The Buhl Professorship and the Buhl Lecture Series
The Buhl Chair in Theoretical Physics was established at Carnegie Mellon in 1961 by the Buhl Foundation, which originates from the bequest of Henry Buhl, Jr., the founder of the Boggs & Buhl department store, an institution at Federal Street on Pittsburgh's North Side until 1958.
The Buhl Chair is bestowed upon an outstanding theoretical physicist who both impacts theoretical research and helps establish directions for experimental investigations. Richard Cutkosky was the first Buhl Professor of Theoretical Physics until his death in 1993 after a long and illustrious career at CMU. Fred Gilman has been the holder of the Buhl Chair since 1995.
Each year the Buhl Professor invites an internationally recognized scientist to give a public lecture on a topic of current interest in Physics. The lectures are geared towards a broad audience. Past speakers in the Buhl Lecture Series are listed below.
![Prof. Frederick Gilman](../people/faculty/images/large/Gilman3-min.jpg)
Fred Gilman, the current
Buhl Professor of Theretical Physics
Past Lectures
Buhl Lecture 2019:
Suzanne Staggs
Princeton University
Looking Backwards with the Cosmic Microwave Background
![Buhl Poster 2019](buhl-lectures/buhlposter2019-min.jpg)
Buhl Lecture 2018:
Robert Kirshner
Harvard University
Exploding Stars, Dark Energy and the Accelerating Cosmos
![Buhl Poster 2018](buhl-lectures/buhlposter2018-min.jpg)
Buhl Lecture 2017:
William Bialek
Princeton University
The Physics of Life: How Much Can We Calculate?
![Buhl 2017](buhl-lectures/buhlposter2017-min.jpg)
Buhl Lecture 2016:
Barry Barish
California Institute of Technology
Einstein's Unfinished Symphony: "Listening" for Gravitational Waves
![Buhl 2016](buhl-lectures/buhlposter2016-min.jpg)
Buhl Lecture 2015:
Larry Abbott
Columbia University
Learning to Predict: Studies of Neural Circuits in Fish and Flies
![Buhl 2015](buhl-lectures/buhlposter2015-min.jpg)
Buhl Lecture 2014:
Carlos Bustamante
University of California, Berkeley
Biochemistry and Biophysics One Molecule at a Time: When Less is More
![Buhl 2014](buhl-lectures/buhlposter2014-min.jpg)
Buhl Lecture 2013:
Norbert Holtkamp
Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
Particle Accelerators: Tools for a Better Life, Ships of Discovery, Technologies for the Future
![Buhl 2013](buhl-lectures/buhlposter2013-min.jpg)
Buhl Lecture 2012:
Daniel Eisenstein
Harvard University
Dark Energy and Cosmic Sound
![Buhl 2012](buhl-lectures/buhlposter2012.jpg)
Buhl Lecture 2011:
Scott Aaronson
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Quantum Computing and the Limits of the Efficiently Computable
![Buhl 2001](buhl-lectures/buhlposter2011-min.jpg)
Buhl Lecture 2010:
William M. Gelbart
University of California, Los Angeles
Viruses "From Scratch"
![Buhl 2010](buhl-lectures/buhlposter2010-min.jpg)
Buhl Lecture 2009:
Edward "Rocky" Kolb
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
Mysteries of the Dark Universe
![Buhl 2009](buhl-lectures/buhlposter2009-min.jpg)
Buhl Lecture 2008:
Joel Primack
University of Califormia, Santa Cruz
A Brief History of Matter
![Buhl 2008](buhl-lectures/buhlposter2008-min.jpg)
Buhl Lecture 2007:
David Gross
University of Califormia, Santa Barbara
The Future of Physics
![Buhl 2007](buhl-lectures/buhlposter2007-min.jpg)
Buhl Lecture 2006:
Keith Hodgson
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
Brighter Than a Quadrillion Suns: Photon Science in the 21st Century
![Buhl 2006](buhl-lectures/buhlposter2006-min.jpg)
Buhl Lecture 2005:
Hitoshi Muriyama
University of California, Berkeley
E = mc2
![Buhl 2005](buhl-lectures/buhlposter2005-min.jpg)
Buhl Lecture 2004:
Michael S. Turner
University of Chicago
The Dark Side of the Universe: Beyond Stars and the Starstuff We Are Made Of
![Buhl 2004](buhl-lectures/buhlposter2004-min.jpg)
Buhl Lecture 2003:
Steven Chu
Stanford University
Single Molecule Biology: It's More Than Just Showing Off
![Buhl 2003](buhl-lectures/buhlposter2003-min.jpg)
Buhl Lecture 2002:
Saul Perlmutter
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Supernovae, Dark Energy and the Accelerating Universe
![Buhl 2002](buhl-lectures/buhlposter2002-min.jpg)
Buhl Lecture 2001:
Jonathan Dorfan
Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
Matter Versus Anti-Matter in the Universe and in the Laboratory
![Buhl 2001](buhl-lectures/buhlposter2001-min.jpg)
Buhl Lecture 2000:
Barry Barish
California Institute of Technology
Einstein's Unfinished Symphony: "Listening" for Gravitational Waves
![Buhl Y2K](buhl-lectures/buhlposter2000-min.jpg)
Buhl Lecture 1999:
Nathan Selberg
Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton
The Pursuit of Unification: Fulfilling Einstein's Dream
![Buhl 1999](buhl-lectures/buhlposter1999-min.jpg)
Buhl Lecture 1998:
T. D. Lee
Columbia University
Symmetries and Asymmetries
![Buhl 1998](buhl-lectures/buhlposter1998-min.jpg)
Buhl Lecture 1997:
Edward "Rocky" Kolb
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
From the Primordial Soup to Pittsburgh
![Buhl 1997](buhl-lectures/buhlposter1997-min.jpg)
Buhl Lecture 1996:
John N. Bahcall
Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton
Recent Discoveries with the Hubble Space Telescope
![Buhl 1996](buhl-lectures/buhlposter1996-min.jpg)