(April 28, 2026)
Prof. Pablo Jarillo-Herrero, Professor of Physics at MIT, and the 2026 Irons Lecturer gave a masterful public talk on "Magic Angle Graphene: the Twist and Shout of Quantium Materials."
He got us to imagine taking the simplest ingredient—carbon—and thinning it down until it’s only one atom thick. This creates graphene, a "wonder material" that has spent the last 20 years revolutionizing everything from electronics to basic physics.
Now, scientists have discovered that the real magic happens with a literal twist. By stacking two layers of graphene and rotating them to a specific "magic angle," we create mesmerizing moiré patterns—a visual effect originally used in 17th-century silk production—that transform the material’s behavior.
This "Twist and Shout" of the quantum world allows us to unlock exotic phenomena like superconductivity and advanced magnetism in ways we never thought possible.
Prof. Pablo Jarillo-Herrero took the audience on a journey into the beauty of these atomic structures allowing them see how a simple mechanical nudge is paving the way for the next generation of revolutionary physics and technology.
The turnout was good and included department faculty and students (both graduate and undergraduate), faculty from other departments and Chancellor-led units, a local high school chemistry teacher who had encouraged her students to attend and members of the general public.
[Photo credit, Gabriella Carbone]