Texas A&M University invites people of all ages to experience the exciting world of science and technology at the 2025 Physics and Engineering Festival this Saturday, April 5, from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the George P. Mitchell '40 Physics Building on the Texas A&M campus.
This free annual event will showcase over 200 interactive demonstrations, keynote presentations by a range of experts, and a spectacular, Texas-sized five-barrel depth charge, along with special events and surprises throughout the day. Attendees are encouraged to check the day’s tentative schedule for updates and the latest information.
The Festival will kick off at 10 a.m. with Dr. Adam Smith, Chief Scientific Officer for Nobel Prize Outreach, who will present the Dr. James G. Potter Lecture, The Call from Stockholm: Nobel Laureates’ First Reactions, in the Stephen W. Hawking Auditorium within the George P. and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy. Smith, who has been recording conversations with Nobel laureates for nearly 20 years, will share memorable reactions and explore the traits that fuel the extraordinary perseverance, creativity and ingenuity of these groundbreaking individuals.
From 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., Festival-goers will have the opportunity to explore a range of fun experiments and displays designed to showcase key science and technology concepts. Texas A&M faculty, staff and students will be available to guide the activities.
In addition to the hands-on demonstrations, the Festival will feature two performances of the “Science Circus” (11 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.) by physics showman Rhys Thomas. Using a unique combination of science, comedy, and circus arts, Thomas teaches Newtonian physics in a way that’s been compared to a Pixar movie. These performances will take place in the second-floor lecture hall of the Mitchell Physics Building.
At 2 p.m., NASA Astronaut Col. Michael E. Fossum ’80 will present Aggie in Space in the Mitchell Physics Building’s lecture hall. Fossum, a Texas A&M vice president, chief operating officer of the Galveston campus, and superintendent of the Texas A&M Maritime Academy, has completed three space flights and spent more than 194 days in space with NASA’s Johnson Space Center before joining the university in 2017.
Other Festival highlights include five performances of the “Low-Temperature Physics Extravaganza” (10:45 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 12:15 p.m., 1 p.m., 1:45 p.m.), Large Hadron Collider Virtual Tour (1 p.m.), and the grand finale of the large-scale five-barrel depth charge, at 3:15 p.m. on the south side of the Mitchell Physics Building.
At 3:30 p.m., Dr. Katherine Freese, director of the Weinberg Institute and professor of physics at the University of Texas at Austin, will present the Mitchell Lecture, The Mystery of Dark Matter in the Universe in the Mitchell Physics Building Primary Lecture Hall. Freese will discuss the “cosmic cocktail,” including evidence for dark matter in galaxies, and explore the possibility of discovering dark stars and early stars powered by dark matter, potentially identified by the James Webb Space Telescope.
All events are presented by the Texas A&M Department of Physics and Astronomy, in partnership with several other university departments, including Aerospace Engineering, Atmospheric Sciences, Biology, Chemistry and Mathematics.
The 2025 Festival is sponsored by Halliburton, Marsha L. ’69 and Ralph F. Schilling ’68, Nancy and Robert L. Dunham ’63, Innolight Technology USA Inc., Col. Hal Schade ’67, the College of Arts and Sciences, the Department of Physics and Astronomy and the George P. and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy.
For the latest details, including event directions and parking information, visit https://physicsfestival.tamu.edu/.