James Lincoln [photo credit: AAPT]
Not really, of course. But close enough. James Lincoln of AAPT Films will step into Feynman’s role on the evening of July 21 — accent, hijinks, and all — delivering a one-hour lecture at 8:30 p.m. in the same room where the Nobel laureate gave his famous talks in 1962 and 1963. The performance is one of several Pasadena-specific events built into the 2026 Summer Meeting of the American Association of Physics Teachers, which will bring physics educators from across the country to the Pasadena Convention Center from July 19 through 22.
The AAPT, an international organization founded in 1930 and dedicated to physics education, chose Pasadena as its 2026 summer host, and the program takes advantage of the geography.
In addition to four days of plenary sessions, workshops, and contributed talks at the Convention Center at 300 East Green Street, the meeting includes a guided tour of the Huntington Library and Gardens in San Marino, where a curator of science history will give attendees behind-the-scenes access to early editions of Isaac Newton’s “Principia” and Robert Hooke’s “Micrographia,” along with personal correspondence and notes from Albert Einstein and Feynman. That trip is scheduled for Wednesday, July 22, and costs $25.
The plenary lineup carries a local thread. Anjali Tripathi, an astrophysicist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena and NASA’s inaugural Exoplanet Science Ambassador, is scheduled to speak Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. The opening plenary on Sunday at 4:00 p.m. features Stefanie Walch-Gassner, a professor of theoretical astrophysics at the University of Cologne and president of the German Astronomical Society, who will deliver the 2026 Klopsteg Memorial Lecture.
Two award recipients will share a plenary session on Tuesday at 11:30 a.m. Danielle Buggé, a physics teacher at West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South in Princeton Junction, N.J., will deliver an address as the recipient of the 2026 Paul W. Zitzewitz Award for Excellence in K-12 Physics Teaching. The AAPT awards committee cited her for what it described as her ability to forge connections with students and help them develop resilience, according to an AAPT press release. Deborah Armstrong, the 2025 PhysTEC National Teacher of the Year, will also speak during that session. On Wednesday at 12:00 p.m., Aaron Titus will deliver a plenary as the 2026 recipient of the David Halliday and Robert Resnick Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Physics Teaching.
The conference has designated Monday, July 20, as K-12 Teachers Day and Two-Year College Teachers Day, according to the AAPT registration page — a feature that provides a focused entry point for local educators.
Pre-meeting workshops begin Saturday, July 18, and run through Sunday, July 19, before the main conference sessions open Sunday afternoon. The program also includes a Physics Education Research Conference, poster sessions, and exhibits running July 19 through 21, according to the American Physical Society, which manages exhibit sales for the meeting.
Beyond the formal sessions, AAPT has scheduled a morning fun run and walk through Pasadena on Tuesday, July 21, at 6:00 a.m. for $25, and a PhysTEC 25th Anniversary Celebration on Tuesday at 12:30 p.m.
Registration is open at aapt.org. Questions can be directed to registration@aapt.org.
Two official conference hotels are accepting reservations through June 23: Hotel Dena at 303 Cordova Street in Pasadena at $229 per night, and the Hilton Pasadena at 168 South Los Robles Avenue at $235 per night, according to AAPT’s housing page.
Both are within walking distance of the Convention Center.
The AAPT, headquartered in College Park, Md., describes itself as an international organization for physics educators, physicists, and industrial scientists, according to its website. Its conferences rotate among U.S. cities; the 2025 Summer Meeting was held in Washington, D.C.
