02/24/2026
A hundred years ago, scientists didn’t even know what atoms were made of. Their quest to understand why atoms emit only specific colors of light led to the birth of quantum mechanics and ultimately to technologies we now take for granted: lasers, modern electronics, GPS, and more.
Now, a century later, we can cool, trap, and control individual atoms in the lab. We’ve built quantum atomic clocks so precise they wouldn’t lose a fraction of a second over the entire age of the universe. Lift one by just a few millimeters, and Earth’s gravity measurably changes its ticking.
But the biggest mystery remains: most of the universe is made of something we can’t see. Dark matter and dark energy dominate the cosmos and we still don’t know what they are.
Join us for this fascinating lecture exploring how quantum clocks are becoming powerful new tools to probe gravity, test fundamental physics, and search for the invisible universe.
