The Science and Prospects of the Electron Ion Collider (Abhay Deshpande)

Everything we see around us – in the visible universe - is built from protons and neutrons. Despite worldwide investigations over many decades the origin of their most fundamental properties remains unexplained. How do quarks and gluons create the mass, spin, and structure of visible matter? The Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) is a next-generation discovery machine designed to answer these questions and about the strong interactions. Combining unprecedented luminosity, polarization, and versatility, the EIC will provide a three-dimensional view of nucleons and nuclei and explore a new regime of gluon-dominated matter using the nuclei. This colloquium will introduce the physics driving the EIC, highlight its transformative scientific potential, and speculate about its impact other fields in science.