“If there is a heaven for scientists, it probably is modeled on the Aspen Center for Physics.”
Programs For Physicists
Winter Conferences
Jan 5 - Apr 4
Each winter, ACP hosts between six and eight week-long conferences that focus on the latest developments in physics and adjacent fields. These conferences have a typical attendance of about 80-100. Join us for a week of physics in the snowy mountains of Aspen, Colorado! Conferences include morning and evening meetings with a “ski break” in the middle of the day.
Summer Workshops
May 25 - Sept 14
We offer summer workshops ranging from two to four weeks long in biophysics, astrophysics and cosmology, high energy physics and particle physics, and condensed matter physics. Each year, around 600 scientists from around the world visit the Center to explore unanswered questions about the Universe during our summer program. We encourage physicists to come to the summer workshops with their families.
Individual Research
May 25 - Sept 14
Discover & connect on your own terms. The Center’s summer program includes ample unstructured time, for informal discussions and cross-pollination. We invite you to concentrate on individual research and the informal exchange of ideas! Applicants in this category are given as much consideration as those applying for a workshop.
Oppenheimer and Los Alamos: Beyond the Movie
Gordon Baym, University of Illinois
Oppenheimer which focusses on the remarkable character of J. Robert Oppenheimer, and especially on the confrontations at the 1954 Atomic Energy Commission hearings on his future security clearance. Only hinted at in the movie is the amazing effort to develop atomic bombs, primarily at Los Alamos – the secret town in northern New Mexico – but also at other secret laboratories including Oak Ridge in Tennessee, and Hanford in Washington State, all part of what was euphemistically called the Manhattan Project. What I would like to do in this [article] is to give you a flavor of the history of the full development of what the historian Richard Rhodes, author of the monumental book, The Making of the Atomic Bomb, called, “arguably the single most important historic development of the 20th century.”
Off-Season Facility Use
Rent the center
If you need a meeting space for your scientific, non-profit group, consider the Aspen Center for Physics. It is available when its summer and winter programs are not in session: mid-September through December, occasional winter weeks, and April through the first three weeks of May.
Support the Future of Physics
The Aspen Center for Physics is a non-profit Colorado corporation operated for scientists by scientists with a small administrative staff. Officers, trustees, and general members select programs and participants, guide funding, select staff and oversee all aspects of the Center’s activities. To maintain corporate memory, honorary members and trustees continue to advise the board and serve the Center after their elected terms are over. The Center is governed by a volunteer board of a maximum of 80 general members and nine trustees who are guided by its by-laws.