Vue lecture

Quantum steampunk: we explore the art and science

30 octobre 2025 à 12:42

Earlier this year I met the Massachusetts-based steampunk artist Bruce Rosenbaum at the Global Physics Summit of the American Physical Society. He was exhibiting a beautiful sculpture of a “quantum engine” that was created in collaboration with physicists including NIST’s Nicole Yunger Halpern – who pioneered the scientific field of quantum steampunk.

I was so taken by the art and science of quantum steampunk that I promised Rosenbaum that I would chat with him and Yunger Halpern on the podcast – and here is that conversation. We begin by exploring the art of steampunk and how it is influenced by the technology of the 19th century. Then, we look at the physics of quantum steampunk, a field that weds modern concepts of quantum information with thermodynamics – which itself is a scientific triumph of the 19th century.

Philip Ball reviews Yunger Halpern’s 2022 book Quantum Steampunk: the Physics of Yesterday’s Tomorrow

This podcast is supported by Atlas Technologies, specialists in custom aluminium and titanium vacuum chambers as well as bonded bimetal flanges and fittings used everywhere from physics labs to semiconductor fabs.

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Imagining alien worlds: we explore the science and fiction of exoplanets

Physics World

Par :Hamish Johnston

25 septembre 2025 à 13:00

In the past three decades astronomers have discovered more than 6000 exoplanets – planets that orbit stars other than the Sun. Many of these exoplanets are very unlike the eight planets of the solar system, making it clear that the cosmos contains a rich and varied array of alien worlds.

Weird and wonderful planets are also firmly entrenched in the world of science fiction, and the interplay between imagined and real planets is explored in the new book Amazing Worlds of Science Fiction and Science Fact. Its author Keith Cooper is my guest in this episode of the Physics World Weekly podcast and our conversation ranges from the amazing science of “hot Jupiter” exoplanets to how the plot of a popular Star Trek episode could inform our understanding of how life could exist on distant exoplanets.

Keith Cooper has written a three-part feature article about the nature of dark matter for Physics World. The first instalment is “Cosmic combat: delving into the battle between dark matter and modified gravity“

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