'Oppenheimer' doesn't get Einstein's relationship with the Los Alamos director quite right. Here's what they really thought of each other.

Tech Insider
Einstein and Oppenheimer talking in Oppenheimer movie
Tom Conti as Albert Einstein and Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer in "Oppenheimer."

Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal

Lise Meitner helped discover nuclear fission but never won a Nobel Prize for her brilliance despite 49 nominations

Tech Insider
Lise Meitner looks at Otto Hahn.
Otto Hahn (left) won a Nobel Prize for the discovery of nuclear fission and would later downplay his colleague Lise Meitner (right) for her critical role in the discovery.

ullstein bild Dtl./Getty Images

A geoscientist explains what would happen if Earth suddenly stopped spinning

Tech Insider
Illustration of Earth, moon, and sun.

ratpack223/Getty Images

A physicist says it's possible to determine if our universe is a giant simulation and has launched a crowdfunding campaign to fund his experiment

Tech Insider
matrix
"The Matrix" brought the concept that we may all be living in a computer simulation to the masses.

via DVDBeaver

Starship's first liftoff toward space created the equivalent of a volcanic eruption in the launchpad, physicist finds

Tech Insider
The SpaceX Starship lifts off from the launchpad during a flight test from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, on April 20, 2023.
The SpaceX Starship lifts off from the launchpad during a flight test from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas in April.

PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images

How did the zebra get its nicely patterned stripes? The answer may come from mathematician Alan Turing.

Tech Insider
zoo captivity zebra
A zebra's stripes help it hide from predators, but how do they form so evenly spaced?

Reuters/Jose Luis Gonzalez

Black holes can speed through the universe at 17,500 miles per second, scientists say — and the discovery could reveal new laws of physics

Tech Insider
Black hole collision illustration
Black holes can get caught in each others gravitational grip and either collide or recoil.

NRAO/AUI/NSF, S. Dagnello

A weirdly wobbly 'muon' particle might revolutionize physics by revealing a 5th force of nature or another dimension

Tech Insider
Muon g-2 experiment at Fermilab.
The muon g-2 experiment at Fermilab fires muons around the ring, shown here, at near the speed of light.

Fermilab

What is the LK-99 superconductor? Everyone is talking about how it could change the world, but experts say we're still a long way off

Tech Insider
Magnetic lavitation
A magnet hovering above a superconductor. Persistent electric current flows on the surface of the superconductor, forming an electromagnet that repels the magnet.

J. Adam Fenster/University of Rochester

Cillian Murphy didn't just want to act like Oppenheimer. He asked science advisors to help him think like him, too.

Tech Insider
A side by side photo of J Robert Oppenheimer and Cillian Murphy, in costume in a promotional photo for the movie
J Robert Oppenheimer [left] smoking his signature pipe and the actor Cillian Murphy [right] who is playing him in Christopher Nolan's 'Oppenheimer'.

Getty Images [left], Universal Pictures [right]

Subscribe to Physics