We invite technical students from across the globe to submit their solution to our challenge. We aim to have as many students and universities as possible participating in this contest. We are curious which university will come up with…

Leiden physicist Carlo Beenakker has received an honorary doctorate from the Bogoliubov Institute for theoretical physics in Kiev.

On July 13, over seventy PhD students from Leiden and Delft came together at Katwijk beach for a workshop organized by the Casimir Research School: ‘So you have a degree in Science. Now what?’

The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) selects prominent researchers as members based on their scientific achievements. On September 17th, the KNAW will install 21 new members, including Leiden physicist Michel Orrit.

Physics professor Jan Aarts starts a collaboration with chip manufacturer Intel to perform fundamental research in low-power, cryogenic computing.

First author Scott Waitukaitis and principal investigator Martin van Hecke have made the cover of Nature Physics with their publication on a newly discovered effect. The Elastic Leidenfrost effect explains why hydrogel balls jump around on a hot plate making high pitched sounds.

The editors of Biophysical Journal have selected a publication from Daniela Kraft’s group as the Paper of the Year 2017. The award recognizes an outstanding contribution by a young investigator.

On February 2nd the book Beelden zonder weerga appears, written by professor in science history Dirk van Delft and biochemist Ton van Helvoort. They describe the rich history of electron microscopy, which comes to a conclusion in the final chapter with the current state-of-the-art ESCHER microscope…

The Leidse Instrumentenmakers School (LiS) has received the Leiden erepenning—an honorary medal that is awarded each year during the celebration of the Leids Ontzet to a person or institute that has done a great service to the city of Leiden.

Michel Orrit has received an NWO-TTW Open Technology Programme grant. He will use it to image single molecules without the need for fluorescence.

Exactly 138 years ago, Albert Einstein came into this world to forever change our understanding of it. The Leiden physics institute, where he frequently worked, organised a symposium in honor of his birthday.

NWO has granted Jan Aarts en Vadim Cheianov a Physics Projectruimte, a granting instrument for small-scale projects that propose innovative fundamental physics research that has a scientific, industrial or social urgency.

Postdoc Lucia Bossoni has received an NWO Veni grant to research brain diseases for the next three years. She will work in labs at both the LUMC and the Leiden physics institute.

From publishing students, to addressing bottlenecks in education logistics and a completely new bachelor’s programme. Scroll through our highlights on educational innovation and achievements of our outstanding students.

What is the Fine Mechanical Department?

Since 2023 Leiden University has been intensifying its engagement with partners in Africa.

What is the best way for us as a society to deal with all the different forms of diversity? Professor Marlou Schrover will use the EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF) to explore this question with colleagues and the public.

The prestigious Praemium Erasmianum Dissertation Prize is annually awarded to the five best dissertations published in the year before in the fields of Humanities, Social sciences and Law. During a festive ceremony in Utrecht Lennart Kruijer received the award from the hands of professor Bas ter Haar…

The Dutch asylum application centre in Ter Apel is overburdened, an issue that is currently a prominent feature in the Dutch media. In podcast De Verbranders, PhD students Neske Baerwaldt and Wiebe Ruijtenberg engage in dialogue, and use different angles to examine themes related to migration, borders…

Following the fall of the fourth Rutte cabinet, Dutch Minister of Justice and Security Dilan Yesilgöz addressed the Dutch media about the ‘influx’ of family reunification applications by asylum permit holders. In her view, it would put enormous pressure on Dutch society and could jeopardise security.…

Interview for National Public Radio sparks media frenzy.

The Netherlands cannot stop European labour migrants coming here. Nor does The Hague have much influence on the influx of asylum seekers. But experts believe that we should be able to reduce the need for labour migrants by using intelligent economic policies.

The challenge: Building a tool to detect chemical compounds that individually cause non-lethal stress to bacteria, but that are lethal in combination. A team of thirteen Leiden students are taking up this challenge in the annual ‘international Genetically Engineered Machine’ (iGEM) competition for applications…

Throughout this past year many students and staff at Leiden Law Staff received a prize or grant, were shortlisted for a prize or appointed to an academic body, or were honoured in some other way. All good reason to include them in our Hall of Fame 2020 to show how very proud we are of them!

Students from the Royal Academy of Art The Hague (KABK) designed the 450 lustrum logo.

Bachelor's students Larissa van Beckhoven, Eeke Brussee and Mirjam de Haan were granted the Speckmann award for their Fieldwork NL report ‘Een Tastbaar Mysterie’ (supervisor: Bregje ter Meer). Alumnus Markus Enk received the Master's Speckmann award for his innovative thesis called ‘Do spirits resist…

On the passing of Anique Schüller

The winner of the Paul & Tatiana Ehrenfest physics thesis prize 2020 is Koen Bastiaans. He carried out his PhD research in the group of Milan Allan and defended his thesis in December 2019 cum laude at Leiden University.

Physicist Scott Waitukaitis receives an NWO Veni grant to research the Leidenfrost effect for squishy materials. This effect is well-known for dancing water droplets in a frying pan.

Europe's latest quantum computer is set to arrive in the Netherlands. The Dutch IT cooperative, SURF, which supports education and research institutions, has secured funding from the European EuroHPC programme to make this possible. Researchers from Leiden University will play a key role in the project,…