EDPY News and events

Galaxies from the FIREBox simulation suite, highlighting the low-surface-brightness material in the outskirts of galaxies—the kinds of features that ARRAKIHS will study. Credit: Y. Revaz © 2026 EPFL

EPFL joins ESA mission to probe dark matter

— Researchers at EPFL will help shape and prepare ARRAKIHS, a European Space Agency mission that will launch in 2030 to observe how galaxies grow and provide new insights into the nature of dark matter.

Christian Theiler, winner of the 2025 best teacher award for the physics section - 2026 EPFL/Alain Herzog - CC-BY-SA 4.0

“You can't learn something just by watching videos”

— Christian Theiler, winner of the 2025 best teacher award for the physics section, uses equipment, for both his research and teaching, that much of the world can only dream of.

Placed on a 1 CHF coin for scale, EPFL's photonic chip shows how a laser architecture once confined to table-top systems can be shrunk to the millimeter scale. ©2026 EPFL/Zheru Qiu

A ultrafast laser on a chip

— EPFL researchers have built a photonic chip that rivals much larger laboratory lasers, delivers extremely short, high-energy optical pulses, and could reshape technologies like medical diagnostics and optical atomic clocks.

Konstantin Novoselov © 2026 EPFL

Nobel laureate Konstantin Novoselov as first EPFL Fellow

— École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) has named Professor Konstantin Novoselov as the first-ever EPFL Fellow, inaugurating a new honorary title created to recognize eminent scientific personalities of exceptional international stature. He will be affiliated as an EPFL Fellow with the Institute of Physics in the School of Basic Sciences.

© 2026 iStock

EPFL launches cloud access to real quantum computers

— Through a collaboration between the EPFL Center for Quantum Science and Engineering (QSE) and SCITAS, EPFL has become the first Swiss academic institution to establish a virtual platform offering advanced quantum computing capabilities to its researchers.


Past & present at one table…
EDPY Program directors (left to right): Prof. O. Schneider (2009 – 2014), Prof. V. Savona (2015 – 2018), Prof. F. Mila (2018 – present)

Klaus Kern celebrates the 100th thesis of his laboratory!

For the past 28 years, Klaus Kern has directed his doctoral students, young researchers in the training phase, leaving them all the freedom required to be successful in developing their ideas.

This important milestone, a first at EPFL, highlights not only the huge research activity led in his laboratory, but also his qualities in attracting talented scientists to our school.

Indeed, one of the important roles of laboratories hosted by academic institutions such as EPFL is to train the next generation of scientists and leaders be it in the fields of academic research, entrepreneurship, or the society at large.

In the frame of the Doctoral Program in Physics, we wish him a successful continuation to this 100th and we congratulate him and all the people in his department for this exceptional achievement.

 
Photo: Shai Mangel (EDMX – 100th), Klaus Kern, Anna M. Roslawska (EDPY – 99th)