California Institute of Technology
The
California Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as
Caltech)
[Only the names "Caltech" and "California Institute of Technology" are used by the university itself. Other commonly-used nicknames, such as "Cal Tech" and "CalTech," are unofficial.] is a
private,
coeducational university located in
Pasadena, California, in the United States. Caltech maintains a strong emphasis on the natural sciences and engineering. Caltech also operates and manages the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (
NASA)'s
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), an autonomous-space-flight complex that oversees the design and operation of most of NASA's space-probes.
Caltech grew from a
vocational school founded in Pasadena in 1891 by local businessman and politician
Amos G. Throop. The school was known successively as
Throop University,
Throop Polytechnic Institute, and
Throop College of Technology, before acquiring its current name in 1920. Caltech and the
Polytechnic School, a private, college-preparatory school across the street, were part of the same institution until 1907.
Astronomer
George Ellery Hale was a driving force in Caltech's growth to national prominence. Hale had joined Throop's board of trustees after coming to Pasadena in 1907 as the first director of the
Mount Wilson Observatory. At a time when scientific research in the United States was still in its infancy, Hale saw an opportunity to create in Pasadena an institution for serious research and education in engineering and the natural sciences. Hale succeeded in attracting private gifts of land and money that allowed him to endow the school with well-equipped, modern
laboratory facilities. He then convinced two of the leading American scientists of the time,
physical chemist Arthur Amos Noyes and experimental
physicist Robert Andrews Millikan, to join Caltech's
faculty and contribute to the project of establishing it as a center for
science and
technology.
In 1917 Hale hired architect
Bertram Goodhue to produce a master plan for the 22-acre (89,000 m²) campus. Goodhue conceived of the overall layout of the campus and designed the Physics Building, Dabney Hall, and several other structures, in which he sought to be consistent with the local climate, the character of the school, and Hale's educational philosophy. Goodhue's designs for Caltech were also influenced by the traditional Spanish
mission architecture of Southern California.
|
Millikan Library, the tallest building on campus |
Under the leadership of Hale, Noyes, and Millikan (and aided by the booming economy of
Southern California), Caltech grew to national prominence in the 1920s. In 1923, Millikan was awarded the
Nobel Prize for physics. In
1925 the school established a department of
geology and hired
William Bennett Munro, then chairman of the division of History, Government, and Economics at
Harvard University, to create a division of
humanities and
social sciences at Caltech. In 1928 a division of
biology was established under the leadership of
Thomas Hunt Morgan, the most distinguished biologist in the United States and a discoverer of the role of genes and the
chromosome in heredity. In 1930,
Kerckhoff marine laboratory was established in Corona del Mar under the care of Professor
George MacGinitie. In 1926 a graduate school of
aeronautics was created, which eventually attracted
Theodore von Kármán, who later contributed to the creation of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and who established Caltech as one of the foremost centers for
rocket science. In 1928 construction began on the
Palomar Observatory.
Millikan served as "chairman of the executive council" (effectively Caltech's president) from 1921 to 1945, and his influence was such that the Institute was occasionally referred to as "Millikan's School." In the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, Caltech was known as the home of arguably the two greatest theoretical
particle physicists of the time:
Murray Gell-Mann and
Richard Feynman. Both Gell-Mann and Feynman received Nobel Prizes for their work, which was central to the establishment of the so-called "
Standard Model" of particle physics. Feynman was also widely known outside the physics community as an exceptional teacher and a colorful, unconventional character.
In 1971 a magnitude-6.5 earthquake in
San Fernando caused some damage to the Caltech campus. Engineers who evaluated the damage determined that two historic buildings, Throop Hall and the Goodhue-designed Culbertson Auditorium, both dating from the early days of the Institute, had cracked. These were some of the first
reinforced concrete buildings, and their plans did not contain enough details (such as how much
reinforcing bar had been included in the concrete) to be sure they were safe, so the engineers recommended demolition. Unfortunately, the engineers were in error, and it required considerably more effort to demolish these historic structures than should have been necessary had they been in real danger of collapse. A large
wrecking ball was used to demolish Throop Hall, and smashing the concrete revealed massive amounts of rebar, far in excess of safety requirements. The rebar had to be cut to haul the pieces away, and the process took much longer than had been planned.
Caltech remains, to this day, a small and highly focused university, with approximately 900
undergraduates, 1300
graduate students, and 900 faculty members (including 378
professors, 54 permanent research faculty, and 545
postdoctoral researchers.) It is a private institution, governed by its
Board of Trustees.
As of
2005, Caltech claims 31
Nobel laureates to its name. This figure includes 17 alumni, 14 non-alumni professors, and 4 professors who were also alumni (
Carl D. Anderson,
Linus Pauling,
William A. Fowler, and
Edward B. Lewis). The number of awards is 32, because Pauling received prizes in both
Chemistry and
Peace. With fewer than 25,000 alumni in total, nearly one in a thousand Techers have received the Nobel Prize â€" a ratio unmatched by any other university. Five faculty and alumni have received a
Crafoord Prize from the
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, while 47 have been awarded the U.S.
National Medal of Science, and 10 have received the
National Medal of Technology [
1]. Other distinguished researchers have been affiliated with Caltech as postdoctoral scholars (e.g.,
Barbara McClintock,
James D. Watson, and
Sheldon Glashow) or visiting professors (e.g.,
Albert Einstein and
Edward Witten).
The movie comedy
Real Genius and the CBS crime drama
Numb3rs are loosely based on events at Caltech. [
2]
Caltech is ranked the seventh-best university in the nation by U.S. News and World Report, tied with the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The Spitzer Science Center (SSC), located on the Caltech campus, is the data analysis and community support center for
NASA's
Spitzer Space Telescope. The SSC, part of the
Infrared Processing and Analysis Center (IPAC), works in collaboration with the
Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Academics at Caltech emphasize quality over size, concentrating on a core of academic disciplines of very high calibre. Caltech is also known for interdisciplinary programs facilitated by the small physical size of the Caltech campus.
Conversely, as a small school, Caltech cannot and does not offer the breadth of academic programs possible at larger universities.
Academic departments
Caltech is divided into six divisions, each of which offer several degree programs, plus a number of interdisciplinary programs.
*
Division of Biology*
Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering** Chemistry
** Chemical Engineering
*
Division of Engineering and Applied Science**
Aeronautics (GALCIT)
**
Applied & Computational Mathematics** Applied
Mechanics**
Applied Physics**
Civil Engineering**
Computer Science**
Control and Dynamic Systems**
Electrical Engineering**
Materials Science**
Mechanical Engineering*
Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences** Geology
** Geobiology
** Geochemistry
**
Geophysics**
Planetary science*
Division of Humanities and Social Sciences
** Humanities
*** History
*** English language
*** History and Philosophy of Science
** Social Sciences
*** Economics
*** Business Economics and Management
*** Social science
* Division of
Physics,
Mathematics, and
Astronomy** Physics
** Mathematics
** Astronomy
*
Applied Physics*
Biochemistry*
Bioengineering*
Biophysics* Computation & Neural Systems
*
Control &
Dynamical Systems
*
Environmental Science & Engineering
*
Geobiology &
Astrobiology*
Geochemistry*
Planetary scienceNot all of these are offered for both undergraduate and graduate students.
Undergraduate program
Caltech is on the
quarter system, meaning that students have one quarter before winter break and two quarters after. Thus, the college's school year starts relatively late, in late September, and ends in early June rather than May like most colleges. Also, Caltech is unusual in that students normally take five classes every term rather than four, as at most colleges. Instead of majors, Caltech has "options", and until 2006 offered only one minor: in Control and Dynamical Systems (CDS). During the spring term of 2006 the Humanities and Social Sciences division announced its plans to introduce four more minors in English, History, Philosophy and HPS (History and Philosophy of Science). Approximately 10% of students double-major. This is achievable since the humanities and social sciences majors have been designed to be done in conjunction with a science major. Although choosing two options in the same division is technically discouraged, it is still possible.
For the
core curriculum, students are required to take five quarters of math, including
differential equations and
probability and
statistics, five quarters of physics including
quantum mechanics,
special relativity, and
statistical mechanics, two quarters of chemistry, and a quarter of biology, as well as two quarters of laboratory classes.
Few students fail classes or fail out of the school as a whole. This is due to several cushions that help students survive. First of all, the first two quarters of freshman year are on a pass/fail grading scheme, easing the transition to college and reducing academic stress. During the second quarter, "shadow grades" are given to help students gauge their own progress; during the first quarter, there are no grades at all. Second, there is little competition; collaboration on
homework is encouraged (and often necessary for success) in almost every class. This allows even students who are not doing as well as others to learn the material and not get behind in their studies.
Caltech has the lowest four-year graduation rate among the leading US universitiesâ€"about 80% [
3]. This is despite the fact that entering students have consistently higher average test scores (on the
SAT 1 and 2) than any other university or college, as indicated by the major
college rankings. However, the situation has improved greatly over the last few decades; over 85% of entering students graduate in six years or less, compared to less than a third 40 years ago.
Undergraduates at Caltech are also encouraged to participate in
research. About half of students do research through the annual
Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships (SURF) program at least once during their stay, and many continue it during the school year. Students write and submit SURF proposals for research projects in collaboration with professors, and about 70% of applicants are awarded SURFs. The program is open to both Caltech and non-Caltech undergraduate students. It serves as preparation for graduate school and helps to explain why Caltech has the highest percentage of alumni who go on to receive a PhD of all the major universities.
House system
See main article: House System at CaltechDuring the early
20th century, a Caltech committee visited several universities and decided to transform the
undergraduate housing system from regular
fraternities to a
House System, similar to the
residential college system of
Oxford and
Cambridge. Four south houses (or
hovses, so named for the inscription on the gates thereof) were built: Blacker House, Dabney House, Fleming House, and Ricketts House. In the
1960s, three north houses were built: Lloyd House, Page House, and Ruddock House. During the
1990s, an additional house,
Avery House, was built to accommodate those who feel the original seven houses were not suitable for them. Some students jocularly refer to the Undergraduate Computer Science Laboratory as another house, as a few spend most of their time there. The four south houses will be closed for renovation from
2005 to
2007.
Student life traditions
Annual events
Every
Halloween, Dabney House stages a
pumpkin drop from the top of the Millikan Library, the highest point on campus. According to tradition, a claim was once made that the shattering of a pumpkin frozen in
liquid nitrogen and dropped from a sufficient height would produce a triboluminescent spark. This yearly event leads onlookers to try to spot the elusive spark.
There is also the annual
Ditch Day, when seniors ditch school, leaving behind elaborately designed tasks and traps at the doors of their rooms to prevent underclassmen from entering. This has evolved to the point where many seniors spend months designing mechanical, electrical, and software obstacles in order to confound the underclassmen. Each group of seniors designs a "stack" to be solved by a handful of underclassmen. The faculty has been drawn into the event as well, and cancel all classes on Ditch Day so that the underclassmen can participate in what has become a highlight of the year.
Another tradition is the playing of Wagner's ominous
Ride of the Valkyries at 7 AM each morning during finals week with the largest, loudest speakers available. The playing of that piece is not allowed at any other time (except if one happens to be listening to the entire four hours of
Die Walküre), and any offender is dragged into the showers to be drenched in cold water fully dressed. The playing of the
Ride is such a strong tradition that when the music was used during
Apollo 17 to awaken Astronaut
Harrison Schmitt, a Caltech graduate, he became extremely stressed in the same manner as a student during finals week.
Pranks
Caltech students have been known for the many
pranks (also known as
RF's) they have pulled off.
The two most famous are the changing of the
Hollywood sign to read Caltech, by judiciously covering up certain parts of the letters, and the changing of the
Rose Bowl scoreboard to an imaginary game where Caltech soundly trounced
MIT. During the 1961
Rose Bowl Game, Caltech students altered the flip-cards that were raised by the stadium attendees to display "Caltech." This event is now referred to as the
Great Rose Bowl Hoax.
Recently, a group of Caltech students, during the admitted students program at MIT in 2005, pulled a
string of pranks, including covering up the word Massachusetts in the "Massachusetts Institute of Technology" engraving on the main building façade with a banner so that it read "That Other Institute of Technology". A group of MIT
hackers retaliated by altering the banner so that the inscription read "The Only Institute of Technology".
MIT retaliated in April 2006, when students posing as the
Howe & Ser Moving Company (the name, if said rapidly, and if read recognizing that the & symbol is a ligature of the Latin word "et", sounds like
howitzer) stole the 130 year old, 1.7 ton Fleming House cannon and moved it to their campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, repeating a similar prank originally performed by
Harvey Mudd College in 1986. Thirty members of Fleming House traveled to MIT and reclaimed their cannon on April 10, 2006. They left a toy cannon with the note, "Here's something more your size." [
4]
In recent years, pranking has been officially encouraged by Tom Mannion, Caltech's assistant VP for campus life. "The grand old days of pranking have gone away at Caltech, and that's what we are trying to bring back," reported the Boston Globe, which noted that "security has orders not to intervene in a prank unless officers get Mannion's approval beforehand."[
5]
Honor Code
Life in the Caltech community is governed by the
Honor Code, which states simply: "No member of the Caltech community shall take unfair advantage of any other member of the Caltech community." This is enforced by a Board of Control, which consists of undergraduate students [
6], and by a similar body at the graduate level, called the Graduate Review Board [
7].
The Honor Code aims at promoting an atmosphere of respect and trust that allows Caltech students to enjoy privileges that make for a more relaxed atmosphere. For example, the Honor Code allows professors to make the majority of exams as take-home, allowing students to take them on their own schedule and in their preferred environment.
The only exception to the Honor Code, implemented in 1990s in response to changes in federal regulations, concerns the sexual harassment policy.
Since Throop College of Technology became Caltech in 1920, it has been led by the following individuals:
*
Robert A. Millikan (1921–1945), experimental physicist, Nobel laureate in physics for 1923 (his official title was "Chairman of the Executive Council")
*
Lee A. DuBridge (1946–1969), experimental physicist (first to officially hold the title of President)
*
Harold Brown (1969–1977), physicist and public servant (left Caltech to serve as
United States Secretary of Defense in the administration of
Jimmy Carter)
*
Robert F. Christy (1977–1978), astrophysicist (acting President)
*
Marvin L. Goldberger (1978–1987), theoretical physicist
*
Thomas E. Everhart (1987–1997), experimental physicist
*
David Baltimore (1997–2006), molecular biologist, Nobel laureate in physiology or medicine for 1975
*
Jean-Lou Chameau (2006–present), civil engineer and educational administator
*
List of California Institute of Technology people*
Official site*
Caltech's online news site*
History of Caltech (at the official Nobel Prize website)
*
Undergraduate Computer Science Laboratory*
Caltech Nobel Laureate Biographies*
Crippling Depression — a satirical comic strip serialized in
California Tech, the Caltech student newspaper
*
The Great Rose Bowl Hoax*
Honor Code*
Details On Ditch Day*Ditch Days:
2000,
2001,
2002,
2003,
2004,
2005,
2006*
List of references to Caltech in the film Real Genius
