News
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From Liquid Helium to Quantum Materials: Physics in Leiden, Then and NowPHYSICS 08 April 2026To mark Leiden University’s 450th anniversary, this exhibition pairs historic photographs with contemporary research. Seven ‘Then & Now’ diptychs show...
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Alive or not? Tiny 3D printed robots that swim and navigate just like animalsPHYSICS 27 March 2026They are only a few tens of micrometres long — far smaller than the width of a human hair – yet these robots can swim, sense, navigate and adapt in wa...
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Serge Lemay appointed professor of Iontronics at Leiden Institute of PhysicsPHYSICS 05 March 2026In his research, he uses the tools and methods of physics and applies these to today’s most important challenges in electrochemistry. Now, he brings h...
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A world first at the microscopic scale: metamaterials that can shrink and expand on their ownPHYSICS 25 February 2026Soft structures that can take on different shapes without any external drive. Leiden physicists Daniela Kraft and Julio Melio created them in their la...
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Examining DNA molecules one by one: how combining techniques can help us understand diseases such as dementiaPHYSICS 30 January 2026‘By cleverly combining new techniques for analysing DNA at the level of individual molecules, we can achieve real breakthroughs in research into condi...
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Eleven Open Competition Domain Science ENW XS grants for Leiden researchersGrant 09 December 2025Eleven researchers from Leiden University have been awarded an Open Competition Domain Science ENW XS grant by the Dutch Research Council for their re...
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Packed particles power upPHYSICS 04 August 2025What if particles don’t slow down in a crowd, but move faster? Physicists from Leiden worked together and discovered a new state of matter, where part...
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A material that gets shorter when you pull it (and why that’s useful)PHYSICS 17 July 2025When you stretch an elastic band, it gets longer. But imagine a material that actually becomes shorter when you pull on it. Sounds strange, doesn’t it...
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Liru Feng wins LION Image Award 2025PHYSICS 07 April 2025Fifty euros, a place on the LION photo wall and eternal fame: this is what the winner of the annual LION Image Award gets. This year, the prize goes t...
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New SPARXS technique reveals DNA behaviour at unprecedented speed23 August 2024Studying how single DNA molecules behave helps us to better understand genetic disorders and design better drugs. Until now however, examining DNA mol...
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Robert Smit receives his PhD with distinction. ‘I am happy to be back in the lab’04 July 2024An all-optical transistor, a molecule-sized sensor and a new kind of single-photon source for quantum communication. All dreamed applications of funda...
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Computing with rubber22 May 2024Without electronics carrying out computational tasks our daily lives would look very different. Devices such as elevators, vending machines, turnstile...
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New professor of Theoretical Physics: ‘The problems I study can come from anywhere in society’26 February 2024The financial sector, supply chains and ecology. Not necessarily topics you might associate with physics, yet it’s exactly what new professor Diego Ga...
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New professor Luca Giomi creates his own physics of living systems19 February 2024Swarms of drones, pedestrians or the cells in your body. Those are all examples of active matter: materials whose building blocks can move autonomousl...
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A first in the lab: a tiny network that is both strong and flexible15 February 2024Daniela Kraft's group has succeeded in creating a network of microparticles that is both strong and completely flexible. This may sound simple, yet th...