Voltian Lectures and Physics Colloquia

PHYSICS COLLOQUIA AND SEMINARS, VOLTIAN LECTURE

Physics Colloquia and Seminars are held usually on Thursdays afternoon at 16 pm in Room A102-Aula Giulotto during the Fall and Spring semesters, unless otherwise announced.

The Physics Colloquia host distinguished guest speakers who highlight the forefront of ongoing research in Physics and in related fields. Colloquia are addressed to a general audience of graduate students (M.Sci. and PhD) in all areas of physics. Presentations last about 45-min, followed by an ample discussion time. The Colloquia series provides an excellent opportunity for the graduate students to get a feeling of different research areas in physics and related fields, to sample the various research opportunities for future jobs and to talk directly with leading scientists. The Physics Seminars are similar to the Colloquia, but they may deal with more focused subjects and can be somewhat more specialized.

Attendance of the Colloquia is compulsory for all graduate students. Attendance to the Seminars is encouraged for everybody, and is compulsory for graduate students of the corresponding area/curriculum.

The Voltian Lecture is an annual event named after the renowned Italian scientist, professor of experimental Physics at the University of Pavia during the last quarter of the eighteenth century. It is often the inaugural event of the series of Physics Colloquia for each academic year, and it represent an important part of the Graduate School’s public events programme. It is also meant to create a wider awareness of the outcome and benefits of our research. The Voltian Lecture is awarded to a career scientist whose work has made a major contribution in Physics.

COLLOQUIA 2025/2026

22 October 2025 at 16:30 in aula Golgi, Palazzo Botta – Opening Colloquium by Markus Aspelmeyer (Univ. Vienna & Austrian Academy of Sciences): How does a quantum object gravitate? – Announcement

20 November 2025 at 16:00 in A101 – Vincenzo Patera (Univ. Roma La Sapienza): The nuclear hospital: High-energy physics at the service of medicine – Announcement

11 December 2025 at 16:00 in A101 – Samir Suweis (Univ. Padova): Physics of ecological systems – Announcement 

22 January 2026 at 16:00 in A101 – Raffaele Santagati (Boehringer Ingelheim, DE): Drug Design on quantum computers – Announcement

19 February 2026 at 16:00 in A101 – Tom Lancaster (Durham University): You’d better shape up: topological excitations in physics – Announcement

18 March 2026 at 16:00 in A102 – Simone Montangero (Univ. Padova): Tensor network algorithms for quantum simmulations and optimizations – Announcement

23 April 2026 at 16:00 in A101 – Leticia Cunqueiro Mendez (Univ Roma La Sapienza): Studying the microscopic properties of the Quark Gluon Plasma at colliders – Announcement

21 May 2026: Incagli, Lubicz

2024/2025 VOLTIAN LECTURE:

17 October 2024 at 16:00 in Aula Volta – Harald Paganetti (Massachussets General Hospital and Harvard Medical School): Radiation oncology: where physics meets cancer theraphy – Announcement

COLLOQUIA 2024/2025

14 November 2024 at 16:00 – M. Campisi (NEST & Scuola Normale Superiore): How to prepare high-fidelity quantum registers: theory and practice – Announcement

12 December 2024 at 16:00 – A. Cavalleri (MPI for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter & Oxford University) – New physics in driven quantum materials – Announcement

16 January 2025 at 16:00 – F. Maltoni (Univ Catholique Louvain & Univ Bologna: Quantum observables in high energy physics – Announcement

20 February 2025 at 16:00 – F. Terranova (Univ. Milano Bicocca): Quantum superposition of neutrinos: a golden pathway to exploring the Yukawa Sector of the Standard Model – Announcement 

20 March 2025 at 16:00 – M.G. Bisogni (Univ & INFN Pisa): FLASH radiotheraphy: advances, challenges, and future directions in ultra-high dose rate cancer treatment – Announcement

03 April 2025 at 16:00 – A. Balbi (Univ. Roma Tor Vergata): The physics of habitable worlds – Announcement

22 May 2025 at 16:00 – M. Sakellariadou

2023/2024 VOLTIAN LECTURE:

12 October 2023 at 16:00 in Aula Volta – Catherine Blundell (Oxford University): Our Galaxy: Close encounters in turbulent times – Announcement

COLLOQUIA 2023/2024

16 November 2023 at 17:00 in A101 – Nicole d’Hose (CEA Saclay): Recent Insights in Proton Structure – Announcement

14 December 2023 at 16:00 in A101 – Pietro Faccioli (Univ Milano Bicocca): All-atom computer simulations empower a new paradigm in drug discovery

2022/2023 VOLTIAN LECTURE:

18 October 2022 at 16.00 in Aula 102 – Thierry Giamarchi (University of Geneva, Switzerland): Quantum simulation – Poster – Announcement

COLLOQUIA 2022/2023

17 November 2022 at 16.00 in aula 101 – Marco Battaglieri (INFN Genova): Searching for Light Dark Matter at intensity frontier – Announcement

19 January 2023 at 16h in aula 102 – Caterina Vozzi (IFN-CNR Milano): Ultrafast XUV spectroscoy based on high-order harmonic generation – Announcement

16 February 2023 at 16h in aula 101 – Speranza Falciano (INFN Roma & GSSI): Nuclear physics technologies for cultural heritage and environment – Announcement

16 March 2023 at 16h in aula 101 – Antonio Acin (ICFO Barcellona): The device-independent scenario: quantum information processing based on Bell theorem – Announcement

13 April 2023 at 16h in aula 102 – Karl Jacobs (Univ. Freiburg): The Higgs Boson and the future of Particle Physics

2021/2022 VOLTIAN LECTURE:

28 October 2021 at 16.30 in Aula 102 – Roberto Battiston (Univ. Trento): High precision cosmic ray physics with AMS-02 on the International Space Station – Announcement

COLLOQUIA 2021/2022

22 November 2021 at 17h in aula 102 – Ilaria Mattei (INFN Milano): Recent developments on range monitoring in particle therapy – Announcement – Slides – Recording

13 December 2021 at 17h in aula 102 – Gianni Profeta (Università dell’Aquila): A dream comes true: Room-temperature superconductivity – Announcement – Slides

17 February 2022 at 16h in aula 102 – Fernando Ferroni (Gran Sasso Science Institute): Einstein telescope: A look at the dawn of the universe – Announcement – Poster

17 March 2022 at 16h in aula 101 – Alessandra Retico (INFN Pisa): The potential of AI in advancing medical imaging – Announcement – Poster

28 April 2022 at 16h in aula 101 – Vincenzo Greco (Univ. Catania): Phase transition and properties of the Hot QCD matter created in ultra-relativistic collisions – Announcement – Poster

19 May 2022 at 16h in aula 101 – Rinaldo Trotta (Univ. Roma La Sapienza): Quantum communication with entangled photons from artificial atoms – Announcement – Poster

16 June 2022 at 16h in aula 101 – Angelo Vulpiani (Univ. Roma La Sapienza): Multifractal approach to fully developed turbulence – Announcement – Poster

COLLOQUIA 2020/2021

29 October 2020 at 15 pm, online on Zoom – Opening Colloquium by Sergio Bertolucci (University of Bologna and INFN): Next generation neutrino experiments at accelerators: the DUNE experiment at FNAL – Announcement – Slides – Recording

19 November 2020 at 16h, online on Zoom – Sandro Stringari (BEC Center and University of Trento): Bose-Einstein condensation in ultracold atomic gases – Announcement – Slides – Recording

11 February 2021 at 16h, online on Zoom – Andrea Alù (City University of New York and City College of New York): Metamaterials for Exotic Wave-Matter Interactions – Announcement – Slides – Recording

4 March 2021 at 16h, online on Zoom – Quentin Pankhurst (Univ College London): Biomedical applications of magnetic nanoparticles – Announcement – Slides – Recording

22 March 2021 (Monday) at 16h, online on Zoom – Massimiliano Razzano (Univ. of Pisa and INFN Pisa): Gravitational waves and the dawn of multimessenger astrophysics – Announcement – Slides

29 April 2021 at 16h, online on Zoom – Zachary Vernon (Xanadu, Toronto): Scaling photonic quantum computers – Announcement – Slides – Recording

13 May 2021 at 16h, online on Zoom – Graziano Venanzoni (INFN Pisa): New results from the muon g-2 experiment at Fermilab – Announcement – Recording

2019/2020 VOLTIAN LECTURE:

17 October 2019 at 16 pm – Michele Parrinello (ETHZ Zurich, USI Lugano & IIT Genova): Atoms and computers – Announcement – Dedicated web page – Slides

COLLOQUIA 2019/2020 (titles may be preliminary)

14 November 2019 – Alberto Diaspro (IIT-CHT and University of Genova): Multi-messenger optical microscopy: from multiphoton to nanoscopy – Announcement

30 January 2020 – Christine Aidala (University of Michigan): Spin-momentum correlations, Aharonov-Bohm, and color entanglement in quantum chromodynamics – Announcement – Slides

12 March 2020 – Armando Rastelli (Johannes Kepler Univ. Linz): Semiconductor-based sources of quantum light – Announcement – Slides – Recording

26 March 2020 – Roberto Contino (Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa): Higgs & new physics – Announcement – Slides – Recording 

23 April 2020 – Sandro Scandolo (ICTP Trieste): A solid-state physicist’s journey to the center of planets – Announcement – Slides – Recording

2018/2019 VOLTIAN LECTURE:

18 October 2018 – Giorgio Parisi (Università di Roma La Sapienza & Presidente, Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei): Alcuni ricordi personali della fisica del secolo scorso – Dedicated web page – Video

COLLOQUIA 2018/2019  (titles may be preliminary)