Josh Hickey. Photography by Benjamin Rasmussen
Beginning in 2024, Aspen Center for Physics has partnered with Aspen Daily News to create a monthly science column.
IN THE NEWS
“On Physics” with the Aspen Daily News
by Daniel Whiteson
Published December 5, 2024 by the Aspen Daily News
by Giuseppina Fabbiano
Published November 10, 2024 by the Aspen Daily News
by A. Douglas Stone
Published September 12, 2024 by the Aspen Daily News
by Clare Yu & Robert Austin
Published June 19, 2024 by the Aspen Daily News
by Paul Goldbart
Published August 15, 2024 by the Aspen Daily News
by Cole Miller
Published July 7, 2024 by the Aspen Daily News
by Daniel Whiteson
Published May 4, 2024 by the Aspen Daily News
Other Press
HTSI editor’s letter: where to spend it this autumn
Financial Times
Jo Ellison
“But I was even more charmed by the discovery next door of the Aspen Center for Physics, conceived in 1961 by scientists George Stranahan and Michael Cohen to be a unique research centre where theoretical physicists might gather in the summer. It has subsequently been described as “heaven for scientists”. The discovery of an outdoor classroom replete with a blackboard scrawled over with theoretical equations was among the most magical things I’ve ever stumbled upon.” Read here.
Aspen, where art, aspiration and altitude collide
Financial Times
“Aspen is mostly known as a glamorous ski resort; a place where celebrities and the super-rich converge on the slopes, at après-ski parties and in the luxury shops that line the small town’s streets. The exceptional and reliable snow conditions and the challenging and varied terrain guarantee its continued winter-destination appeal; but this is only part of Aspen’s identity. Pussy and her husband Walter Paepcke roused the once-booming silver mining town from its sleep with their utopian vision, and set it on course to become the year-round meeting place of international intellectuals it is today.” Read here.
At a community open house, three cultural institutions outline plans, gather feedback for housing proposal
Aspen Public Radio
Kaya Williams
The way John Bennett sees it, a shortage of housing options in Aspen is an “existential threat” to the Aspen Center for Physics. The former mayor of Aspen is a longtime volunteer and supporter of the nonprofit, which has historically rented condos and rooms in town for visiting scientists. But the supply has shrunk, and the cost has grown. More of those big thinkers and innovators are now staying in Snowmass Village, spending additional time commuting instead of conducting research. And Bennett worries that could impact both the caliber and longevity of the nonprofit’s programming, with reverberations in the broader scientific community. “If (The Aspen Center for Physics) can’t get the top scientists from around the world to visit here, and don’t have a place to put them up, then they could stop functioning, which would be really, really sad,” Bennet said, “not just for Aspen, but for the entire nation, because the work done here is extraordinarily important to the field of physics.” Read here.
Aspen Institute, Music Festival and School, Center for Physics hold open houses for proposed deed-restricted housing project
The Aspen Times
Regan Mertz
The Aspen Idea was born in the 1940s. Since then, the Aspen Institute has championed this concept, and eventually, it paved the way for the Aspen Music Festival and School, and the Aspen Center for Physics. These institutions, three of the longest serving nonprofits in Aspen, now face what is considered its most dire problem in recent history: Housing… Read here.
‘Housing the Aspen Idea’ unveiled
Aspen Daily News
Josie Taris
At first blush, community members seemed ready to endorse the affordable housing proposal for employees of the three major nonprofits at the Aspen Meadows campus, especially after they learned parking wouldn’t be affected… Read here.
Aspen Institute, Music Festival and School, Center for Physics, to submit application for affordable housing at Aspen Meadows campus
The Aspen Times
Staff Report
The Aspen Institute, Aspen Music Festival and School, and Aspen Center for Physics are submitting a land use application to build deed-restricted housing on the Aspen Meadows campus… Read here.
Aspen physics turns 50
Nature Magazine
by Michael Turner
Michael S. Turner reflects on how mountain serenity has bred big breakthroughs at the Aspen Center for Physics in Colorado. Over the past 50 years, the Aspen Center for Physics (ACP), nestled in a beautiful valley at 2,400 metres above sea level in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, has provided a ‘circle of serenity’ during the summer months for 10,000 theoretical physicists, including 53 Nobel laureates, from 65 countries. The centre can lay claim to the string-theory revolution, the birth of the arXiv preprint archive and to setting the agenda for condensed-matter physics… Read here.
Andrea Ghez, an Aspen Center for Physics member, wins Nobel Prize for work with black holes
The Aspen Times
by Austin Colbert
Long has it been theorized that the center of the Milky Way Galaxy is home to a supermassive black hole. Now, after decades of exhaustive research, there is finally substantial proof of its existence and Andrea Ghez had a lot to do with finding those answers. Read here.
Physicists Find Elusive Particle Seen as Key to Universe
The New York Times
by Dennis Overbye
Signaling a likely end to one of the longest, most expensive searches in the history of science, physicists said Wednesday that they had discovered a new subatomic particle that looks for all the world like the Higgs boson, a key to understanding why there is diversity and life in the universe. Read here.
In Aspen, Physics on a High Plane
The New York Times
by Dennis Overbye
Utopias need defending. And for almost 40 years, the Aspen Center for Physics — three low-slung buildings on four acres on the outskirts of the ski resort — has been a kind of utopia for physicists. Read here.