News

WashU is a leading partner in NASA research, from the first Moon missions to future journeys probing the distant reaches of the cosmos.

Brian Rauch and his team are working on big science questions: Where does the matter that makes the world come from, and how did that happen? Rauch’s journey will lead to outer space. In March, he and his team made their first steps toward a cooperative agreement with NASA with their TIGERISS project.

Graduate students working on the balloon-borne XL-Calibur mission, led by Henric Krawczynski, encountered numerous obstacles and gained valuable experience during the highly sensitive instrument's first launch and flight.

NASA selects WashU’s experiment concept to probe origins of elements

This summer, the Outreach Committee collaborated with the Claver House to participate in a summer camp for children who live within the historic The Ville neighborhood located in northeast St. Louis.

Rich Schmaeng will retire from the Department of Physics after almost 50 years of service on June 30th, 2022.

A new chapter in astronomy is unfolding as astrophysicists launch the first dedicated X-ray polarimetry missions into space.

WashU physicists recently completed construction on XL-Calibur, a new balloon-borne telescope designed to measure the polarization of high-energy X-rays.

Physicist Kenneth Kelton received a NASA grant to study fundamental fluid processes on the International Space Station.

James H. Buckley, professor of physics in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, received a $4.9 million award from NASA to build a demonstration version of a large satellite experiment for gamma-ray astronomy research.

A team of Washington University in St. Louis scientists at McMurdo Station, Antarctica successfully launched its SuperTIGER (Super Trans-Iron Galactic Element Recorder) instrument, which is used to study the origin of cosmic rays.

Antarctica can be a double-edged sword for astronomers: conditions there are some of the best in the world for observing the heavens, but the harshness of the place can be hard on equipment.

The VERITAS high energy gamma-ray observatory in Southern Arizona.

Professor Ken Kelton's recent paper was chosen as an Editor's Pick.

Manel Errando, research scientist and lecturer in the Department of Physics, received a $363,000 award from NASA in support of developing thin-film polymer actuators for high-resolution X-ray optics.

“SuperTIGER may launch any day now, and X-Calibur will be flight-ready right after them,” said Henric Krawczynski, professor of physics in Arts & Sciences. While they wait for launch from Antarctica, the team is eating well, skiing and seal watching. Follow their blog to see how the missions featuring WashU technology fare.

It’s going to be a sunny, cold summer this December for scientists headed to Antarctica. McMurdo Station, the continent’s bustling metropolis of roughly 1,000 residents, will be home to researchers hoping to understand more about some of the most exotic phenomena in the universe – neutron stars and black holes.

Professor Henric Krawczynski's group and an international team of scientists and engineers are preparing the X-Calibur telescope for a stratospheric balloon flight launched from McMurdo (Antarctic) in December 2018.

Physics librarian Alison Verbeck will be a recipient of the Graduate Student Senate’s Outstanding Staff Award for 2017-18

Todd is an essential member of our department. Many of our faculty and many of our graduate students depend on him for achievement of their research goals

For the second time in 10 years, Daulton has carefully reviewed the evidence, and found no evidence for a spike in nanodiamond concentration in Younger Dryas sediments. Because nanodiamonds are the strongest piece of evidence for the impact hypothesis, their absence effectively discredits it.