View source for California Institute of Technology

{{Short description|Private university in Pasadena, California}}
{{Use American English|date=August 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox university
 | name                   = California Institute of Technology
 | image                  = Seal of the California Institute of Technology.svg
 | image_upright          = .6
 | caption                = 
 | former_names           = {{collapsible list|
* Throop University (1891–1907)
* Throop Polytechnic Institute and Manual Training School (1907–1913)
* Throop College of Technology (1913–1920)<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.caltech.edu/about/legacy/history-milestones |title=History & Milestones}}</ref>
}}
 | motto                  = [[The truth will set you free|"The truth shall make you free"]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.caltech.edu/content/did-you-know |title=Caltech: Did you know? |publisher=California Institute of Technology |access-date=December 26, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160417114557/https://www.caltech.edu/content/did-you-know |archive-date=April 17, 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
 | established            = {{Start date and age|1891|9|23}}
 | type                   = [[Private university|Private]] [[research university]]
 | president              = [[Thomas Felix Rosenbaum|Thomas F. Rosenbaum]]
 | provost                = [[David A. Tirrell|David. A. Tirrell]]
 | city                   = [[Pasadena, California|Pasadena]]
 | state                  = California
 | country                = United States
 | coor                   = {{Coord|34|08|15|N|118|07|30|W|region:US-CA_tupe:edu|display=inline,title}}
 | undergrad              = 987 (2024-25)<ref name="enrollment">{{cite web |url=http://www.registrar.caltech.edu/records/enrollment-statistics |title=Fall Enrollment 2024-25 |publisher=Caltech – Office of the Registrar |access-date=July 19, 2025 }}</ref>
 | postgrad               = 1,443 (2024-25)<ref name="enrollment" />
 | students               = 2,430 (2024–25)
 | faculty                = 300 professorial faculty<ref name="at a glance">{{cite web |url=https://www.caltech.edu/content/caltech-glance |title=Caltech: at a Glance |publisher=California Institute of Technology |access-date=January 2, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222151936/http://www.caltech.edu/content/caltech-glance |archive-date=December 22, 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
 | campus                 = Midsize city<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=california&s=all&pg=2&id=110404 |title=College Navigator – California Institute of Technology |publisher=National Center for Education Statistics }}</ref>
 | campus_size            = {{convert|124|acre|km2}}
 | endowment              = $4.7&nbsp;billion (2024)<ref name=endowment>As of September 30, 2024. {{cite report |url=https://investments.caltech.edu |title=The Caltech Investment Office |publisher=The Caltech Investment Office |year=2024 |access-date=July 19, 2025}}</ref>
 | athletics_affiliations = [[National Collegiate Athletic Association|NCAA]] [[NCAA Division III|Division III]] – [[Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference|SCIAC]]
 | colors                 = {{college color list|team=Caltech Beavers}}
 | sports_nickname        = [[Caltech Beavers|Beavers]]
 | mascot                 = Bernoulli the Beaver<ref>{{Cite web |date=May 22, 2023 |title=It's Bernoulli! Caltech Beaver Name Revealed |url=https://gocaltech.com/news/2023/5/22/general-caltech-beaver-name-revealed-at-sunday-ceremony.aspx |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240401092830/https://gocaltech.com/news/2023/5/22/general-caltech-beaver-name-revealed-at-sunday-ceremony.aspx |archive-date=Apr 1, 2024 |publisher=California Institute of Technology}}</ref>
 | academic_affiliations  = {{hlist
|[[Association of American Universities|AAU]]|[[Association of Independent Technological Universities|AITU]]
|[[Association of Pacific Rim Universities|APRU]]|[[Consortium on Financing Higher Education|COFHE]]
|[[Universities Research Association|URA]]
|[[National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program|Space-grant]]
}}
 | website                = {{URL|https://www.caltech.edu/| caltech.edu}}
 | accreditation          = [[Western Association of Schools and Colleges - Senior College and University Commission|WSCUC]]
 | logo                   = Caltech Logo.svg
 | logo_size              = 200
 | free_label             = Newspaper
 | free                   = ''The California Tech''
 | founder                = [[Amos G. Throop]]
}}

The '''California Institute of Technology '''(branded as '''Caltech'''){{efn|The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such as "Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasionally referred to as "CIT", most notably in its [[alma mater (song)|alma mater]], but this is uncommon.<ref name="caltech">{{cite web|title=Official Logo & Marks|url=https://identity.caltech.edu/officiallogomarks|website=Identity.Caltech.edu|access-date=March 15, 2024}}</ref>}} is a [[private university|private]] [[research university]]/[[institute of technology]] in [[Pasadena, California]], United States. The university is responsible for many modern scientific advancements and is among a small group of [[Institute of Technology (United States)|institutes of technology in the United States]] that are devoted to the instruction of pure and applied sciences.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=California Institute of Technology {{!}} university, Pasadena, California, United States |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/California-Institute-of-Technology |access-date=2023-03-23 |website=Encyclopaedia Britannica |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":2" />

The institution was founded as a preparatory and vocational school by [[Amos G. Throop]] in 1891 and began attracting influential scientists such as [[George Ellery Hale]], [[Arthur Amos Noyes]], and [[Robert Andrews Millikan]] in the early 20th century. The vocational and preparatory schools were disbanded and spun off in 1910, and the college assumed its present name in 1920. In 1934, Caltech was elected to the [[Association of American Universities]], and the antecedents of [[NASA]]'s [[Jet Propulsion Laboratory]], which Caltech continues to manage and operate, were established between 1936 and 1943 under [[Theodore von Kármán]].<ref name="aau">{{cite web |url=http://www.aau.edu/about/article.aspx?id=5476 |title=Member Institutions |publisher=American Association of Universities |access-date=May 29, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120521132512/http://www.aau.edu/about/article.aspx?id=5476 |archive-date=May 21, 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/jplhistory/early/ |title=Early History |publisher=NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory |access-date=May 29, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111026135745/http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/jplhistory/early/ |archive-date=October 26, 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphasis on science and engineering, managing $332 million in research grants as of 2010.<ref name="overview">{{cite web |url = http://marcomm.caltech.edu/pdf/Caltech_Overview_2010_2011.pdf |title=Caltech Overview 2010–2011 |publisher=Caltech Office of Marketing and Communications |access-date=March 8, 2011 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110716233133/http://marcomm.caltech.edu/pdf/Caltech_Overview_2010_2011.pdf |archive-date=July 16, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Its {{convert|124|acre|ha|adj=on}} primary campus is located approximately {{convert|11|mi|km|abbr=on}} northeast of [[downtown Los Angeles]], in Pasadena. First-year students are required to live on campus, and 95% of undergraduates remain in the on-campus [[House System at Caltech|housing system at Caltech]]. Students agree to abide by an honor code which allows faculty to assign [[Final examination#Take-home finals|take-home examinations]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Honor Code |url=https://www.admissions.caltech.edu/why-caltech/student-life/honor-code |access-date=2024-08-28 |website=Undergraduate Admissions |language=en}}</ref> The [[#Athletics|Caltech Beavers]] compete in 13 intercollegiate sports in the [[National Collegiate Athletic Association|NCAA]] [[NCAA Division III|Division III]]'s [[Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference]] (SCIAC).

Scientists and engineers at or from the university have played an essential role in many modern scientific breakthroughs and innovations, including advances in [[space research]], [[sustainability science]], [[quantum mechanics|quantum physics]], and [[seismology]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Caltech – Decade of Discovery |url=https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/decade-of-discovery|access-date=June 26, 2022 |publisher=Caltech |date=December 19, 2019 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|title=These 25 Schools Are Responsible for the Greatest Advances in Science |url=https://qz.com/498534/these-25-schools-are-responsible-for-the-greatest-advances-in-science/ |access-date=June 26, 2022 |website=QZ|date=September 10, 2015 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=History of Caltech |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/themes/history-of-caltech/ |access-date=June 26, 2022 |publisher=The Nobel Prize |language=en}}</ref> {{As of|2024|October|df=US}}, there are [[List of Nobel laureates affiliated with California Institute of Technology|80 Nobel laureates who have been affiliated with Caltech]], making it the institution with the highest number of Nobelists per capita in America.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wai |first=Jonathan |date=8 October 2020|title=The Undergraduate Institutions with the Most Nobel Prize Winners |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanwai/2020/10/08/the-undergraduate-institutions-with-the-most-nobel-prize-winners/ |access-date=2022-12-25 |website=Forbes |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Clynes |first=Tom |date=2016-10-01 |title=Where Nobel winners Get Their Start |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=538 |issue=7624 |page=152 |doi=10.1038/nature.2016.20757 |pmid=27734890 |bibcode=2016Natur.538..152C |s2cid=4466329 |issn=1476-4687 |doi-access=free}}</ref> This includes 48 alumni and faculty members (49 prizes, with chemist [[Linus Pauling]] being the only individual in history to win two unshared prizes). In addition, 68 [[National Medal of Science]] Recipients, 43 [[MacArthur Fellows Program|MacArthur Fellows]], 15 [[National Medal of Technology and Innovation]] recipients, 11 [[astronaut]]s, 5 [[Science Advisor to the President|Science Advisors to the President]], 4 [[Fields Medal]]ists, and 6 [[Turing Award]] winners have been affiliated with Caltech.
<ref>Examples include:
# {{Cite web |title=Nobel Laureates |url=https://www.caltech.edu/about/legacy/awards-and-honors/nobel-laureates |access-date=2024-10-14 |publisher=California Institute of Technology |language=en}}
# {{Cite web |date=2010-02-08 |title=Caltech Alumni Astronaut Takes Final Shuttle Flight |url=https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/caltech-alumni-astronaut-takes-final-shuttle-flight-1764#:~:text=To%20date,%20NASA's%20astronaut%20corps,walk%20on%20the%20lunar%20surface. |access-date=2024-10-03 |website=California Institute of Technology |language=en}}
# {{Cite web |title=Previous Science Advisors |url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/administration/eop/ostp/about/leadershipstaff/previous |access-date=2024-10-03 |website=The White House |language=en}}
# {{Cite web |title=National Medal of Science Recipients |url=https://www.caltech.edu/about/legacy/awards-and-honors/national-medal-science-recipients |access-date=2024-10-03 |website=California Institute of Technology |language=en}}
# {{Cite web |title=National Medal of Technology and Innovation Recipients |url=https://www.caltech.edu/about/legacy/awards-and-honors/national-medal-technology-and-innovation-recipients |access-date=2024-10-03 |website=California Institute of Technology |language=en}}
# {{Cite web |title=MacArthur Fellows |url=https://www.caltech.edu/about/legacy/awards-and-honors/macarthur-fellows |access-date=2024-10-03 |website=California Institute of Technology |language=en}}</ref>

== History ==

=== Throop College ===
[[Image:Detroit Photographic Company (0048) - Throop Polytechnic Institute, Pasadena, California.jpg|thumb|left|220px|Throop Polytechnic Institute on its original campus at downtown Pasadena, c. 1897–1900s]]
Caltech started as a vocational school founded in present-day [[Old Pasadena]] on [[Fair Oaks Avenue (Pasadena, California)|Fair Oaks Avenue]] and Chestnut Street on September 23, 1891, by local businessman and politician [[Amos G. Throop]].<ref>{{Cite journal|year=1897|title=Sixth Annual Catalogue of Throop Polytechnic Institute and Manual Training School|url=https://caltechcampuspubs.library.caltech.edu/36/1/1897-1898.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221010/https://caltechcampuspubs.library.caltech.edu/36/1/1897-1898.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-10 |url-status=live|journal=Throop Polytechnic Institute}}</ref> The school was known successively as '''Throop University''', '''Throop Polytechnic Institute''' (and Manual Training School)<ref>{{cite book |title=Where to educate, 1898–1899. A guide to the best private schools, higher institutions of learning, etc., in the United States |last=Thomas |first=Grace Powers |year=1898 |publisher=Brown and Company |location=Boston |page=15 |access-date=August 17, 2012 |url=https://archive.org/stream/wheretoeducate1800thomrich#page/15/mode/1up |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121017075924/http://archive.org/stream/wheretoeducate1800thomrich#page/15/mode/1up |archive-date=October 17, 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref> and '''Throop College of Technology''' before acquiring its current name in 1920.<ref name="overview"/><ref name="incorporation">{{cite web |url=http://bot.caltech.edu/articles |title=Articles of Incorporation |publisher=Board of Trustees, California Institute of Technology |access-date=May 29, 2010 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100307205336/http://bot.caltech.edu/articles |archive-date=March 7, 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The vocational school was disbanded and the preparatory program was split off to form the independent [[Polytechnic School]] in 1907.

At a time when scientific research in the United States was still in its infancy, [[George Ellery Hale]], a solar [[astronomer]] from the [[University of Chicago]], founded the [[Mount Wilson Observatory]] in 1904. He joined Throop's board of trustees in 1907, and soon began developing the university, and the whole of Pasadena, into a major scientific and cultural destination. He engineered the appointment of [[James Augustin Brown Scherer|James A. B. Scherer]], a literary scholar untutored in science but very capable in administration and fund-raising, to Throop's presidency in 1908. Scherer persuaded retired businessman and trustee Charles W. Gates to donate $25,000 in seed money ({{Inflation|index=USD|value=25000|start_year=1908|r=-5|fmt=eq}}) to build Gates Laboratory, the first science building on campus.<ref name="gates lab">{{cite book |last=Goodstein |first=Judith R. |author-link=Judith R. Goodstein |title=Millikan's School: A History of the California Institute of Technology |publisher=[[W. W. Norton & Company]] |location=New York, NY |year=1991 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/millikansschoolh00good/page/51 51–63] |chapter=Preamble to a Technical School |isbn=0-393-03017-2 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/millikansschoolh00good/page/51 }}</ref>

=== World Wars ===
[[File:Throop Hall at Caltech, in Pasadena (00035486).jpg|thumb|220px|Throop Hall, 1912]]
[[File:Bridge Laboratory 1921.png|thumb|220px|Construction of Norman Bridge Laboratory of Physics in 1921]]
[[File:Caltech aerial 1922.png|thumb|220px|Aerial view of Caltech in 1922]]
In 1910, Throop moved to its current site. Arthur Fleming donated the land for the permanent campus site. [[Theodore Roosevelt]] delivered an address at Throop Institute on March 21, 1911, and he declared:

<blockquote>I want to see institutions like Throop turn out perhaps ninety-nine of every hundred students as men who are to do given pieces of industrial work better than any one else can do them; I want to see those men do the kind of work that is now being done on the [[Panama Canal]] and on the great irrigation projects in the interior of this country—and the one-hundredth man I want to see with the kind of cultural scientific training that will make him and his fellows the matrix out of which you can occasionally develop a man like your great astronomer, George Ellery Hale.<ref name="Hundredth1">{{Cite web |title=Guide to the California Institute of Technology Historical Files, 1891- |url=https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt396nc6mp/admin/#:~:text=When%2C%20on%20March%2021%2C%201911,those%20men%20do%20the%20kind |website=oac.cdlib.org |access-date=13 October 2023}}</ref><ref name="Caltech Catalog">{{cite web |url = http://catalog.caltech.edu/pdf/catalog_10_11.pdf |title=Caltech Catalog |publisher=Caltech |access-date=May 28, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110409051312/http://catalog.caltech.edu/pdf/catalog_10_11.pdf |archive-date=April 9, 2011 |df=mdy-all }}</ref></blockquote>

Also in 1911, a bill was introduced in the [[California Legislature]] calling for the establishment of a publicly funded "California Institute of Technology," with an initial budget of a million dollars, ten times the budget of Throop at the time. The board of trustees offered to turn Throop over to the state, but the presidents of [[Stanford University]] and the [[University of California, Berkeley]] successfully lobbied to defeat the bill, which allowed Throop to develop as the only scientific research-oriented educational institute in southern California, public or private, until the onset of World War II necessitated the broader development of research-based science education.<ref name="The Dream Endures">{{cite book|last=Starr|first=Kevin|title=The Dream Endures: California Enters the 1940s|url=https://archive.org/details/dreamendurescali00star|url-access=registration|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|location=Oxford|year=1997|pages=[https://archive.org/details/dreamendurescali00star/page/74 74–77]|chapter=Unto the Stars Themselves, Astronomy and the Pasadena Perspective|isbn=0-19-515797-4|access-date=November 17, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191203202552/https://archive.org/details/dreamendurescali00star|archive-date=December 3, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> The promise of Throop attracted [[physical chemistry|physical chemist]] [[Arthur Amos Noyes]] from [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]] to develop the institution and assist in establishing it as a center for science and technology.

With the onset of [[World War I]], Hale organized the [[United States National Research Council|National Research Council]] to coordinate and support scientific work on military problems. While he supported the idea of federal appropriations for science, he took exception to a federal bill that would have funded engineering research at land-grant colleges, and instead sought to raise a $1&nbsp;million national research fund entirely from private sources. To that end, as Hale wrote in ''[[The New York Times]]'':

<blockquote>Throop College of Technology, in Pasadena California has recently afforded a striking illustration of one way in which the Research Council can secure co-operation and advance scientific investigation. This institution, with its able investigators and excellent research laboratories, could be of great service in any broad scheme of cooperation. President Scherer, hearing of the formation of the council, immediately offered to take part in its work, and with this object, he secured within three days an additional research endowment of one hundred thousand dollars.<ref name="NRC">{{cite book|last=Goodstein|first=Judith R.|title=Millikan's School: A History of the California Institute of Technology|publisher=[[W. W. Norton & Company]]|location=New York, NY|year=1991|pages=[https://archive.org/details/millikansschoolh00good/page/64 64–75]|chapter=The Birth of Caltech|isbn=0-393-03017-2|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/millikansschoolh00good/page/64}}</ref>
</blockquote>

{{anchor|NormanBridgeLab}}Through the National Research Council, Hale simultaneously lobbied for science to play a larger role in national affairs, and for Throop to play a national role in science. The new funds were designated for physics research, and ultimately led to the establishment of the Norman Bridge Laboratory, which attracted experimental [[physicist]] [[Robert Andrews Millikan]] from the [[University of Chicago]] in 1917.<ref name="bridge lab">{{cite book|last=Goodstein|first=Judith R.|title=Millikan's School: A History of the California Institute of Technology|publisher=[[W. W. Norton & Company]]|location=New York|year=1991|pages=[https://archive.org/details/millikansschoolh00good/page/71 71–75]|chapter=The Birth of Caltech|isbn=0-393-03017-2|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/millikansschoolh00good/page/71}}</ref> During the course of the war, Hale, Noyes and Millikan worked together in Washington on the NRC. Subsequently, they continued their partnership in developing Caltech.<ref name="NRC" />

{{wide image|Caltech Entrance.jpg|640px|align-cap=center|Caltech entrance at 1200 E California Blvd.  On the left is East Norman Bridge Laboratory of Physics and on the right is the Linde Hall of Mathematics and Physics.}}
Under the leadership of [[George Ellery Hale|Hale]], [[Arthur Amos Noyes|Noyes]], and [[Robert Andrews Millikan|Millikan]] (aided by the booming economy of [[Southern California]]), Caltech grew to national prominence in the 1920s and concentrated on the development of Roosevelt's "Hundredth Man". On November 29, 1921, the trustees declared it to be the express policy of the institute to pursue scientific research of the greatest importance and at the same time "to continue to conduct thorough courses in engineering and pure science, basing the work of these courses on exceptionally strong instruction in the fundamental sciences of mathematics, physics, and chemistry; broadening and enriching the curriculum by a liberal amount of instruction in such subjects as English, history, and economics; and vitalizing all the work of the Institute by the infusion in generous measure of the spirit of research".<ref name="Hundredth1" /><ref name="Caltech Catalog"/> In 1923, Millikan was awarded the [[Nobel Prize in 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 science]]s 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 at the time, and 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]]. Kármán later helped create the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and played an integral part in establishing Caltech as one of the world's centers for [[rocket|rocket science]]. In 1928, construction of the [[Palomar Observatory]] began.

[[File:Richard C. Tolman and Albert Einstein at California Institute of Technology.jpg|thumb|left|220px|[[Richard C. Tolman]] and [[Albert Einstein]] at Caltech, 1932]]

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". Millikan initiated a visiting-scholars program soon after joining Caltech. Notable scientists who accepted his invitation include [[Paul Dirac]], [[Erwin Schrödinger]], [[Werner Heisenberg]], [[Hendrik Lorentz]] and [[Niels Bohr]].<ref>{{cite web |url = http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/articles/goodstein/ |title = History of Caltech |publisher = Nobel Foundation |access-date = June 18, 2010 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100804153722/http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/articles/goodstein/ |archive-date = August 4, 2010 |url-status = live }}</ref> [[Albert Einstein]] arrived on the Caltech campus for the first time in 1931 to polish up his [[Theory of General Relativity]], and he returned to Caltech subsequently as a visiting professor in 1932 and 1933.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://archives.caltech.edu/about/fastfacts.html |title=Fast Facts about Caltech History |publisher=The Caltech Archives |access-date=March 8, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708080210/http://archives.caltech.edu/about/fastfacts.html |archive-date=July 8, 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref>

During World War II, Caltech was one of 131 colleges and universities nationally that took part in the [[V-12 Navy College Training Program]] which offered students a path to a Navy commission.<ref name="caltech-v-12">{{cite web |url=http://oralhistories.library.caltech.edu/125/01/OH_Acosta.pdf |title=Oral History – Allen J. Acosta |publisher=[[Pasadena, California]]: California Institute of Technology |access-date=September 29, 2011 |date=April–May 1994 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100618201228/http://oralhistories.library.caltech.edu/125/01/OH_Acosta.pdf |archive-date=June 18, 2010 |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[United States Navy]] also maintained a naval training school for [[aeronautical engineering]], resident inspectors of ordinance and naval material, and a liaison officer to the [[National Defense Research Committee]] on campus.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/ref/USN-Act/CA.html|title=U.S. Naval Activities World War II by State|publisher=Patrick Clancey|access-date=March 19, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110907053516/http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/ref/USN-Act/CA.html|archive-date=September 7, 2011|url-status=live}}</ref> During the war,  some scientists from Caltech, including [[J. Robert Oppenheimer]], [[Richard C. Tolman|Richard Tolman]], and [[Robert Bacher]], were instrumental in the [[Manhattan Project]] and contributed to critical aspects of the atomic bomb's development.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-09-04 |title=The Manhattan Project |url=https://www.kiss.caltech.edu/Tolman-Bacher/manhattan_project.html |access-date=2024-09-04 |website=Keck Institute for Space Studies}}</ref>

[[File:Oppenheimer at Caltech.jpg|thumb|220px|[[J. Robert Oppenheimer]] at Caltech in 1930]]
Caltech was also directly involved in other bomb-related research with a group led by [[Charles Lauritsen]] which assisted in the development of the high-explosive lenses used in the [[Fat Man]] implosion bomb, crucial to the [[Trinity (nuclear test)|Trinity Test]] and the subsequent [[Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki|bombing of Nagasaki]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-09-04 |title=The Navy in the Manhattan Project - Nuclear Museum |url=https://ahf.nuclearmuseum.org/ahf/history/navy-manhattan-project/ |access-date=2024-09-04 |website=National Museum of Nuclear Science and History |language=en-US}}</ref> Lauritsen's team at Caltech developed detonators that would later be used in atomic bombs. In November 1943, Caltech and the U.S. Navy established the [[Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake|Naval Ordnance Test Station]] (NOTS) in [[Inyokern, California]], near the [[Mojave Desert]] to work on aircraft ordnance and rocket development.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Brief History |url=https://chinalakemuseum.org/brief-history |access-date=2024-09-04 |website=China Lake Museum Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref> One of the most successful innovations was the development of the 5-inch [[High Velocity Aircraft Rocket|High-Velocity Aircraft Rocket]], commonly known as the "[[Holy Moses (rocket)|Holy Moses]]," which was used in combat against enemy fortifications and ships.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Weapons |url=https://chinalakemuseum.org/weapons |access-date=2024-09-04 |website=China Lake Museum Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref>

The partnership between the Navy and Caltech continued to deepen throughout the war, leading to the creation of several military technologies, and by 1945, the focus of Caltech's war contributions expanded further with [[Project Camel]], a collaboration between the Naval Ordnance Test Station and the Manhattan Project.<ref name=":5">{{Citation |last=Reines |first=F. |title=Neutrinos to 1960 Personal Recollections |date=1991-01-01 |work=Neutrinos and Other Matters |pages=552–575 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1142/9789814343060_0093 |access-date=2024-09-04 |publisher=WORLD SCIENTIFIC |doi=10.1142/9789814343060_0093 |bibcode=1991noms.book..552R |isbn=978-981-02-0270-5|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Caltech scientists worked on a variety of assignments, including [[Boeing B-29 Superfortress|B-29]] airdrop tests of model atomic bombs and the manufacturing of explosives for use in the atomic bomb's implosion mechanism.<ref name=":5" /> Additionally, the [[Salt Wells Pilot Plant]] at Inyokern was developed with Caltech scientists in response to concerns about the safety of explosive production at [[Los Alamos National Laboratory|Los Alamos]] and began producing high explosives just days before the Trinity Test in July 1945.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1991-01-01 |title=The Navy in the Manhattan Project - Nuclear Museum |url=https://ahf.nuclearmuseum.org/ahf/history/navy-manhattan-project/ |access-date=2024-09-04 |website=Nuclear History Museum |language=en-US}}</ref> Early in the war, Caltech scientists, including Lauritsen's son, [[Thomas Lauritsen]], worked on various rocket designs at the Kellogg Radiation Laboratory.<ref name=":5" /> These rockets, including the "[[Tiny Tim (rocket)|Tiny Tim]]" and the "[[Folding-Fin Aerial Rocket|Mighty Mouse]]," were used in critical military operations, from naval engagements to land assaults. By the end of the war, Caltech had essentially become an extension of the U.S. Navy's [[Bureau of Ordnance]], with its rocket research providing important technology to U.S. combat capabilities.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Roland |first=A. |date=1990-01-05 |title=Science and the Navy. The History of the Office of Naval Research. Harvey M. Sapolsky. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 1990. xvi, 142 pp., illus. $34.95 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.973-f |journal=Science |volume=249 |issue=4972 |page=973 |doi=10.1126/science.973-f |pmid=17756793 |issn=0036-8075|url-access=subscription }}</ref>{{clear}}

=== Project Vista ===
[[File:Caltech aerial 1944.png|thumb|220px|The campus in 1944]]
From April to December 1951, Caltech was the host of a federal classified study, [[Project Vista]]. The selection of Caltech as host for the project was based on the university's expertise in rocketry and nuclear physics. In response to the war in Korea and the pressure from the Soviet Union, the project was Caltech's way of assisting the federal government in its effort to increase national security.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://calteches.library.caltech.edu/1280/1/DuBridge.pdf |title=DuBridge, Lee A. "The President's Report." Engineering and Science 15.6 (1952): 9 |access-date=April 27, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170427192026/http://calteches.library.caltech.edu/1280/1/DuBridge.pdf |archive-date=April 27, 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref> The project was created to study new ways of improving the relationship between tactical air support and ground troops. The Army, Air Force, and Navy sponsored the project; however, it was under contract with the Army. The study was named after the hotel, Vista del Arroyo Hotel, which housed the study. The study operated under a committee with the supervision of President [[Lee Alvin DuBridge|Lee A. DuBridge]]. [[William Alfred Fowler|William A. Fowler]], a professor at Caltech, was selected as research director. More than a fourth of Caltech's faculty and a group of outside scientists staffed the project.<ref>Elliot, David C. (January 1, 1986) "Project Vista and Nuclear Weapons in Europe." International Security. 11(1): 167.</ref> Moreover, the number increases if one takes into account visiting scientists, military liaisons, secretarial, and security staff. In compensation for its participation, the university received about $750,000.<ref>
McCRAY, W. PATRICK, (January 1, 2004) "Project Vista, Caltech, and the dilemmas of Lee DuBridge Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences. 34(2): 340.."</ref>

=== Post-war growth ===
From the 1950s to 1980s, Caltech was the home of [[Murray Gell-Mann]] and [[Richard Feynman]], whose work was central to the establishment of the [[Standard Model]] of particle physics. Feynman was also widely known outside the physics community as an exceptional teacher and a colorful, unconventional character.

During [[Lee A. DuBridge]]'s tenure as Caltech's president (1946–1969), Caltech's faculty doubled and the campus tripled in size. DuBridge, unlike his predecessors, welcomed [[federal funding]] of science. New research fields flourished, including [[chemical biology]], [[planetary science]], [[nuclear astrophysics]], and [[geochemistry]]. A [[Hale Telescope|200-inch telescope]] was dedicated on nearby Palomar Mountain in 1948 and remained the world's most powerful optical telescope for over forty years.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.astro.caltech.edu/palomar/hale.html |title=The 200-inch Hale Telescope |publisher=Caltech Astronomy |access-date=September 26, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100718065231/http://www.astro.caltech.edu/palomar/hale.html |archive-date=July 18, 2010 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Caltech opened its doors to female undergraduates during the presidency of [[Harold Brown (Secretary of Defense)|Harold Brown]] in 1970, and they made up 14% of the entering class.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-aug-06-me-caltech6-story.html |title=Caltech chemistry improves |work=Los Angeles Times |access-date=August 12, 2010 |first=Larry |last=Gordon |date=August 6, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100508071501/http://articles.latimes.com/2007/aug/06/local/me-caltech6 |archive-date=May 8, 2010 |url-status=live }}</ref> The portion of female undergraduates has been increasing since then.<ref name="at a glance" />

Protests by Caltech students are rare.<ref>edu.ucla.library.specialCollections.latimes:3720
uclalat_1429_b609_238352
ark:/21198/zz0002vnsf</ref> The earliest was a 1968 protest outside the [[NBC]] Burbank studios, in response to rumors that NBC was to cancel ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series|Star Trek]]''. In 1973, the students from [[Dabney House]] protested a presidential visit with a sign on the library bearing the simple phrase "[[Watergate scandal|Impeach Nixon]]". The following week, Ross McCollum, president of the National Oil Company, wrote an open letter to Dabney House stating that in light of their actions he had decided not to donate one million dollars to Caltech. The Dabney family, being Republicans, disowned Dabney House after hearing of the protest.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://pandora.caltech.edu/~antognini/tunnels.pdf |title=Caltech's Underground History |publisher=Joe Antognini |access-date=August 12, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719160558/http://pandora.caltech.edu/~antognini/tunnels.pdf|archive-date=July 19, 2011  }}</ref>

=== 21st century ===
Since 2000, the [[Einstein Papers Project]] has been located at Caltech.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.einstein.caltech.edu/papers.html |title=Collected Papers of Albert Einstein |access-date=January 16, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041109224557/http://www.einstein.caltech.edu/papers.html |archive-date=November 9, 2004  }}</ref> The project was established in 1986 to assemble, preserve, translate, and publish papers selected from the literary estate of Albert Einstein and from other collections.

In fall 2008, the freshman class was 42% female, a record for Caltech's undergraduate enrollment.<ref name="at a glance"/> In the same year, the Institute concluded a six-year-long fund-raising campaign. The campaign raised more than $1.4&nbsp;billion from about 16,000 donors. Nearly half of the funds went into the support of Caltech programs and projects.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://one.caltech.edu/homepage/campaign_brochure.pdf |title=Campaign Summary |access-date=January 16, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717002058/http://one.caltech.edu/homepage/campaign_brochure.pdf |archive-date=July 17, 2011  }}</ref>

In 2010, Caltech, in partnership with [[Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory]] and headed by Professor [[Nathan Lewis (chemist)|Nathan Lewis]], established a [[United States Department of Energy|DOE]] [[United States Department of Energy#Energy Innovation Hubs|Energy Innovation Hub]] aimed at developing revolutionary methods to generate fuels directly from sunlight. This hub, the [[Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis]], will receive up to $122&nbsp;million in federal funding over five years.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://solarfuelshub.org/ |title=Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis |access-date=January 16, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101020154825/http://solarfuelshub.org/ |archive-date=October 20, 2010 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Since 2012, Caltech began to offer classes through [[massive open online course]]s (MOOCs) under [[Coursera]], from 2013, [[edX]].<ref>{{cite web |url = https://www.caltech.edu/content/caltech-offer-online-courses-through-edx |title = Caltech to Offer Online Courses through edX |publisher=California Institute of Technology|access-date = February 19, 2013 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160417123634/https://www.caltech.edu/content/caltech-offer-online-courses-through-edx |archive-date = April 17, 2016 |url-status = dead }}</ref> Since 2020, Caltech’s Center for Technology and Management Education (CTME) has provided professional certificate programs and bootcamps targeted at working professionals. Beginning in 2022, CTME faced a class-action lawsuit alleging that its cybersecurity bootcamp was misleadingly marketed as a Caltech program, despite being fully designed and taught by the third-party company Simplilearn without Caltech faculty involvement.  The lawsuit asserted that students were misled by the use of Caltech branding. In response, Caltech announced it would end its partnership with Simplilearn and restructure CTME programs under internal oversight.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2025-07-07 |title=Caltech Agrees to Settle Lawsuit Accusing It of Misleading Students |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/07/us/caltech-simplilearn-settlement-bootcamp.html |access-date=2025-08-04 |language=en}}</ref>

Jean-Lou Chameau, the eighth president, announced on February 19, 2013, that he would be stepping down to accept the presidency at [[King Abdullah University of Science and Technology]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.caltech.edu/content/chameau-step-down-caltech-president|title=Chameau to Step Down as Caltech President|publisher=California Institute of Technology|access-date=September 16, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130826094206/http://www.caltech.edu/content/chameau-step-down-caltech-president|archive-date=August 26, 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Thomas Felix Rosenbaum|Thomas F. Rosenbaum]] was announced to be the ninth president of Caltech on October 24, 2013, and his term began on July 1, 2014.

The [[LIGO|Laser Interferometer Gravitational‑Wave Observatory]] (LIGO) was designed and constructed by a team of scientists from the California Institute of Technology, [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]], and industrial partners, funded by the [[National Science Foundation]]. It was intended to launch [[Gravitational-wave astronomy|gravitational‑wave astronomy]] by detecting the ripples in spacetime predicted by [[General relativity|Einstein’s general relativity]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=About |url=https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/page/about |access-date=2025-08-04 |website=LIGO Lab {{!}} Caltech}}</ref> Gravitational waves were directly [[First observation of gravitational waves|detected for the first time]] on September 14, 2015, by the LIGO detectors. For their pivotal roles in building the LIGO observatory and making the discovery, Caltech physicists [[Kip Thorne]] and [[Barry Barish]], together with MIT physicist [[Rainer Weiss]], were awarded the 2017 [[Nobel Prize in Physics]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2017-10-03 |title=Caltech Scientists Awarded 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics |url=https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/barish-and-thorne-awarded-nobel-prize-physics-52463 |access-date=2025-08-04 |website=California Institute of Technology |language=en}}</ref> Thorne, who is a Caltech graduate, provided the theoretical foundation that guided LIGO's design.<ref name=":0" />

In 2019, Caltech received a gift of $750&nbsp;million for sustainability research from the Resnick family of [[The Wonderful Company]].<ref name="gift_750mm">{{cite news |last1=Goldstein |first1=Dana |title=Caltech Gets a Windfall for Climate Research: $750 Million |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/26/us/caltech-resnick-climate-change.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220101/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/26/us/caltech-resnick-climate-change.html |archive-date=January 1, 2022 |url-access=limited |access-date=June 11, 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=September 26, 2019}}{{cbignore}}</ref> The gift is the largest ever for environmental sustainability research and the second-largest private donation to a US academic institution (after Bloomberg's gift of $1.8&nbsp;billion to Johns Hopkins University in 2018).<ref>{{cite news |last1=Halford |first1=Bethany |title=California Institute of Technology garners $750 million gift for sustainability research |url=https://cen.acs.org/environment/sustainability/California-Institute-Technology-garners-750/97/web/2019/09 |access-date=June 11, 2020 |work=Chemical & Engineering News |date=September 27, 2019 |language=en}}</ref>

In January 2021, the Caltech Board of Trustees authorized the removal the names of six historical figures—including inaugural president [[Robert Andrews Millikan|Robert Millikan]], [[Harry Chandler]], Albert Ruddock—from campus buildings due to their affiliations with the [[Human Betterment Foundation]], an American eugenics organization.<ref name=Rosenbaum>Rosenbaum, Thomas F.[https://inclusive.caltech.edu/about/commitments-progress/committee/statement Statement from the President] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211006135349/https://inclusive.caltech.edu/about/commitments-progress/committee/statement |date=October 6, 2021 }} California Institute of Technology. Retrieved January 15, 2021.</ref> As a result, Millikan Library was renamed Caltech Hall, Chandler Dining Hall became Lee F. Browne Dining Hall, Ruddock House was renamed Grant D. Venerable House (after Caltech’s first Black graduate).

== Campus ==
{{Main|Campus of the California Institute of Technology}}
Caltech's {{convert|124|acre|ha|adj=on}} primary campus is located in [[Pasadena, California]], approximately {{convert|11|mi|km}} northeast of [[downtown Los Angeles]]. It is within walking distance of [[Old Town Pasadena]] and the [[Playhouse District, Pasadena, California|Pasadena Playhouse District]] and therefore the two locations are frequent getaways for Caltech students.

In 1917 Hale hired architect [[Bertram Goodhue]] to produce a master plan for the {{convert|22|acre|ha}} campus. Goodhue conceived 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 [[Architecture of the California Missions|Spanish mission architecture]] of Southern California.

During the 1960s, Caltech underwent considerable expansion, in part due to the philanthropy of alumnus and professor [[Arnold O. Beckman]]. In 1953, Beckman was asked to join the Caltech Board of Trustees.<ref name="hundred"/>{{rp|282}} In 1964, he became its chairman.<ref name="hundred" />{{rp|275}} Over the next few years, as Caltech's president emeritus [[David Baltimore]] described it, Arnold Beckman and his wife Mabel "shaped the destiny of Caltech."<ref name="hundred">{{cite book |isbn = 978-0-941901-23-9 |author1=Arnold Thackray |author2 = Minor Myers, Jr. |name-list-style=amp |others = foreword by James D. Watson. | year = 2000 | publisher = Chemical Heritage Foundation | location = Philadelphia, Pa. | title = Arnold O. Beckman : one hundred years of excellence }}</ref>{{rp|288}}

In 1971 a [[1971 San Fernando earthquake|magnitude-6.6 earthquake]] in [[San Fernando, California|San Fernando]] caused some damage to the Caltech campus. Engineers who evaluated the damage found that two historic buildings dating from the early days of the Institute—Throop Hall and the Goodhue-designed Culbertson Auditorium—had cracked.

New additions to the campus include the Cahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics and the [[Walter Annenberg|Walter]] and [[Leonore Annenberg]] Center for Information Science and Technology, which opened in 2009,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.allbusiness.com/education-training/students-student-life/12035174-1.html |title=Quantum leap: Caltech facility combines astronomy, astrophysics |publisher=[[AllBusiness]] |date=January 26, 2009 |access-date=July 7, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100909233944/http://www.allbusiness.com/education-training/students-student-life/12035174-1.html |archive-date=September 9, 2010 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://today.caltech.edu/today/story-display.tcl?story_id=37963 |title=Walter and Leonore Annenberg Center for Information Science and Technology |publisher=Caltech |date=August 10, 2009 |access-date=July 7, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100610072708/http://today.caltech.edu/today/story-display.tcl?story_id=37963 |archive-date=June 10, 2010 |url-status=live }}</ref> and the Warren and Katherine Schlinger Laboratory for Chemistry and Chemical Engineering followed in March 2010.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://today.caltech.edu/today/story-display.tcl?story_id=42903 |title=Caltech Cuts the Ribbon on Schlinger Laboratory |publisher=Caltech |date=March 9, 2010 |access-date=July 7, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100702055447/http://today.caltech.edu/today/story-display.tcl?story_id=42903 |archive-date=July 2, 2010 |url-status=live }}</ref> The institute also concluded an upgrading of the [[House System at the California Institute of Technology#South Houses|South Houses]] in 2006. In late 2010, Caltech completed a 1.3 MW [[solar array]] projected to produce approximately 1.6 GWh in 2011.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20101021006356/en/Perpetual-Energy-Systems-Activates-1.1-MW-Solar |title=Perpetual Energy Systems Activates 1.1 MW Solar Energy System at California Institute of Technology |publisher=Business Wire |date=October 21, 2010 |access-date=October 22, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101024223422/http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20101021006356/en/Perpetual-Energy-Systems-Activates-1.1-MW-Solar |archive-date=October 24, 2010 |url-status=live }}</ref>

<gallery mode=packed heights= 90>
File:Caltech from the air.jpg|Aerial view of Caltech in [[Pasadena, California]] 
File:Robert A. Millikan Memorial Library at Caltech.jpg|Millikan Library, the tallest building on campus.<!-- In January 2021, the Caltech Board of Trustees authorized removal of Millikan's name from campus buildings.<ref name=Rosenbaum>Rosenbaum, Thomas F.[https://inclusive.caltech.edu/about/commitments-progress/committee/statement Statement from the President] California Institute of Technology. Retrieved January 15, 2021.</ref> -->
File:Beckman auditorium, Caltech.jpg|The Beckman Auditorium 
File:Beckman Institute Reflection.jpg|[[Beckman Institute at Caltech]] 
File:Norman Bridge Lab Interior.jpg|The Bridge Laboratory of Physics 
File:Broad center.jpg|Broad Center for Biological Sciences
File:Annenberg center.jpg|Annenberg Center for Information Science and Technology 
File:Arms Laboratory.JPG|Breezeway of Arms Laboratory 
File:Kerckhoff Laboratory of the Biological Sciences.jpg|Kerckhoff Laboratory of the Biological Sciences 
File:SchlingerLabChemE.jpg|Schlinger Laboratory for Chemistry and Chemical Engineering 
File:Cahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics ( Caltech).jpg|Cahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics 
File:Fleming cannon firing.jpg|Fleming cannon 
</gallery>

== Organization and administration ==
Caltech is incorporated as a non-profit corporation and is governed by a privately appointed 46-member [[Board of directors|board of trustees]] who serve five-year terms of office and retire at the age of 72.<ref name="incorporation"/><ref name="bylaws"/> The trustees elect a president to serve as the chief executive officer of the institute and administer the affairs on the institute on behalf of the board, a provost who serves as the chief academic officer of the institute below the president, and ten other vice presidential and other senior positions.<ref name="bylaws">{{cite web |url=http://bot.caltech.edu/bylaws |title=Bylaws |publisher=Board of Trustees, California Institute of Technology |access-date=May 29, 2010 |date=June 12, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090418174212/http://bot.caltech.edu/bylaws |archive-date=April 18, 2009 |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Thomas Felix Rosenbaum|Thomas F. Rosenbaum]] became the ninth president of Caltech in 2014. Caltech's endowment is governed by a permanent trustee committee and administered by an investment office.

The institute is organized into six primary academic divisions: Biology and Biological Engineering (founded 1927), Chemistry and Chemical Engineering (founded 1926), Engineering and Applied Science (founded 1926), Geological and Planetary Sciences (founded 1927), Humanities and Social Sciences (founded 1926), Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy (founded 1926). Given Caltech's historical prestige and the small size of its faculty in many major fields, the institution is exceptionally careful in selecting candidates. This rigorous process can result in some positions remaining unfilled for several years until the right candidate is found.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2014-02-17 |title=10 reasons why Caltech is the world's number one university |url=https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/10-reasons-why-caltech-is-the-worlds-number-one-university/2011321.article |access-date=2024-06-17 |website=Times Higher Education (THE) |language=en}}</ref> Caltech dedicates significant resources to attract top-tier faculty and provides them with substantial financial support to foster their research and academic endeavors.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Faculty Listing |url=https://www.caltech.edu/research/faculty-listing |access-date=2024-06-17 |website=California Institute of Technology |language=en}}</ref> The voting faculty of Caltech include all professors, instructors, research associates and fellows, and the University Librarian. Faculty are responsible for establishing admission requirements, academic standards, and curricula. The Faculty Board is the faculty's representative body and consists of 18 elected faculty representatives as well as other senior administration officials. Full-time professors are expected to teach classes, conduct research, advise students, and perform administrative work such as serving on committees.<ref name="faculty handbook"/>

Founded in 1930s, the [[Jet Propulsion Laboratory]] (JPL) is a [[federally funded research and development center]] (FFRDC) owned by [[NASA]] and operated as a division of Caltech through a contract between NASA and Caltech. In 2008, JPL spent over $1.6&nbsp;billion on research and development and employed over 5,000 project-related and support employees.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/annualreport/2008-report.pdf |title=2008 Annual Report |publisher=Jet Propulsion Laboratory |access-date=May 30, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090825110909/http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/annualreport/2008-report.pdf |archive-date=August 25, 2009  }}</ref> The JPL Director also serves as a Caltech Vice President and is responsible to the President of the Institute for the management of the laboratory.<ref name="officers">{{cite web |url=http://bot.caltech.edu/Officers |title=Officers of the Corporation Trustees |publisher=Board of Trustees, California Institute of Technology |access-date=May 29, 2010 |date=June 12, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090417055040/http://bot.caltech.edu/Officers |archive-date=April 17, 2009 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In December 2023, graduate students and postdoctoral researchers filed to be recognized for collective bargaining as [https://caltechgpu.org/ Caltech Grad researchers and Postdocs United], in affiliation with the [[United Auto Workers]] (C/GPU-UAW). On January 31 and February 1, 2024, a vote was held by the [[National Labor Relations Board]] (NLRB). In February 2024, the NLRB certified that 1335 of 1997 eligible workers voted, with 78% voting in favor of unionization. In May 2024, contract negotiations began.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Graduate Student and Postdoctoral Scholar Union Negotiations to Begin - www.caltech.edu |url=https://www.caltech.edu/campus-life-events/campus-announcements/graduate-student-and-postdoctoral-scholar-union-negotiations-to-begin |access-date=2024-12-12 |website=www.caltech.edu}}</ref> In December 2024, C/GPU-UAW members held a strike authorization vote,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Strike Authorization Vote Called by Caltech Postdocs and Grad Workers Union – Pasadena Now |url=https://pasadenanow.com/main/strike-authorization-vote-called-by-caltech-postdocs-and-grad-workers-union |access-date=2024-12-12 |website=pasadenanow.com}}</ref> 1441 participating in the vote, and 86% voting in favor of authorizing the C/GPU bargaining team to call a strike, if necessary.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Strike Authorization Vote: We Said YES |url=https://caltechgpu.org/2024/12/06/strike-authorization-vote-we-said-yes/ |access-date=December 11, 2024 |website=C/GPU-UAW}}</ref>

== Academics ==
Caltech is a small four-year, highly residential research university with slightly more students in graduate programs than undergraduate.<ref name="carnegie">{{cite web |url = http://carnegieclassifications.iu.edu/lookup/view_institution.php?unit_id=110404 |title = Carnegie Classifications – California Institute of Technology |publisher = [[Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching]] |access-date = September 12, 2018 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180913073605/http://carnegieclassifications.iu.edu/lookup/view_institution.php?unit_id=110404 |archive-date = September 13, 2018 |url-status = live }}</ref> The institute has been accredited by the [[Western Association of Schools and Colleges]] since 1949.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://accreditation.caltech.edu/ |title=Accreditation |publisher=California Institute of Technology |access-date=May 29, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100530053011/http://accreditation.caltech.edu/ |archive-date=May 30, 2010 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url = http://registration.wascsenior.org/institutions/affiliation.aspx?accessID=15 |title=Statement of Accreditation Status – California Institute of Technology |publisher=Western Association of Schools and Colleges |access-date=May 29, 2009 |date=April 2010 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090916053741/http://registration.wascsenior.org/institutions/affiliation.aspx?accessID=15 |archive-date=September 16, 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Caltech is on the [[academic term|quarter system]]:<ref name="cds">{{cite web |url=http://finance.caltech.edu/documents/178-cds2013_final.pdf |title=Common Data Set 2012–2013 |publisher=Office of Budget & Planning, California Institute of Technology |access-date=May 17, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140513162751/http://finance.caltech.edu/documents/178-cds2013_final.pdf |archive-date=May 13, 2014 |url-status=live }}</ref> the fall term starts in late September and ends before Christmas, the second term starts after New Year's Day and ends in mid-March, and the third term starts in late March or early April and ends in early June.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://today.caltech.edu/calendar/index?type=terms&small_month=2010-05-30&team=&calendar_start_date.month=9&calendar_start_date.day=1&calendar_start_date.year=2010&calendar_end_date.month=7&calendar_end_date.day=1&calendar_end_date.year=2011 |title=Caltech Today Calendary |publisher=California Institute of Technology |access-date=May 30, 2010 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120723073859/http://today.caltech.edu/calendar/index?type=terms&small_month=2010-05-30&team=&calendar_start_date.month=9&calendar_start_date.day=1&calendar_start_date.year=2010&calendar_end_date.month=7&calendar_end_date.day=1&calendar_end_date.year=2011 |archive-date=July 23, 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Undergraduate admissions===
{{Infobox U.S. college admissions
|year                   = 2028<!-- Comparison year is automatically set to five years prior -->
|ref                    = <ref name="FY2024-25 Common Data Set">{{cite web |title=Common Data Set 2024-25 |url=https://finance.caltech.edu/documents/31472/cds_2025.pdf|publisher=California Institute of Technology |access-date=19 July 2025 }}</ref>
|change ref             = <ref name="FY2019-20 Common Data Set">{{cite web |title=Common Data Set 2019-20|url=https://finance.caltech.edu/documents/15190/cds2020.pdf|publisher=California Institute of Technology |access-date=19 July 2025 }}</ref>
|admit rate             = 2.6%
|admit rate change      = -3.8
|yield rate             = 61.2%
|yield rate change      = +17.3

|test optional          = no
|SAT Total              = 1530⁠–1570<!-- use an em-dash (–) -->
|SAT Total change       = 
|SAT EBRW               = <!-- use an em-dash (–) -->
|SAT EBRW change        = 
|SAT Math               = <!-- use an em-dash (–) -->
|SAT Math change        = 
|ACT Composite          = 35–36<!-- use an em-dash (–) -->
|ACT Composite change   =

|top decile             = 
|top decile change      = 
|top quarter            = 
|top quarter change     = 
|top half               = 
|top half change        = 
|GPA                    = 
|GPA change             = 
|undergrad              = yes
}}

{| class="wikitable floatright"
|+ Caltech Undergraduate Admissions Statistics<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.admissions.caltech.edu/apply/what-we-look-for/class-profile |title=Class Profile 2028 |publisher=California Institute of Technology |access-date=January 19, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/caltech-congratulates-315-admitted-students |title=Caltech Congratulates 315 Admitted Students |date=March 28, 2024 |publisher=California Institute of Technology |access-date=January 19, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://finance.caltech.edu/documents/25197/cds_2023.pdf |title=Common Data Set 2023–24 |publisher=California Institute of Technology |access-date=April 22, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://finance.caltech.edu/documents/20574/cds_2022.pdf |title=Common Data Set 2022–23 |publisher=California Institute of Technology |access-date=June 6, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://finance.caltech.edu/documents/18064/cds_2021.pdf |title=Common Data Set 2021–22 |publisher=California Institute of Technology |access-date=June 6, 2023}}</ref>
! Year
! Admit Rate
! Yield Rate
|-
| 2024
| 2.6%
| 61.2%
|-
| 2023
| 3.1%
| 60.2%
|-
| 2022
| 2.7%
| 50.0%
|-
| 2021
| 3.9%
| 52.9%
|-
| 2020
| 6.7%
| 42.0%
|-
| 2019
| 6.4%
| 43.9%
|}

Admission to Caltech is extremely rigorous. Prior to going test blind, Caltech students had the highest test scores in the nation.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.businessinsider.com/colleges-that-accept-students-with-the-highest-sat-scores-2016-8/#1-california-institute-of-technology-22 |title = The 22 colleges that have students with the highest SAT scores |website = [[Business Insider]] |access-date = October 21, 2017 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171021220624/http://www.businessinsider.com/colleges-that-accept-students-with-the-highest-sat-scores-2016-8/#1-california-institute-of-technology-22 |archive-date = October 21, 2017 |url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Wai |first=Rachel Premack, Jonathan |title=Here are the 50 smartest colleges in America |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/the-50-smartest-colleges-in-america-2016-10 |access-date=2024-06-17 |website=Business Insider |language=en-US}}</ref> In admissions for the Class of 2028 (entering 2024), Caltech was ranked the hardest college in America to gain acceptance to by admit rate, at an all-time low of 2.7%.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Almanac of Higher Education, 2024 |url=https://store.chronicle.com/products/the-almanac-of-higher-education-2024 |access-date=2024-10-02 |website=Chronicle Store |language=en}}</ref> For the freshmen who enrolled in 2019 (Class of 2023) the middle 50% range of [[SAT]] were 740–780 for evidence-based reading and writing and 790–800 for math, and 1530–1570 total. The middle 50% range [[ACT (test)|ACT]] Composite score was 35–36. The SAT Math Level 2 middle 50% range was 800–800. The middle 50% range for the SAT Physics Subject Test was 760–800; SAT Chemistry Subject Test was 760–800; 
SAT Biology Subject Tests was 760–800.<ref name="admissions.caltech.edu">{{cite web |title=Class Profile - www.admissions.caltech.edu |url=http://www.admissions.caltech.edu/content/class-profile |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171022032521/http://www.admissions.caltech.edu/content/class-profile |archive-date=October 22, 2017 |access-date=October 21, 2017 |website=admissions.caltech.edu}}</ref> In June 2020, Caltech announced a test-blind policy where they would not require nor consider test scores for the next two years. The moratorium was extended twice, starting July 2021, but was subsequently cancelled starting with the Class of 2029.<ref>{{cite web |url = https://www.admissions.caltech.edu/apply/first-year-freshman-applicants/standardized-tests |title = Standardized Tests-Three-year Moratorium |website = caltech.edu |access-date = January 22, 2022 |archive-date = July 23, 2022 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220723232213/https://www.admissions.caltech.edu/apply/first-year-freshman-applicants/standardized-tests |url-status = dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-04-11 |title=Caltech Restores Standardized Test Requirement for Undergraduate Admission |url=https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/caltech-restores-standardized-test-requirement-for-undergraduate-admission |access-date=2024-04-22 |website=California Institute of Technology |language=en}}</ref> The institute is [[need-blind]] for domestic applicants.<ref>{{cite web |title=First-Generation Applicants |url=https://www.admissions.caltech.edu/apply/preparing-for-caltech/first-generation-applicants |website=Undergraduate Admissions |publisher=Caltech |access-date=3 May 2023 |language=en}}</ref>

For the Class of 2027 (enrolled Fall 2023), Caltech received 13,136 applications and accepted 412 applicants for a 3.14% admit rate; 270 enrolled.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://tech.caltech.edu/issues/2023-05-16.pdf |title=Discothèque: A Reflection |last=Goldsmith |first=Sascha |work=The California Tech |date=May 16, 2023 |access-date=January 4, 2024 |page=1}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite web |date=2024-03-12 |title=Class of 2028 Receives Acceptance Letters |url=https://tech.caltech.edu/2024/03/12/class-of-2028-releases/ |access-date=2024-04-22 |website=tech.caltech.edu |language=en}}</ref> The subsequent year, for the Class of 2028, Caltech reduced the number of seats by almost one hundred, accepting 315 applicants out of approximately 13,000 total applications.<ref name=":4" /><ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-03-28 |title=Caltech Congratulates 315 Admitted Students |url=https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/caltech-congratulates-315-admitted-students |access-date=2024-04-22 |website=California Institute of Technology |language=en}}</ref> For the Class of 2025, 32% were of underrepresented ancestry (which includes students who self-identify as American Indian/Alaska Native, Hispanic/Latino, Black/African American, and/or Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander), and 6% were foreign students.<ref name="admissions.caltech.edu" />

=== Tuition and financial aid ===
Undergraduate tuition for the 2021–2022 school year was $56,394 and total annual costs were estimated to be $79,947 excluding the Caltech Student Health Insurance Plan.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.finaid.caltech.edu/costs |title=Caltech Financial Aid |publisher=California Institute of Technology |access-date=January 25, 2022}}</ref> In 2012–2013, Caltech awarded $17.1&nbsp;million in need-based aid, $438k in non-need-based aid, and $2.51&nbsp;million in self-help support to enrolled undergraduate students. The average financial aid package of all students eligible for aid was $38,756 and students graduated with an average debt of $15,090.<ref name="cds" />

=== Undergraduate program ===
The full-time, four-year undergraduate program emphasizes instruction in the arts and sciences and has high graduate coexistence.<ref name="carnegie" /> Caltech offers 28 majors (called "options") and 17 minors across all six academic divisions.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://admissions.caltech.edu/learning/options |title=Caltech Undergraduate Admissions: Options of Study |publisher=California Institute of Technology |access-date=May 30, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070205215101/http://www.admissions.caltech.edu/learning/options |archive-date=February 5, 2007  }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Majors & Minors|url=http://www.admissions.caltech.edu/explore/academics/majors-minors|access-date=September 23, 2021|website=Undergraduate Admissions|language=en|archive-date=July 23, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220723232225/https://www.admissions.caltech.edu/explore/academics/majors-minors|url-status=dead}}</ref> Caltech also offers interdisciplinary programs in Applied Physics, Biochemistry, Bioengineering, Computation and Neural Systems, Control and Dynamical Systems, Environmental Science and Engineering, Geobiology and Astrobiology, Geochemistry, and Planetary Astronomy. The most popular options are Chemical Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Physics.<ref name="Office of the Registrar Newsletter">{{cite web |url = http://www.registrar.caltech.edu/newsletter%20FA%202010-11.htm |title=Office of the Registrar Newsletter |year=2010 |publisher=Caltech Office of the Registrar |access-date=December 15, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110717003110/http://www.registrar.caltech.edu/newsletter%20FA%202010-11.htm |archive-date=July 17, 2011  }}</ref> The most popular majors of the class of 2023 were Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering, Physics, and Electrical Engineering.

All undergraduates are required to complete the core curriculum, which consists of 108 units typically completed in the first two years, providing a rigorous foundation in science, mathematics, humanities, and physical education to develop analytical and interdisciplinary skills. It includes 3 terms of mathematics, 3 terms of physics, 2 terms of chemistry, 1 term of biology, a 1 term “menu” course, 1 term of computer science, a scientific writing requirement, 1 term of physical education, and 11 terms of humanities and social science, with placement exams allowing advanced students to substitute introductory courses and a pass/no-record grading system in the freshman fall term to ease academic pressure.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Core Curriculum |url=http://www.admissions.caltech.edu/why-caltech/academics/core-curriculum |access-date=2025-08-04 |website=Undergraduate Admissions |language=en}}</ref> Prior to the entering class of 2013, Caltech required students to take a core curriculum of five terms of mathematics, five terms of physics, two terms of chemistry, one term of biology, two terms of lab courses, one term of scientific communication, three terms of physical education, and 12 terms of humanities and social science. Since 2013, only three terms each of mathematics and physics have been required by the institute, with the remaining two terms each required by certain options.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://catalog.caltech.edu/documents/2651/catalog_12_13_part3.pdf |title=Caltech Catalog 2012–13, Section Three (Information for Undergraduate Students) |publisher=California Institute of Technology |access-date=April 16, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190404045433/http://catalog.caltech.edu/documents/2651/catalog_12_13_part3.pdf |archive-date=April 4, 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.admissions.caltech.edu/content/learning |title=Caltech Undergraduate Admissions: Core Curriculum |publisher=California Institute of Technology |access-date=April 16, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181002091104/http://www.admissions.caltech.edu/content/learning |archive-date=October 2, 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref>

A typical class is worth 9 academic units and given the extensive core curriculum requirements in addition to individual options' degree requirements, students need to take an average of 40.5 units per term (more than four classes) to graduate in four years. 36 units is the minimum full-time load, 48 units is considered a heavy load, and registrations above 51 units require an overload petition.<ref name="fah">{{cite web |url = http://www.deans.caltech.edu/PDF/FAHOct09.pdf |title=Information for Freshman Advisors, 2009–2010 |date=October 2009 |last1=Hall |first1=John D. |last2=Green |first2=Barbara C. |publisher=California Institute of Technology |access-date=May 30, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100628065458/http://www.deans.caltech.edu//PDF/FAHOct09.pdf |archive-date=June 28, 2010  }}</ref> Approximately 20 percent of students double-major.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.admissions.caltech.edu/faqs |title=Caltech Undergraduate Admissions: FAQ |publisher=California Institute of Technology |access-date=June 1, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100606164917/http://www.admissions.caltech.edu/faqs |archive-date=June 6, 2010  }}</ref> 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 discouraged, it is still possible.

First-year students are enrolled in first-term classes based upon results of placement exams in math, physics, chemistry, and writing and take all classes in their first two terms on a Pass/Fail basis.<ref name="fah" /> There is little competition; collaboration on [[homework]] is encouraged and the honor system encourages take-home tests and flexible homework schedules.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.admissions.caltech.edu/techers/honorcode |title = Caltech Undergraduate Admissions: Honor Code |publisher=California Institute of Technology |access-date=June 1, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100527102752/http://admissions.caltech.edu/techers/honorcode |archive-date=May 27, 2010  }}</ref> Caltech offers co-operative programs with other schools, such as the Pasadena [[Art Center College of Design]] and [[Occidental College]].

According to a {{as of|2018|alt=2018}} [[PayScale]] study, Caltech graduates earn a median early career salary of $83,400 and $143,100 mid-career, placing them in the top 5 among graduates of US colleges and universities.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.payscale.com/best-colleges/top-us-colleges-graduate-salary-statistics.asp |title = Top US Colleges – Graduate Salary Statistics |publisher = PayScale |access-date = May 17, 2013 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090724151846/http://www.payscale.com/best-colleges/top-us-colleges-graduate-salary-statistics.asp |archive-date = July 24, 2009 |url-status = dead }}</ref> The average net return on investment over a period of 20 years is $887,000, the tenth-highest among US colleges.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.payscale.com/education/average-cost-for-college-ROI |title=Colleges Worth Your Investment – Full List |publisher=PayScale |access-date=May 17, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118121051/http://www.payscale.com/education/average-cost-for-college-ROI |archive-date=January 18, 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Caltech offers Army and Air Force [[ROTC]] in cooperation with the [[University of Southern California]].<ref name="cds" />

=== Graduate program ===
[[File:Caltech regalia.jpg|thumb|170px|[[Academic regalia in the United States|Doctoral regalia]] of the California Institute of Technology]]
Admission to Caltech's graduate study is highly competitive, with faculty evaluating factors such as academic preparation, research experience, scientific interests, and recommendations from teachers or mentors.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Frequently Asked Questions for Applicants |url=http://gradoffice.caltech.edu/admissions/faq-applicants |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=Graduate Studies Office |language=en}}</ref> A key aspect of the admission process is the matching of faculty and an applicant's research interests. Historically, many programs required applicants to submit GRE scores. However, in recent years, many departments have made the GRE optional or no longer require it at all.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Application Requirements |url=http://gradoffice.caltech.edu/admissions/checklist |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=Graduate Studies Office |language=en}}</ref>

The graduate instructional programs emphasize doctoral studies and are dominated by science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields.<ref name="carnegie" /> The institute offers graduate degree programs for the Master of Science, Engineer's Degree, Doctor of Philosophy, BS/MS and MD/PhD, with the majority of students in the PhD program.<ref name="carnegie" /> The most popular options are Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Electrical Engineering, and Chemical Engineering.<ref name="Office of the Registrar Newsletter" />

Initially, most new graduate students are assigned a temporary advisor, allowing time to select a permanent advisor.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Frequently Asked Questions for Admitted Students |url=http://gradoffice.caltech.edu/admissions/frequently-asked-questions-for-admitted-students |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=Graduate Studies Office |language=en}}</ref> To aid in this, some graduate options include rotations in research labs, facilitating a better match with faculty research groups that align with the students' scientific interests. Up to three rotations in the first year are allowed in some options.

Caltech provides on-campus housing options for incoming graduate students. All new graduate students are guaranteed housing in their first year, with a variety of living experiences available to suit different needs.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Graduate Students |url=http://housing.caltech.edu/grads |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=Caltech Housing |language=en}}</ref> Approximately half of Caltech's graduate student population resides in campus housing. Post-first year, students participate in a housing lottery, with the results announced two months prior to the contract end date, aiding in planning for those who need to seek off-campus housing.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lottery Properties |url=http://housing.caltech.edu/grads/lottery-properties |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=Caltech Housing |language=en}}</ref>

The research facilities at Caltech are available to graduate students, but there are opportunities for students to work in facilities of other universities, research centers (such as NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory), and private industries.<ref>{{cite web |title=Research Facilities |url=http://www.gradoffice.caltech.edu/research |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101102224735/http://www.gradoffice.caltech.edu/research |archive-date=November 2, 2010 |access-date=October 25, 2010 |publisher=Caltech}}</ref> The graduate student to faculty ratio is 4:1.<ref>{{cite web |title=Faculty |url=http://www.gradoffice.caltech.edu/facultyandstaff |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101021070617/http://www.gradoffice.caltech.edu/facultyandstaff |archive-date=October 21, 2010 |access-date=October 25, 2010 |publisher=Caltech}}</ref> Joint programs also exist between Caltech and the [[Keck School of Medicine of USC|Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California]], the [[UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine]], and the [[Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine]], which grants MD/PhD degrees. Students in this program do their preclinical and clinical work at [[University of Southern California|USC]], [[UCLA]], or [[Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine|KPSOM]], and their PhD work with any member of the Caltech faculty, including the Biology, Chemistry, and Engineering and Applied Sciences Divisions. The MD degree would be from the student's respective medical school and the PhD would be awarded from Caltech.<ref>{{cite web |title = MD/PhD Program – Keck School of Medicine of USC |url = http://keck.usc.edu/education/md-program/combined-degrees/md-phd-program/ |access-date = July 31, 2016 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160807052045/http://keck.usc.edu/education/md-program/combined-degrees/md-phd-program/ |archive-date = August 7, 2016 |url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url = http://mstp.healthsciences.ucla.edu/pages/ |title=UCLA Caltech Medical Science Training Program |url-status=dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130406232526/http://mstp.healthsciences.ucla.edu/pages/ |archive-date=April 6, 2013  }}</ref>

Approximately 99 percent of doctoral students have full financial support. Financial support for graduate students comes in the form of fellowships, research assistantships, teaching assistantships or a combination of fellowship and assistantship support.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gradoffice.caltech.edu/financialsupport |title=Financial Support |publisher=Caltech |access-date=October 25, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100928030947/http://www.gradoffice.caltech.edu/financialsupport |archive-date=September 28, 2010 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Graduate students are bound by the same honor code as the undergraduates, allowing for take-home examinations.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Community Standards |url=http://gradoffice.caltech.edu/current/community-standards |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=Graduate Studies Office |language=en}}</ref> The Graduate Honor Council oversees any violations of the code.

===Rankings===
{{col-begin}}
{{col-break}}
{{Infobox US university ranking
<!-- U.S. rankings -->| Forbes = 22
| THE_WSJ = 18
| USNWR_NU = 11
| Wamo_NU = 58
<!-- Global rankings -->| QS_W = 10
| THES_W = 7
| USNWR_W = 23
| ARWU_W = 8
}}
{{col-break}}
{| class="wikitable sortable collapsible collapsed" style="float:right; text-align:center"
|-
! colspan=4 style="background: #FF6E1E; color:#FFFFFF" |National Program Rankings<br /><small>(as of 2022)</small><ref name="USNWR Grad School Rankings">{{cite magazine|title=California Institute of Technology – U.S. News Best Grad School Rankings|magazine=U.S. News & World Report|access-date=February 17, 2022|url=https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/california-institute-of-technology-110404/overall-rankings|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220218052306/https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/california-institute-of-technology-110404/overall-rankings|archive-date=February 18, 2022|url-status=live}}</ref>
|-
! Program
! Ranking
|-
| Chemistry || 1
|-
| Earth Sciences || 1
|-
| Physics || 3
|-
| Biological Sciences || 4
|-
| Engineering || 4
|-
| Mathematics || 9
|-
| Computer Science || 11
|}
{{col-break}}
{| class="wikitable sortable collapsible collapsed" style="float:right; text-align:center"
|-
! colspan=4 style="background:#FF6E1E; color:#FFFFFF; border:#FFFFFF" |Global Subject Rankings<br /><small>(as of 2019)</small><ref name="USNWR Global Univ Rankings">{{cite magazine|title=California Institute of Technology – U.S. News Best Global University Rankings|magazine=U.S. News & World Report|access-date=November 12, 2019|url=https://www.usnews.com/education/best-global-universities/california-institute-of-technology-110404|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191112185003/https://www.usnews.com/education/best-global-universities/california-institute-of-technology-110404|archive-date=November 12, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>
|-
! Program
! Ranking
|-
| Space Science || 1
|-
| Geosciences || 1
|-
| Physics || 6
|-
| Chemistry || 10
|-
| Biology & Biochemistry || 29
|-
| Engineering || 52
|-
| Materials Science || 57
|-
| Molecular Biology & Genetics || 57
|-
| Neuroscience & Behavior || 77
|-
| Mathematics || 80
|-
| Electrical & Electronic Engineering || 100
|}
{{col-end}}

Caltech was ranked within the top ten universities in the world by the [[Times Higher Education World University Rankings]], [[QS World University Rankings]], and [[Academic Ranking of World Universities]]''.''<ref>{{Cite web |title=Full Rankings {{!}} Rankings |url=http://research.unsw.edu.au/artu/ |access-date=2022-08-18 |website=research.unsw.edu.au}}</ref> For 2022, [[U.S. News & World Report]] ranked Caltech as tied for 9th in the United States among national universities overall, 11th for most innovative, and 15th for best value.<ref>{{cite magazine |year=2020 |title=California Institute of Technology Rankings |url=https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/california-institute-of-technology-1131/overall-rankings |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181214063406/https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/california-institute-of-technology-1131/overall-rankings |archive-date=December 14, 2018 |access-date=September 11, 2019 |magazine=U.S. News & World Report}}</ref> ''U.S. News & World Report'' also ranked the graduate programs in chemistry and earth sciences first among national universities.<ref>{{cite magazine |year=2020 |title=CalTech's Graduate School Rankings |url=https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/california-institute-of-technology-110404/overall-rankings |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170715165518/https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/california-institute-of-technology-110404/overall-rankings |archive-date=July 15, 2017 |access-date=June 2, 2017 |magazine=U.S. News & World Report}}</ref>{{clear}}

== Research ==
[[File:Caltech chemical laboratory 1923.png|thumb|220px|Chemists working at Caltech in 1923]]
Caltech is [[Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education|classified]] among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very High Research Activity".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://carnegieclassifications.iu.edu/lookup/view_institution.php?unit_id=110404|title=Carnegie Classifications – Institution Profile|publisher=Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research|access-date=March 30, 2020|archive-date=April 30, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220430132224/https://carnegieclassifications.iu.edu/lookup/view_institution.php?unit_id=110404|url-status=dead}}</ref> Caltech was elected to the [[Association of American Universities]] in 1934 and remains a research university with "very high" research activity, primarily in [[STEM fields]].<ref name="aau"/><ref name="carnegie"/> Caltech manages research expenditures of $270&nbsp;million annually,<ref>Funding for Caltech does not include NASA's funding for JPL.</ref> 66th among all universities in the U.S. and 17th among private institutions without medical schools for 2008.<ref name="nsf expenditures">{{cite web |url=https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/nsf10311/pdf/tab27.pdf |title=R&D expenditures at universities and colleges, ranked by FY 2008 R&D expenditures: FY 2001–08 |publisher=National Science Foundation |access-date=May 29, 2010 |date=April 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110110112816/https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/nsf10311/pdf/tab27.pdf |archive-date=January 10, 2011  }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/nsf10311/pdf/tab35.pdf |title=R&D expenditures at all universities and colleges without a medical school, ranked by all R&D expenditures, by source of funds: FY 2008 |publisher=National Science Foundation |access-date=May 29, 2010 |date=April 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110110113021/https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/nsf10311/pdf/tab35.pdf |archive-date=January 10, 2011  }}</ref> The largest federal agencies contributing to research are [[NASA]], [[National Science Foundation]], [[United States Department of Health and Human Services|Department of Health and Human Services]], [[United States Department of Defense|Department of Defense]], and [[United States Department of Energy|Department of Energy]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/nsf10311/pdf/tab70.pdf |title=Federally financed R&D expenditures at universities and colleges reporting federal agency detail, ranked by all federal R&D expenditures, by federal agency:FY 2008 |publisher=National Science Foundation |access-date=May 29, 2010 |date=April 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110110114034/https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/nsf10311/pdf/tab70.pdf |archive-date=January 10, 2011  }}</ref> Caltech received $144&nbsp;million in federal funding for the physical sciences, $40.8&nbsp;million for the life sciences, $33.5&nbsp;million for engineering, $14.4&nbsp;million for environmental sciences, $7.16&nbsp;million for computer sciences, and $1.97&nbsp;million for mathematical sciences in 2008.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/nsf10311/pdf/tab71.pdf |title=Federally financed R&D expenditures at universities and colleges reporting federal agency detail, ranked by all federal R&D expenditures, by science and engineering field: FY 2008 |publisher=National Science Foundation |access-date=May 29, 2010 |date=April 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110110114110/https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/nsf10311/pdf/tab71.pdf |archive-date=January 10, 2011  }}</ref>

The institute was awarded an all-time high funding of $357&nbsp;million in 2009.<ref name="annual report">{{cite web|url=http://annual-report.caltech.edu/Financials|title=Annual Report 2008-2009|date=April 2010|work=California Institute of Technology|access-date=May 28, 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100512155937/http://annual-report.caltech.edu/Financials|archive-date=May 12, 2010}}</ref> Active funding from the [[National Science Foundation]] Directorate of Mathematical and Physical Science (MPS) for Caltech stands at $343&nbsp;million {{as of|2011|lc=y}}, the highest for any educational institution in the nation, and higher than the total funds allocated to any state except California and New York.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nsf.gov/awards/award_visualization.jsp?org=MPS#showAwardDollars=true |title=Mathematical & Physical Sciences (MPS) Active Awards |publisher=National Science Foundation |access-date=October 23, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111016072621/http://nsf.gov/awards/award_visualization.jsp?org=MPS#showAwardDollars=true |archive-date=October 16, 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 2005, Caltech had {{convert|739000|sqft|m2|-2}} dedicated to research: {{convert|330000|sqft|m2|-2}} to physical sciences, {{convert|163000|sqft|m2|-2}} to engineering, and {{convert|160000|sqft|m2|-2}} to biological sciences.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/nsf07325/pdf/tab12.pdf |title=Science and engineering research space in academic institutions, by state, control, institution, and field: FY 2005 |publisher=National Science Foundation |access-date=May 29, 2010 |year=2005 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606104925/https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/nsf07325/pdf/tab12.pdf |archive-date=June 6, 2011  }}</ref>

In addition to managing JPL, Caltech also operates the [[Palomar Observatory]] in [[San Diego County, California|San Diego County]], the [[Owens Valley Radio Observatory]] in [[Bishop, California]], the [[Caltech Submillimeter Observatory|Submillimeter Observatory]] and [[W. M. Keck Observatory]] at the [[Mauna Kea Observatory]], the [[LIGO|Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory]] at [[Livingston, Louisiana]] and [[Richland, Washington]], and [[Kerckhoff Marine Laboratory]] in [[Corona del Mar, California]].<ref name="faculty handbook">{{cite web |url=http://provost.caltech.edu/faculty_handbook.html |title = Faculty Handbook |publisher=California Institute of Technology |access-date=May 30, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100607033013/http://provost.caltech.edu/faculty_handbook.html |archive-date=June 7, 2010  }}</ref> The Institute launched the Kavli Nanoscience Institute at Caltech in 2006,<ref name="Kavli Nanoscience Institute (website)">{{cite web |url = http://kni.caltech.edu/ |title = Kavli Nanoscience Institute (website) |publisher = California Institute of Technology |access-date = May 30, 2010 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100619142037/http://kni.caltech.edu/ |archive-date = June 19, 2010 |url-status = live }}</ref> the [[Keck Institute for Space Studies]] in 2008, and is also the current home for the [[Einstein Papers Project]]. The Spitzer Science Center (SSC), part of the [[Infrared Processing and Analysis Center]] located on the Caltech campus, is the data analysis and community support center for [[NASA]]'s [[Spitzer Space Telescope]].

Caltech partnered with [[UCLA]] to establish a Joint Center for Translational Medicine (UCLA-Caltech JCTM), which conducts experimental research into clinical applications, including the diagnosis and treatment of diseases such as cancer. In 1997, Caltech partnered with UCLA to train physician-scientists.<ref>{{Cite web |title=MSTP – Medical Scientist Training Program – Dedicated to educating and training exceptionally qualified individuals for careers in the biomedical and sociomedical sciences. |url=https://mstp.healthsciences.ucla.edu/ |access-date=2024-12-12 |language=en-US}}</ref>

Caltech operates several [[Total Carbon Column Observing Network|TCCON]] stations as part of an international collaborative effort of measuring greenhouse gases globally. One station is on campus.

Undergraduates at Caltech are also encouraged to participate in research. About 80% of the class of 2010 did research through the annual Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships (SURF) program at least once during their stay, and many continued during the school year.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.surf.caltech.edu/history/SURFAR2010.pdf |title=SURF Annual Report 2010 |publisher=Caltech |access-date=March 8, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719161225/http://www.surf.caltech.edu/history/SURFAR2010.pdf |archive-date=July 19, 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref> Students write and submit SURF proposals for research projects in collaboration with professors, and about 70 percent 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.<ref>{{cite web |url = https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/infbrief/nsf08311/?govDel=USNSF_178http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nsf.gov%2Fstatistics%2Finfbrief%2Fnsf08311%2F%3FgovDel%3DUSNSF_178#tab2 |title = nsf.gov – NCSES Baccalaureate Origins of S&E Doctorate Recipients – US National Science Foundation (NSF) |author=National Science Foundation |access-date=July 3, 2015|url-status=dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150704080248/https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/infbrief/nsf08311/?govDel=USNSF_178http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nsf.gov%2Fstatistics%2Finfbrief%2Fnsf08311%2F%3FgovDel%3DUSNSF_178#tab2 |archive-date=July 4, 2015  }}</ref>

The licensing and transferring of technology to the commercial sector is managed by the Office of [[Technology Transfer]] (OTT). OTT protects and manages the intellectual property developed by faculty members, students, other researchers, and JPL technologists. Caltech receives more invention disclosures per faculty member than any other university in the nation.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ott.caltech.edu/|title=Home - www.innovation.caltech.edu|access-date=July 3, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160711042505/http://www.ott.caltech.edu/|archive-date=July 11, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> {{as of|2008}}, 1891 patents were granted to Caltech researchers since 1969.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ido/oeip/taf/univ/org_gr/all_univ_ag.htm |title=U.S. Colleges and Universities- Utility Patent Grants, Calendar Years 1969–2008 |publisher=U.S. Patent and Trademark Office |access-date=January 31, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111018030857/http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ido/oeip/taf/univ/org_gr/all_univ_ag.htm |archive-date=October 18, 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Students ==
{| class="wikitable floatright sortable collapsible"; text-align:right; font-size:80%;"
|+ style="font-size:90%" |Student body composition as of July 16, 2023
|-
! Race and ethnicity<ref>{{cite web |title=College Scorecard: California Institute of Technology|url=https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/school/?110404-California-Institute-of-Technology |publisher=[[United States Department of Education]] |access-date=July 16, 2023}}</ref>
! colspan="2" data-sort-type=number |Total
|-
| [[Asian Americans|Asian]]
|align=right| {{bartable|35|%|2||background:purple}}
|-
| [[Non-Hispanic whites|White]]
|align=right| {{bartable|23|%|2||background:gray}}
|-
| [[Hispanic and Latino Americans|Hispanic]]
|align=right| {{bartable|22|%|2||background:green}}
|-
| Other{{efn|group=tb0|Other consists of [[Multiracial Americans]] & those who prefer to not say.}}
|align=right| {{bartable|9|%|2||background:brown}}
|-
| [[Foreign national]]
|align=right| {{bartable|8|%|2||background:orange}}
|-
| [[African Americans|Black]]
|align=right| {{bartable|3|%|2||background:mediumblue}}
|-
! colspan="4" data-sort-type=number |[[Economic diversity]]
|-
| [[American lower class|Low-income]]{{efn|group=tb0|The percentage of students who received an income-based federal [[Pell grant]] intended for low-income students.}}
|align=right| {{bartable|11|%|2||background:red}}
|-
| [[Affluence in the United States|Affluent]]{{efn|group=tb0|The percentage of students who are a part of the [[American middle class]] at the bare minimum.}}
|align=right| {{bartable|89|%|2||background:black}}
|}

Caltech enrolled 987 undergraduate students and 1,443 graduate students for the 2024–2025 school year. Women made up 45% of the undergraduate and 36% of the graduate student body.<ref name="enrollment"/> The racial demographics of the school substantially differ from those of the nation as a whole.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://mic.com/articles/7995/caltech-s-shocking-lack-of-diversity-a-microcosm-for-the-united-states|title=Caltech's Shocking Lack of Diversity: A Microcosm for the United States?|last1=Saadi|first1=Fadl|work=Mic|date=7 May 2012|access-date=March 16, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170317233627/https://mic.com/articles/7995/caltech-s-shocking-lack-of-diversity-a-microcosm-for-the-united-states|archive-date=March 17, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>

The four-year graduation rate is 79% and the six-year rate is 92%,<ref name="cds"/> which is low compared to most leading U.S. universities,<ref>{{cite journal |url = http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/highest-grad-rate |title = Best Colleges: Highest graduation rates |journal = U.S. News & World Report |access-date = May 28, 2010 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100605180250/http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/highest-grad-rate |archive-date = June 5, 2010 |url-status = live }}</ref> but substantially higher than it was in the 1960s and 1970s.<ref>{{cite news |url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,842975-2,00.html |title = Universities: Caltech & M.I.T.: Rivalry Between the Best |magazine = [[Time (magazine)|Time]] |access-date = May 28, 2010 |date = November 4, 1966 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100701021646/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,842975-2,00.html |archive-date = July 1, 2010 |url-status = dead }}</ref> Students majoring in [[STEM fields]] traditionally have graduation rates below 70%.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://heri.ucla.edu/nih/HERI_ResearchBrief_OL_2010_STEM.pdf |title=Degrees of Success: Bachelor's Degree Completion Rates among Initial STEM Majors |date=January 2010 |publisher=Higher Education Research Institute, University of California, Los Angeles |url-status=dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100307231035/http://heri.ucla.edu/nih/HERI_ResearchBrief_OL_2010_STEM.pdf |archive-date=March 7, 2010  }}</ref>

Table notes:
{{notelist|group=tb0}}

== Student life ==
=== House system ===
{{Main|House System at the California Institute of Technology|History of the Caltech house system}}

During the early 20th century, a Caltech committee visited several universities and decided to transform the undergraduate housing system from [[fraternities and sororities|fraternities]] to a [[residential college|house system]]. Four South Houses (or ''Hovses'', as styled in the stone engravings) were built: [[House System at the California Institute of Technology#Blacker House|Blacker House]], [[House System at the California Institute of Technology#Dabney House|Dabney House]], [[House System at the California Institute of Technology#Fleming House|Fleming House]] and [[House System at the California Institute of Technology#Ricketts House|Ricketts House]]. In the 1960s, three North Houses were built: [[House System at the California Institute of Technology#Lloyd House|Lloyd House]], [[Page House (Caltech)|Page House]], and [[House System at the California Institute of Technology#Ruddock House|Ruddock House]], and during the 1990s, [[House System at the California Institute of Technology#Avery House|Avery House]]. The four South Houses closed for renovation in 2005 and reopened in 2006. The latest addition to residential life at Caltech is Bechtel Residence, which opened in 2018. It is not affiliated with the house system.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://dandc.caltech.edu/_projects/complete-capital-projects/bechtel-residence|title=Bechtel Residence {{!}} Design and Construction|website=dandc.caltech.edu|access-date=November 12, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191112183605/http://dandc.caltech.edu/_projects/complete-capital-projects/bechtel-residence|archive-date=November 12, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> All first- and second-year students live on campus in the house system or in the Bechtel Residence.<ref name="houses">{{cite web |url=https://housing.sites.caltech.edu/Undergrads |title=Caltech Undergraduate Housing |publisher=California Institute of Technology |access-date=April 28, 2020}}</ref>

On account of Albert B. Ruddock's affiliation with the [[Human Betterment Foundation]], in January 2021, the Caltech Board of Trustees authorized the removal of Ruddock's name from campus buildings.<ref name = Rosenbaum/> Ruddock House was renamed as the Grant D. Venerable House.

=== Athletics ===
{{Main|Caltech Beavers}}
[[File:Caltech Athletics wordmark.svg|thumb|Caltech athletics wordmark]]
Caltech has athletic teams in baseball, men's and women's basketball, cross country, men's and women's soccer, swimming and diving, men's and women's tennis, track and field, women's volleyball, and men's and women's water polo.<ref>[http://www.athletics.caltech.edu/ Caltech Athletics] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070110133534/http://www.athletics.caltech.edu/ |date=January 10, 2007 }}. Retrieved November 19, 2007.</ref> Caltech's mascot is the Beaver, a homage to nature's engineer.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.caltech.edu/content/did-you-know |title= About Caltech |publisher= Athletics.caltech.edu. |access-date= October 10, 2015 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160417114557/https://www.caltech.edu/content/did-you-know |archive-date= April 17, 2016 |url-status= dead }}</ref> Its teams are members of the [[National Collegiate Athletic Association|NCAA]] [[NCAA Division III|Division III]] and compete in the [[Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference]] (SCIAC), which Caltech co-founded in 1915.<ref>[http://www.thesciac.org/information/about/index Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070811150031/http://www.thesciac.org/information/about/index |date=August 11, 2007 }}. Retrieved November 19, 2007.</ref>

On January 6, 2007, the Beavers' men's basketball team snapped a 207-game losing streak to Division III schools, beating [[Bard College]] 81–52. It was their first Division III victory since 1996.<ref>{{cite news
  | last = Associated Press
  | title = Caltech crushes Bard College to end 207-game slide
  | publisher = [[ESPN]]
  | date = January 7, 2007
| url = https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/news/story?id=2723039
  | access-date = November 19, 2007
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100116062404/http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=2723039
  | archive-date = January 16, 2010
| url-status = live
  }}</ref>
Until their win over [[Occidental College]] on February 22, 2011<ref>{{cite news |last=Branch |first=John |title=Caltech Scores First Conference Victory Since 1985 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/24/sports/ncaabasketball/24caltech.html |access-date=February 23, 2011 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=February 23, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110303055738/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/24/sports/ncaabasketball/24caltech.html |archive-date=March 3, 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref> the team had not won a game in SCIAC play since 1985. Ryan Elmquist's free throw with 3.3 seconds in regulation gave the Beavers the victory.<ref>{{cite news |first = John |last = Branch |title = Sky-High SATs, but the Team's at Rock Bottom |date = December 15, 2010 |url = https://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/16/sports/ncaabasketball/16caltech.html |newspaper = The New York Times |access-date = December 17, 2010 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101216053601/http://www.nytimes.com//2010//12//16//sports//ncaabasketball//16caltech.html |archive-date = December 16, 2010 |url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.athletics.caltech.edu/ |title = Caltech Athletics |website = Athletics.caltech.edu |access-date = October 13, 2009 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080628001250/http://www.athletics.caltech.edu/ |archive-date = June 28, 2008 |url-status = live }}</ref> The documentary film ''[[Quantum Hoops]]'' concerns the events of the Beavers' 2005–06 season.

On January 13, 2007, the Caltech women's basketball team snapped a 50-game losing streak, defeating the [[Pomona College|Pomona]]-[[Pitzer College|Pitzer]] [[Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens|Sagehens]] 55–53. The women's program, which entered the SCIAC in 2002, garnered their first conference win. On the bench as honorary coach for the evening was [[Robert Grubbs]], 2005 Nobel laureate in Chemistry.<ref>{{cite web
  | title = Pomona-Pitzer College vs Caltech (01–13–07 at Caltech Braun Center)
  | date = January 13, 2007
| url = http://www.physical-education.pomona.edu/womens/basketball/stats/2007/pom-cit.htm
  | access-date =November 19, 2007 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071223110708/http://www.physical-education.pomona.edu/womens/basketball/stats/2007/pom-cit.htm  |archive-date = December 23, 2007}}</ref> The team went on to beat [[Whittier College]] on February 10, for its second SCIAC win, and placed its first member on the All Conference team.<ref>{{cite web
  | title = 2007 Women's Basketball All-SCIAC Awards
  | work = SCIAC
| date = March 7, 2007
| url = http://www.thesciac.org/sports/wbkb/2006-07/news/wbb_allsciac_0607
  | access-date = November 19, 2007
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071027154103/http://www.thesciac.org/sports/wbkb/2006-07/news/wbb_allsciac_0607
  | archive-date = October 27, 2007
| url-status = live
  }}</ref>

In 2007, 2008, and 2009, the women's table tennis team (a club team) competed in nationals. The women's [[Ultimate (sport)|Ultimate]] club team, known as "Snatch", has also been very successful in recent years, ranking 44 of over 200 college teams in the Ultimate Player's Association.<ref>[http://upa.org/scores/scores.cgi?page=22&div=34 College Women's Top UPA Rankings] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070804004314/http://www.upa.org/scores/scores.cgi?page=22&div=34 |date=August 4, 2007 }}, Ultimate Player's Association. Retrieved November 19, 2007.</ref>

On February 2, 2013, the Caltech baseball team ended a 228-game losing streak, the team's first win in nearly 10 years.<ref>{{cite web |title=Caltech baseball team ends 228-game skid |url = http://www.ajc.com/ap/ap/top-news/caltech-baseball-team-ends-228-game-skid/nWDxS/ |website=ajc.com |access-date=February 3, 2013 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130206104849/http://www.ajc.com/ap/ap/top-news/caltech-baseball-team-ends-228-game-skid/nWDxS |archive-date=February 6, 2013 }}</ref>

The track and field team's home venue is at the South Athletic Field in [[Tournament Park]], the site of the first eight [[Rose Bowl Game|Rose Bowl]] games.

The school also sponsored an intercollegiate [[American football|football]] team from 1973 through 1977,<ref>{{Cite book |title=Official 2004 NCAA Football Records Book |publisher=National Collegiate Athletic Association |year=2004 |page=409 |issn=0735-5475}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Aird |first=Donovan |date=June 5, 2008 |title=How the West was undone |page=14 |work=Mustang Daily |url=https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=7780&context=studentnewspaper |access-date=March 11, 2023}}</ref> and played part of its home schedule at the [[Rose Bowl (stadium)|Rose Bowl]].

=== Performing and visual arts ===
The Caltech/[[Occidental College]] Orchestra is a full seventy-piece orchestra composed of students, faculty, and staff at Caltech and nearby Occidental College. The orchestra gives three pairs of concerts annually, at both Caltech and Occidental College. There are also two Caltech Jazz Bands and a Concert Band, as well as an active chamber music program. For vocal music, Caltech has a mixed-voice [[Glee Club]] and the smaller Chamber Singers.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.music.caltech.edu/gleeclub/ |title=Caltech Glee Clubs |access-date=May 13, 2016 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160604061921/http://www.music.caltech.edu/gleeclub/ |archive-date=June 4, 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The theater program at Caltech is known as TACIT, or Theater Arts at the California Institute of Technology. There are two to three plays organized by TACIT per year, and they were involved in the production of the [[PHD Comics#Piled Higher and Deeper: the Movie|PHD Movie]], released in 2011.

=== Student life traditions ===
==== Annual events ====
Every [[Halloween]], Dabney House conducts the infamous "Millikan pumpkin-drop experiment" from the top of 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 [[triboluminescence|triboluminescent]] spark. This yearly event involves a crowd of observers, who try to spot the elusive spark. The title of the event is an oblique reference to the famous [[oil-drop experiment|Millikan oil-drop experiment]] which measured ''e'', the [[elementary charge|elemental unit of electrical charge]].

On Ditch Day, the seniors ditch school, leaving behind elaborately designed tasks and traps at the doors of their rooms to prevent underclassmen from entering. Over the years this has evolved to the point where many seniors spend months designing mechanical, electrical, and software obstacles to confound the underclassmen. Each group of seniors designs a "stack" to be solved by a handful of underclassmen. The faculty have been drawn into the event as well, and cancel all classes on Ditch Day so the underclassmen can participate in what has become a highlight of the academic year.

Another long-standing tradition is the playing of Wagner's "[[Ride of the Valkyries]]" at 7:00 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 14 hours and 5 minutes of ''[[The Ring Cycle]]''), and any offender is dragged into the showers to be drenched in cold water fully dressed. 
{{clear}}

==== Pranks ====
Caltech students have been known for their many [[Student prank|prank]]s (also known as "RFs").<ref name="Caltech1">{{cite news|last=Hiszpanski|first=Anna|title=Fleming Cannon Gone|url=http://caltechcampuspubs.library.caltech.edu/1976/1/2006_04_01_107_21.pdf|access-date=April 17, 2014|newspaper=The California Tech|date=April 3, 2006|volume=107|number=21|page=3|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140419014754/http://caltechcampuspubs.library.caltech.edu/1976/1/2006_04_01_107_21.pdf|archive-date=April 19, 2014|url-status=live}}</ref>

The two most famous in recent history are the changing of the [[Hollywood Sign]] to read "Caltech", by judiciously covering up certain parts of the letters, and the changing of the scoreboard to read Caltech 38, MIT 9 during the [[1984 Rose Bowl|1984 Rose Bowl Game]]. But the most famous of all occurred during the [[1961 Rose Bowl|1961 Rose Bowl Game]], where Caltech students altered the flip-cards that were raised by the stadium attendees to display "Caltech", and several other "unintended" messages. This event is now referred to as the [[Great Rose Bowl Hoax]].

In recent years, pranking has been officially encouraged by Tom Mannion, Caltech's Assistant VP for Student Affairs and 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''.<ref>{{cite news
 |title = Comedy on campus: MIT takes on Caltech for prank distinction
 |work = The Boston Globe
 |date = April 19, 2006
|url = https://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/04/19/comedy_on_campus_mit_takes_on_caltech_for_prank_distinction/
 |access-date = November 19, 2007
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070205095630/http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/04/19/comedy_on_campus_mit_takes_on_caltech_for_prank_distinction/
 |archive-date = February 5, 2007
|url-status = live
 }}</ref>

In December 2011, Caltech students went to New York and pulled a prank in Manhattan's [[Greenwich Village]]. The prank involved making [[Alamo (sculpture)|The Cube]] sculpture look like the [[Aperture Science]] Weighted Companion Cube from the video game ''[[Portal (video game)|Portal]]''.<ref>[http://kotaku.com/5867982/california-pulls-portal-prank-on-new-york California Pulls Portal Prank on New York] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120110053522/http://kotaku.com/5867982/california-pulls-portal-prank-on-new-york |date=January 10, 2012 }}. Kotaku.com. Retrieved July 21, 2013.</ref>

Caltech pranks have been documented in three Legends of Caltech books, the most recent of which was edited by alumni Autumn Looijen '99 and [[Mason Porter]] '98 and published in May 2007.

===== Rivalry with MIT =====
{{Main|Caltech–MIT rivalry}}

In 2005, a group of Caltech students pulled a string of pranks during MIT's Campus Preview Weekend for admitted students. These include 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 [[Hacks at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT hackers]] responded by altering the banner so that the inscription read "The Only Institute of Technology." Caltech students also passed out T-shirts to MIT's incoming freshman class that had MIT written on the front and "...{{nbsp}}because not everyone can go to Caltech" along with an image of a palm tree on the back.

MIT retaliated in April 2006, when students posing as the Howe & Ser (Howitzer) Moving Company stole the 130-year-old, 1.7-ton Fleming House cannon and moved it over 3,000 miles to their campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts for their 2006 Campus Preview Weekend, repeating a similar prank performed by nearby [[Harvey Mudd College]] in 1986. Thirty members of Fleming House traveled to MIT and reclaimed their cannon on April 10, 2006.

On April 13, 2007 (Friday the 13th), a group of students from ''The California Tech'', Caltech's campus newspaper, arrived and distributed fake copies of ''The Tech'', MIT's campus newspaper, while prospective students were visiting for their Campus Preview Weekend. Articles included "MIT Invents the Interweb", "Architects Deem Campus 'Unfortunate{{'"}}, and "[[Infinite Corridor]] Not Actually Infinite".

In December 2009, some Caltech students declared that MIT had been sold and had become the Caltech East campus. A "sold" banner was hung on front of the MIT dome building and a "Welcome to Caltech East: School of the Humanities" banner over the Massachusetts Avenue Entrance. Newspapers and T-shirts were distributed, and door labels and fliers in the infinite corridor were put up in accordance with the "curriculum change."<ref>[http://east.caltech.edu/ Caltech Opens Humanities School at MIT Campus] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091202233541/http://east.caltech.edu/ |date=December 2, 2009 }}, December 6, 2009</ref><ref>[https://www.pasadenastarnews.com/2009/12/06/citybeats-future-tournament-of-roses-chief-vows-even-better-parades/ Citybeats: Future Tournament of Roses chief vows even better parades] , ''Pasadena Star-News'', December 6, 2009</ref>

In September 2010, MIT students attempted to put a [[TARDIS]], the time machine from the BBC's ''[[Doctor Who]]'', onto a roof. Caught in mid-act, the prank was aborted. In January 2011, Caltech students in conjunction with MIT students helped put the TARDIS on top of Baxter.<ref>[http://features.caltech.edu/features/97 What's (Literally) Up with the TARDIS?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110110043152/http://features.caltech.edu/features/97 |date=January 10, 2011 }}, Caltech Features, January 6, 2011</ref> Caltech students then moved the TARDIS to [[UC Berkeley]]<ref name="Alessondra Springmann, PCWorld">[http://www.pcworld.com/article/219292/dr_whos_tardis_lands_at_mit_caltech_and_berkeley.html Dr. Who's TARDIS Lands at MIT, Caltech, and Berkeley] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110420130828/http://www.pcworld.com/article/219292/dr_whos_tardis_lands_at_mit_caltech_and_berkeley.html |date=April 20, 2011 }}, by Alessondra Springmann, [[PC World (magazine)|PCWorld]], February 10, 2011</ref> and [[Stanford]].<ref>[http://hacks.mit.edu/by_year/2010/tardis/ TARDIS on building 7, great dome, and beyond] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110423174627/http://hacks.mit.edu/by_year/2010/tardis/ |date=April 23, 2011 }}, ''IHTFP Hack Gallery'', April 25, 2011</ref>

In April 2014, during MIT's Campus Preview Weekend, a group of Caltech students handed out mugs emblazoned with the MIT logo on the front and the words "The Institute of Technology" on the back. When heated, the mugs turn orange, display a palm tree, and read "Caltech The Hotter Institute of Technology." Identical mugs continue to be sold at the Caltech campus store.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://bookstore.caltech.edu/catalogs/CatalogProductItems?Title=Drinkware&Sku=1*100985&Delc=Merchandise|title=CatalogProductITems – Caltech Bookstore|access-date=July 3, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180930081159/https://bookstore.caltech.edu/catalogs/CatalogProductItems?Title=Drinkware&Sku=1*100985&Delc=Merchandise|archive-date=September 30, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

==== Honor code ====
Life in the Caltech community is governed by the [[academic honor code|honor code]], which simply states: "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,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://donut.caltech.edu/about/boc/ug_handbook.php |title=The Honor System Handbook from the Board of Control at Caltech.edu |publisher=Donut.caltech.edu |access-date=October 13, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091106150251/http://donut.caltech.edu/about/boc/ug_handbook.php |archive-date=November 6, 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and by a similar body at the graduate level, called the Graduate Honor Council.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gradoffice.caltech.edu/current/hc |title=Graduate Studies Office – The Honor Code |publisher=gradoffice.caltech.edu |access-date=March 29, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130408100956/http://www.gradoffice.caltech.edu/current/hc |archive-date=April 8, 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

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.

Through the late 1990s, the only exception to the honor code, implemented earlier in the decade in response to changes in federal regulations, concerned the sexual harassment policy. Today, there are myriad exceptions to the honor code in the form of new Institute policies such as the fire policy and alcohol policy. Although both policies are presented in the Honor System Handbook given to new members of the Caltech community, some undergraduates regard them as a slight against the honor code and the implicit trust and respect it represents within the community.<ref>{{cite news
  | last =Rodriguez
  | first =Juan
  | title =Ricketts Pres. Apologizes
  | page = 5
  | publisher = The California Tech
  | date = February 24, 2003}}</ref> In recent years, the Student Affairs Office has also taken up pursuing investigations independently of the Board of Control and Conduct Review Committee, an implicit violation of both the honor code and written disciplinary policy that has contributed to further erosion of trust between some parts of the undergraduate community and the administration.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://caltechcampuspubs.library.caltech.edu/2580/1/Issue_8.5.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221010/https://caltechcampuspubs.library.caltech.edu/2580/1/Issue_8.5.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-10 |url-status=live|title=An open letter from concerned alumni & More|date=November 17, 2011|work=The California Tech|pages=2–4, 6–8}}</ref>

== Notable people ==
{{Main list|List of California Institute of Technology people|List of Nobel laureates affiliated with California Institute of Technology
}}

As of October 2025, Caltech has 48 [[Nobel Prize|Nobel laureates]] to its name awarded to 26 alumni, 5 postdocs, and 17 non-alumni professors. The 26 alumni include five Caltech professors ([[Carl D. Anderson]], [[Linus Pauling]], [[William A. Fowler]], [[Edward B. Lewis]], and [[Kip Thorne]]). Among the 17 non-alumni professors, 14 were in residence at Caltech at the time of the award; [[David Baltimore]], who shared the Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1975, became Caltech President in 1997; [[Renato Dulbecco]], who shared the Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1975, credited his Prize to the time he had spent at Caltech;<ref>{{Cite web |title=Remembering Renato Dulbecco |date=March 5, 2012 |url=https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/remembering-renato-dulbecco-4231 |access-date=2024-10-14 |publisher=California Institute of Technology |language=en}}</ref> John Hopfield, who won the Prize in Physics in 2024, is the Dickinson Professor Emeritus at Caltech.<ref>{{Cite web |title=John J. Hopfield |url=https://cce.caltech.edu/people/john-j-hopfield |access-date=2024-10-14 |publisher=California Institute of Technology |language=en}}</ref> The total number of Nobel Prizes is 49 because Pauling received prizes in both [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Chemistry]] and [[Nobel Peace Prize|Peace]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Nobel Laureates |url=https://www.caltech.edu/about/legacy/awards-and-honors/nobel-laureates |access-date=2024-10-14 |publisher=California Institute of Technology |language=en}}</ref> Eight faculty and alumni have received a [[Crafoord Prize]] from the [[Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences]], while 58 have been awarded the U.S. [[National Medal of Science]], and 11 have received the [[National Medal of Technology]].<ref name="at a glance"/> One alumnus, [[Stanislav Smirnov]], won the [[Fields Medal]] in 2010. Other distinguished researchers have been affiliated with Caltech as postdoctoral scholars (for example, [[Barbara McClintock]], [[James D. Watson]], [[Sheldon Glashow]] and [[John Gurdon]]) or visiting professors (for example, [[Albert Einstein]], [[Stephen Hawking]] and [[Edward Witten]]).

=== Alumni ===
There are 22,930 total living alumni in the U.S. and around the world.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.caltech.edu/content/caltech-glance |title=Caltech at a Glance |publisher=California Institute of Technology |access-date=May 23, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160725090035/http://www.caltech.edu/content/caltech-glance |archive-date=July 25, 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref> As of October 2022, 30 alumni and 16 non-alumni faculty have won the Nobel Prize. The [[Turing Award]], the "Nobel Prize of Computer Science", has been awarded to six alumni, and one has won the [[Fields Medal]].<ref name="science_now">{{cite news |url=http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2010/08/fields-medals-other-top-math-pri.html |title=Fields Medals, Other Top Math Prizes, Awarded |last=Cipra |first=Barry Arthur |author-link=Barry Arthur Cipra |date=August 19, 2010 |work=Science Now |publisher=[[American Association for the Advancement of Science]] |access-date=August 19, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100822014407/http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2010/08/fields-medals-other-top-math-pri.html |archive-date=August 22, 2010  }}</ref>

Many alumni have participated in scientific research. Some have concentrated their studies on the very small universe of atoms and molecules. [[Nobel Prize|Nobel laureate]] [[Carl D. Anderson]] (BS 1927, PhD 1930) proved the existence of [[positron]]s and [[muon]]s, Nobel laureate [[Edwin McMillan]] (BS 1928, MS 1929) synthesized the first [[transuranium element]], Nobel laureate [[Leo James Rainwater]] (BS 1939) investigated the non-spherical shapes of atomic nuclei, and Nobel laureate [[Douglas D. Osheroff]] (BS 1967) studied the [[superfluid]] nature of [[helium-3]]. [[Donald Knuth]] (PhD 1963), the "father" of the [[analysis of algorithms]], wrote ''[[The Art of Computer Programming]]'' and created the [[TeX]] computer typesetting system, which is commonly used in the scientific community. [[Bruce Reznick]] (BS 1973) is a mathematician noted for his contributions to [[number theory]] and the combinatorial-algebraic-analytic investigations of polynomials. [[Narendra Karmarkar]] (MS 1979) is known for the interior point method, a polynomial algorithm for linear programming known as [[Karmarkar's algorithm]].

Other alumni have turned their gaze to the universe. [[C. Gordon Fullerton]] (BS 1957, MS 1958) piloted the third [[Space Shuttle]] mission. Astronaut (and later, [[United States Senate|United States Senator]]) [[Harrison Schmitt]] (BS 1957) was the only geologist to have walked on the surface of the Moon.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://astrogeology.usgs.gov/About/AstroHistory/schmitt.html |title=USGS Astrogeology: Astronaut Harrison H. Schmitt |publisher=[[United States Geological Survey]] – Astrogeology Program |author=Deborah Lee Soltesz |access-date=August 28, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111017182740/http://astrogeology.usgs.gov/About/AstroHistory/schmitt.html |archive-date=October 17, 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref> Astronomer [[Eugene Merle Shoemaker]] (BS 1947, MS 1948) co-discovered [[Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9]] (a comet which crashed into the planet [[Jupiter]]) and was the first person buried on the Moon (by having his ashes crashed into the Moon).<ref>"In 1998, Celestis, at the request of NASA, provided a Luna Flight Capsule to the family and friends of the astronomer and planetary geologist Eugene Shoemaker. The Celestis Flight Capsule, containing a symbolic portion of Shoemaker's cremated remains, was attached to NASA's Lunar Prospector spacecraft and launched on a one-year mission orbiting the Moon. On July 31, 1999, at the completion of Lunar Prospector's mission, the spacecraft was intentionally crashed into the <oon's south pole, making Shoemaker the first human to be laid to rest on another celestial body. NASA called the memorial "a special honor for a special human being.""{{cite web|publisher=[[Space.com]]|url=http://www.space.com/news/080328-moon-burial.html|title=Fly Me to the Moon ... Forever|date=March 28, 2008|author=Clara Moskowitz|author-link= Clara Moskowitz |access-date=May 7, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100802160650/http://www.space.com/news/080328-moon-burial.html|archive-date=August 2, 2010|url-status=live}}</ref> Astronomer George O. Abell (BS 1951, MS 1952, PhD 1957) while a grad student at Caltech participated in the National Geographic Society-Palomar Sky Survey. This ultimately resulted in the publication of the ''Abell Catalogue of Clusters of Galaxies,'' the definitive work in the field.<ref>{{cite web|title=George O. Abell, Astronomy: Los Angeles|url=http://content.cdlib.org/view?docId=hb4d5nb20m;NAAN=13030&doc.view=frames&chunk.id=div00002&toc.depth=1&toc.id=&brand=calisphere|website=[[calisphere]]|publisher=[[University of California]]|access-date=April 9, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181001161554/http://content.cdlib.org/view?docId=hb4d5nb20m;NAAN=13030&doc.view=frames&chunk.id=div00002&toc.depth=1&toc.id=&brand=calisphere|archive-date=October 1, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

Undergraduate alumni founded, or co-founded, companies such as [[LCD]] manufacturer Varitronix,<ref>[[York Liao]] (BS 1967){{cite web|url=http://pr.caltech.edu/periodicals/CaltechNews/articles/archive/AlumniAlbum3_97/|title=Caltech Alumni Album Profiles '50s, '60s, '70s and '80s – York Liao '67|year=1997|volume=31|issue=2|author=Caltech News|publisher=California Institute of Technology|access-date=May 7, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100604104726/http://pr.caltech.edu/periodicals/CaltechNews/articles/archive/AlumniAlbum3_97/|archive-date=June 4, 2010|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Hotmail]],<ref>[[Sabeer Bhatia]], BS 1991{{cite web|url=http://media.caltech.edu/press_releases/13166|title=SURFing the Waves of Success for 30 Years|date=July 18, 2008|author=Caltech Media Relations|publisher=California Institute of Technology|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100602010113/http://media.caltech.edu/press_releases/13166|archive-date=June 2, 2010}}</ref> [[Compaq]],<ref>Benjamin Rosen, BS 1954{{cite web|url=http://alumni.caltech.edu/distinguished_alumni/search_results?search_text=Benjamin+Rosen|title=Distinguished Alumni Award – Benjamin M. Rosen|author=Caltech Alumni Association|publisher=Caltech Alumni Association|access-date=May 7, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716194112/http://alumni.caltech.edu/distinguished_alumni/search_results?search_text=Benjamin+Rosen|archive-date=July 16, 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[MathWorks]] (which created [[Matlab]]),<ref>[[Cleve Moler]], BS 1961 {{cite web|url=http://www.siam.org/about/news-siam.php?id=171|title=Cleve Moler Elected Next SIAM President|date=December 16, 2005|publisher=[[Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics]]|access-date=May 7, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150117143748/http://www.siam.org/about/news-siam.php?id=171|archive-date=January 17, 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> and database provider [[Imply Data|Imply]],<ref>{{Cite web|title=Leadership|url=https://imply.io/leadership-team/|access-date=February 8, 2022|website=Imply|language=en-US}}</ref> while graduate students founded, or co-founded, companies such as [[Intel]],<ref>[[Gordon Moore]], PhD 1954{{cite web|url=http://alumni.caltech.edu/distinguished_alumni/search_results?search_text=Gordon+Moore|title=Distinguished Alumni Award – Gordon E. Moore|author=Caltech Alumni Association|publisher=Caltech Alumni Association|access-date=May 7, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716194129/http://alumni.caltech.edu/distinguished_alumni/search_results?search_text=Gordon+Moore|archive-date=July 16, 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[TRW Inc.|TRW]],<ref>[[Simon Ramo]], PhD 1936 {{cite web|url=http://today.caltech.edu/today/story-display.tcl?story_id=42622|title=The Singular Si Ramo|date=February 24, 2010|author=Caltech Public Relations|publisher=Caltech Today (via California Institute of Technology)|access-date=May 7, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928124720/http://today.caltech.edu/today/story-display.tcl?story_id=42622|archive-date=September 28, 2011|url-status=live}}</ref> and the non-profit educational organization, the [[Exploratorium]].<ref>[[Frank Oppenheimer]], PhD 1939 {{cite web|url=http://alumni.caltech.edu/distinguished_alumni/search_results?search_text=Frank+Oppenheimer|title=Frank Oppenheimer|author=Caltech Alumni Association|publisher=Caltech Alumni Association|access-date=May 7, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716194244/http://alumni.caltech.edu/distinguished_alumni/search_results?search_text=Frank+Oppenheimer|archive-date=July 16, 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[Arnold Orville Beckman|Arnold Beckman]] (PhD 1928) invented the [[pH meter]] and commercialized it with the founding of [[Beckman Instruments]]. His success with that company enabled him to provide seed funding for [[William Shockley]] (BS 1932), who had co-invented [[semiconductor]] [[transistor]]s and wanted to commercialize them. Shockley became the founding Director of the [[Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory]] division of Beckman Instruments.<ref name="Shockley_byNobelPrizeFoundation1956">{{cite web|url=http://nobelprize.org//nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1956/shockley-bio.html|publisher=The Nobel Prize Committee (official site)|title=William B. Shockley – Biography|author=The Nobel Foundation|year=1956|access-date=May 7, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100226151231/http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1956/shockley-bio.html|archive-date=February 26, 2010|url-status=live}}</ref> Shockley had previously worked at [[Bell Labs]], whose first president was another alumnus, [[Frank B. Jewett|Frank Jewett]] (BS 1898). Because his aging mother lived in [[Palo Alto, California]], Shockley established his laboratory near her in [[Mountain View, California]].<ref name="Shockley_byNobelPrizeFoundation1956"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.edn.com/article/CA6279562.html|title=The Ten Most Influential Executives|author=Bill Roberts|date=November 1, 2005|work=[[EDN (magazine)|EDN]]|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070127035527/http://www.edn.com/article/CA6279562.html|archive-date=January 27, 2007}}</ref> Shockley was a co-recipient of the [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] in 1956, but his aggressive management style and odd personality<ref>"How he was miserable is more complicated than even I could get into a hundred thousand word book. There was something wrong with him. What was wrong with him, we don't really know. He was at best paranoid. He was probably obsessive-compulsive. The manuscript of the book has been shown to about six or seven psychotherapist, and I asked them for a diagnosis, and they came back with six or seven different diagnoses." {{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5573656|publisher=[[NPR]]|title=Electronics Pioneer William Shockley's Legacy|date=July 21, 2006|author=[[Ira Flatow]] (interview) with journalist Joel Shurkin|access-date=April 5, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180818184748/https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5573656|archive-date=August 18, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> at the Shockley Lab became unbearable.<ref>"Shockley, whose role as coinventor of the transistor would win him a share of the 1956 Nobel Prize in physics, succeeded in luring a diverse group of accomplished scientists, including Moore, to the Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory, in Palo Alto, California. He then proceeded to antagonize and alienate enough of them to inspire an exodus."{{cite web|title=Calibrating Gordon Moore|author=Hillary Bhaskaran|publisher=Caltech News|year=2002|volume=36|issue=2|url=http://pr.caltech.edu/periodicals/caltechnews/articles/v36/moore.html|access-date=May 7, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101025090001/http://pr.caltech.edu/periodicals/CaltechNews/articles/v36/moore.html|archive-date=October 25, 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref> In late 1957, eight of his researchers resigned and with support from [[Sherman Fairchild]] formed [[Fairchild Semiconductor]]. Among the "[[traitorous eight]]" was [[Gordon E. Moore]] (PhD 1954), who later left Fairchild to co-found [[Intel]]. Other offspring companies of Fairchild Semiconductor include [[National Semiconductor]] and [[Advanced Micro Devices]], which in turn spawned more technology companies in the area. Shockley's decision to use [[silicon]] instead of [[germanium]] as the [[semiconductor]] material, coupled with the abundance of silicon semiconductor related companies in the area, gave rise to the term "[[Silicon Valley]]"<ref>"Joel Shurnkin: ... He decided he was going to be the first entrepreneur of the electronic age, and indeed he was. With backing from a man named [[Arnold O. Beckman|Arnold Beckman]], he founded Shockley Semiconductor in Palo Alto and he was going to build – at least at first he was going to build silicon transistors. It was his decision that they use [[silicon]] as opposed to [[germanium]], otherwise we'd be talking about Germanium Valley out there instead of Silicon Valley. (Soundbite of laughter) "{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5573656|publisher=[[NPR]]|title=Electronics Pioneer William Shockley's Legacy – Transcript|date=July 21, 2006|author=[[Ira Flatow]] (interview) with journalist Joel Shurkin|access-date=April 5, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180818184748/https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5573656|archive-date=August 18, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> to describe that geographic region surrounding Palo Alto.

Caltech alumni also held public offices, with [[Mustafa A. G. Abushagur]] (PhD 1984) the Deputy Prime Minister of [[Libya]] and Prime Minister-Elect of [[Libya]], [[James C. Fletcher|James Fletcher]] (PhD 1948) the 4th and 7th [[Administrator of NASA]], [[Steven E. Koonin|Steven Koonin]] (PhD 1972) the [[Under Secretary of Energy for Science|Undersecretary of Energy for Science]], and [[Regina E. Dugan|Regina Dugan]] (PhD 1993) the 19th director of [[DARPA]]. The 20th director for DARPA, [[Arati Prabhakar]], is also a Caltech alumna (PhD 1984) as well as [[Charles Elachi]] (Phd 1971), former director of the Jet Propulsion Lab. [[Arvind Virmani]] is a former [[Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India]]. In 2013, President [[Barack Obama]] announced the nomination of [[France Cordova]] (PhD 1979) as the director of the [[National Science Foundation]] and Ellen Williams (PhD 1982) as the director for [[ARPA-E]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://alumni.caltech.edu/articles/558|title=Ellen Williams (PhD '82) Nominated as Director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy|publisher=Caltech Alumni Association|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131110231545/https://alumni.caltech.edu/articles/558|archive-date=November 10, 2013}}</ref>

<gallery class="center" widths="120" heights="120" mode="packed" perrow="9" caption="Notable Caltech alumni include:">
File:William Shockley, Stanford University.jpg|Nobel laureate [[William Shockley]], BS 1932, co-inventor of the [[Solid state (electronics)|solid state]] [[transistor]], father of [[Silicon Valley]]
File:Tsien Hsue-shen.jpg|[[Qian Xuesen]], PhD 1939, co-founder of [[JPL]], "Father" of Chinese rocketry
File:John McCarthy Stanford.jpg|Turing Award laureate [[John McCarthy (computer scientist)|John McCarthy]], BS 1948, inventor of the [[Lisp (programming language)|Lisp]] programming language
File:Benoit Mandelbrot mg 1804b.jpg|[[Benoit Mandelbrot]], MS 1948, Engineering 1949, father of [[fractal geometry]], namesake of the [[Mandelbrot set]]
File:Gordon Moore.jpg|[[Gordon Moore]], PhD 1954, co-founder of [[Intel]], coined the observation [[Moore's law|Moore's Law]]
File:Gordon Fullerton 1989.jpg|Astronaut [[C. Gordon Fullerton]], BS 1957, MS 1958
File:Harrison H. Schmitt.jpg|Astronaut and [[United States Senate|United States Senator]] [[Harrison Schmitt]], BS 1957, the only geologist to have walked on the Moon
File:Kip Thorne at Caltech.jpg|Nobel laureate [[Kip Thorne]], BS 1962, known for his prolific contributions in gravitation physics and astrophysics and co-founding of [[LIGO]]
File:KnuthAtOpenContentAlliance.jpg|Turing Award laureate [[Donald Knuth]], PhD 1963, "father" of the analysis of algorithms, creator of [[TeX]] typesetting system
File:Mark S. Wrighton.jpg|[[Mark S. Wrighton]], PhD 1972, Chancellor of [[Washington University in St. Louis]] and President of [[George Washington University]]
File:France A. Córdova official photo.jpg|[[France A. Córdova]], PhD 1978, Astrophysicist and 14th Director of the [[National Science Foundation]]
File:Stephen Wolfram PR.jpg|[[Stephen Wolfram]], PhD 1979, creator of [[Mathematica]] and [[Wolfram Alpha]]; one of the first [[MacArthur Fellows]] in 1981
File:Carolyn Porco 01.jpg|[[Carolyn Porco]], PhD 1983, planetary scientist who led the imaging team on the ''[[Cassini–Huygens|Cassini]]'' mission in orbit around Saturn
File:Andrea Ghez (cropped).jpg|[[Andrea M. Ghez]], PHD 1992  [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] recipient and professor at [[University of California, Los Angeles]]
File:Robertbehnkenv2.jpg|[[Bob Behnken]], MS, 1993; PhD, 1997, Former NASA Astronaut and [[Chief of the Astronaut Office]]
File:Adam D'Angelo - The Grove 2022.jpg|[[Adam D'Angelo]], BS 2006, Founder of [[Quora]]
</gallery>

=== Faculty and staff ===
[[Richard Feynman]] was among the most well-known physicists associated with Caltech, having published the ''[[Feynman Lectures on Physics]]'', an undergraduate physics text, and popular science texts such as ''[[Six Easy Pieces#Six Easy Pieces (1994)|Six Easy Pieces]]'' for the general audience. The promotion of physics made him a public figure of science, although his Nobel-winning work in [[quantum electrodynamics]] was already very established in the scientific community. [[Murray Gell-Mann]], a Nobel-winning physicist, introduced a classification of [[hadron]]s and went on to postulate the existence of [[quark]]s, which is currently accepted as part of the [[Standard Model]]. Long-time Caltech President [[Robert Andrews Millikan]] was the first to calculate the charge of the [[electron]] with his well-known [[oil-drop experiment]], while [[Richard Chace Tolman]] is remembered for his contributions to [[cosmology]] and [[statistical mechanics]]. 2004 [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] winner [[H. David Politzer]] is a current professor at Caltech, as is astrophysicist and author [[Kip Thorne]] and eminent mathematician [[Barry Simon]]. [[Linus Pauling]] pioneered [[quantum chemistry]] and [[molecular biology]], and went on to discover the nature of the chemical bond in 1939. Seismologist [[Charles Richter]], also an alumnus, developed the magnitude scale that bears his name, the [[Richter magnitude scale]] for measuring the power of earthquakes. One of the founders of the geochemistry department, [[Clair Patterson]] was the first to accurately determine the age of the Earth via lead:uranium ratio in meteorites. In engineering, [[Theodore von Kármán]] made many key advances in aerodynamics, notably his work on [[supersonic]] and [[hypersonic]] airflow characterization. A repeating pattern of swirling [[vortices]] is named after him, the [[von Kármán vortex street]]. Participants in von Kármán's GALCIT project included [[Frank Malina]], who helped develop the [[WAC Corporal]], which was the first U.S. rocket to reach the edge of space, [[Jack Parsons (rocket engineer)|Jack Parsons]], a pioneer in the development of liquid and solid rocket fuels who designed the first castable composite-based rocket motor, and [[Qian Xuesen]], who was dubbed the "Father of Chinese Rocketry". More recently, [[Michael E. Brown|Michael Brown]], a professor of planetary astronomy, discovered many [[trans-Neptunian object]]s, most notably the [[dwarf planet]] [[Eris (dwarf planet)|Eris]], which prompted the [[International Astronomical Union]] to redefine the term "[[planet]]".

[[David Baltimore]], the Robert A. Millikan Professor of Biology, and [[Alice S. Huang|Alice Huang]], Senior Faculty Associate in Biology, served as the presidents of [[American Association for the Advancement of Science|AAAS]] from 2007 to 2008 and 2010 to 2011, respectively.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://archives.aaas.org/people/plist.php?type=President |title=AAAS Presidents |publisher=AAAS |year=2011 |access-date=January 12, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724213136/http://archives.aaas.org/people/plist.php?type=President |archive-date=July 24, 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref>

33% of the faculty are members of the [[National Academy of Sciences]] or [[National Academy of Engineering|Engineering]] and/or fellows of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]]. This is the highest percentage of any faculty in the country with the exception of the graduate institution [[Rockefeller University]].<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.admissions.caltech.edu/learning/faculty |title=Faculty |publisher=Caltech |year=2010 |access-date=January 2, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110716233207/http://www.admissions.caltech.edu/learning/faculty |archive-date=July 16, 2011  }}</ref>

The average salary for assistant professors at Caltech is $111,300, associate professors $121,300, and full professors $172,800.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://chronicle.com/article/faculty-salaries-data-2012/131431#id=110404 |title=AAUP Faculty Salary Survey |newspaper=The Chronicle of Higher Education |year=2012 |access-date=April 9, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120410121404/http://chronicle.com/article/faculty-salaries-data-2012/131431/#id=110404 |archive-date=April 10, 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref> Caltech faculty are active in applied physics, astronomy and astrophysics, biology, biochemistry, biological engineering, chemical engineering, computer science, geology, mechanical engineering, and physics.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://chronicle.com/stats/productivity/page.php?year=2007&institution=226&byinst=Go |title=Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index – California Institute of Technology |newspaper=The Chronicle of Higher Education |year=2007 |access-date=May 30, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110611100518/http://chronicle.com/stats/productivity/page.php?year=2007&institution=226&byinst=Go |archive-date=June 11, 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Presidents ===
The following persons have led Caltech since 1921:<ref>{{cite web |url=https://president.caltech.edu/history |title=Presidents of the California Institute of Technology |publisher=Caltech}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|-
!{{abbr|No.|Number}}
!Image
!Name
!Term start
!Term end
!Field
!{{abbr|Refs.|References}}
|-
|1
|[[File:Millikan.jpg|70px]]
|[[Robert A. Millikan]]
|1921
|August 31, 1945
|Physics
|<ref>{{cite news |url=https://latimes.newspapers.com/newspage/156220852/ |title=Dr. R. A. Millikan to Direct Technology Institute. |date=July 27, 1921 |page=1 |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |url-access=subscription |quote=Dr. Robert. A. Millikan, professor of physics, At the University of Chicago, who has gained world-wide distinction for his original researches on the electron and the structure of matter, has been appointed director of the Norman Bridge Laboratory of Physics at the California Institute of Technology and chairman of the executive council of the institute. This announcement was made last night following a meeting of the board of trustees at which the appointment was formally made. Dr. Millikan has accepted and will come to Pasadena in October, at which time the new Norman Bridge Laboratory of Physics will be ready for occupancy.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://latimes.newspapers.com/newspage/380701432/ |title=Millikan Quits His Executive Post at Caltech |date=August 21, 1945 |page=1 |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |url-access=subscription |quote=Retirement of Dr. Robert A. Millikan as administrative head of California Institute of Technology was announced yesterday by James R. Page, president of the board of trustees. Dr. Millikan, 77, has served as chairman of the executive council of the institute since 1921.}}</ref>
|-
|2
|[[File:Lee A. DuBridge 1950.png|70px]]
|[[Lee A. DuBridge]]
|nowrap|September 1, 1946
|January 15, 1969
|Physics
|<ref>{{cite news |url=https://latimes.newspapers.com/newspage/380751457/ |title=War Radar Figure Made Caltech Chief |date=May 14, 1946 |page=1 |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |url-access=subscription |quote=Dr. Lee DuBridge, 45, chairman of the physics department at Rochester University and for six years head of Massachusetts Institute of Technology's radiation laboratory, has been elected president of the California Institute of Technology, succeeding Dr. Robert A. Millikan, it was announced yesterday in Pasadena by James R. Page, chairman of the board of trustees.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://latimes.newspapers.com/newspage/380779883/ |title=NEW HEAD OF CALTECH CONFERS WITH MILLIKAN |date=August 15, 1946 |page=5 |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |url-access=subscription |quote=Dr. Lee A. DuBridge, nia Institute of Technology's new 45-year-old president, unofficially commenced his duties in Dr. Robert A. Millikan's old administration building office on the campus yesterday. While the former Rochester University physicist will not be "official president" until Sept. 1 and considers the intervening "strictly a vacation," he period, yesterday in starting to unpack the voluminous files which followed him from Rochester.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://latimes.newspapers.com/newspage/380804887/ |title=Dr. DuBridge Installed as Caltech President in Imposing Ceremony |date=November 13, 1946 |page=1 |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |url-access=subscription |quote=Dr. Lee Alvin DuBridge, 45, who directed the "largest research and development laboratory ever assembled" during the war, yesterday became president of California Institute of Technology at an inaugural ceremony at Pasadena Civic Auditorium attended by top-ranking American scientists, educators and military men. Eighteen college and university heads were among the 44 institutional guests who watched the solemn ceremony in which the former Rochester University physicist assumed from retiring Dr. Robert A. Millikan the directorship of the 55-year-old school... Dr. Robert Millikan, left, stepped down yesterday for Dr. Lee A. DuBridge, right, who was inaugurated as new president of California Institute of Technology.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://latimes.newspapers.com/newspage/383059546/ |title=DuBridge Resignation Effective Jan. 20 |date=December 4, 1968 |page=5 |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |url-access=subscription |quote=Dr. Lee DuBridge, president of California Institute of Technology, said Tuesday his resignation would be effective Jan. 20.}}</ref>
|- bgcolor="#e6e6aa"
|acting
|[[File:Robert F. Bacher.GIF|70px]]
|[[Robert Bacher]]
|January 16, 1969
|nowrap|February 16, 1969
|Physics
|<ref>{{cite news |url=https://latimes.newspapers.com/newspage/383105646/ |title=Bacher Named to Be Acting Caltech Head |date=December 11, 1968 |page=31 |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |url-access=subscription |quote=Dr. Robert P. Bacher Tuesday was named acting president of Caltech pending selection by the school's faculty and trustee committee of a new full-time administrator. The appointment was announced by Lee DuBridge as he delivered his official farewell address to 1,200 and faculty in Caltech's Beckman Auditorium.}}</ref>
|-
|3
|[[File:Harold Brown 1970.png|70px]]
|[[Harold Brown (Secretary of Defense)|Harold Brown]]{{efn|group=tb2|name=Brown}}
|February 17, 1969
|January 20, 1977
|Physics
|<ref>{{cite news |url=https://latimes.newspapers.com/newspage/383096591/ |title=Dr. Harold Brown New President of Caltech |date=December 14, 1968 |page=39 |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |url-access=subscription |quote=The new president of the California Institute of Technology will be Dr. Harold Brown, 41 year-old physicist and retiring secretary of the Air Force. Appointment of Dr. Brown to succeed Dr. Lee DuBridge, Caltech's president for 22 years, was announced Friday by Dr. Arnold O. Beckman, chairman of the Board of Trustees.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://campuspubs.library.caltech.edu/881/1/1969_02_20_70_18.pdf |title=Dr. Harold Brown Now Officially Caltech President |volume=70 |number=18 |page=1 |date=February 20, 1969 |newspaper=The California Tech |quote=Dr. Harold Brown officially took over Monday as president of Caltech.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://hr.caltech.edu/news/caltech-mourns-passing-harold-brown-84808 |title=Caltech Mourns the Passing of Harold Brown |date=January 5, 2019 |publisher=Caltech}}</ref>
|- bgcolor="#e6e6aa"
|acting
|[[File:Christy Robert A2.jpg|70px]]
|[[Robert F. Christy]]
|January 21, 1977
|June 30, 1978
|Astrophysics
|<ref>{{cite news |url=https://latimes.newspapers.com/newspage/383459403/ |title=Caltech Starts National Search for a President |date=January 27, 1977 |page=155 |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |url-access=subscription |quote=Caltech's Board of Trustees is starting a nationwide search for a president to succeed Dr. Harold Brown, President Carter's secretary of defense. The president will be the fourth since Caltech was formed in 1920 out of Throop College of Technology. The others were Dr. Robert Millikan and Dr. Lee DuBridge... Dr. Robert Christy, vice president and provost, is acting president. }}</ref>
|-
|4
|[[File:Marvin Goldberger 1978.png|70px]]
|[[Marvin L. Goldberger]]
|July 1, 1978
|August 31, 1987
|Physics
|<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.199.4335.1321 |title=Goldberger Named Caltech President |date=March 28, 1978 |first=Deborah |last=Shapley |volume=199 |issue=4335 |page=1321 |doi=10.1126/science.199.4335.1321 |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]]|pmid=17840775 |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://campuspubs.library.caltech.edu/1423/1/1987_04_10_88_23.pdf |title=Goldberger Leaving |volume=88 |number=23 |page=1 |date=April 10, 1987 |newspaper=The California Tech}}</ref>
|-
|5
|[[File:Thomas Everhart 1987.png|70px]]
|[[Thomas E. Everhart]]
|September 1, 1987
|October 14, 1997
|Physics
|<ref>{{cite web |url=https://campuspubs.library.caltech.edu/2421/1/1987_08_21_04.pdf |title=Thomas E. Everhart named Caltech president |date=August 1987 |newspaper=Caltech News |publisher=Caltech}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-05-23-me-7371-story.html |title=President of Caltech Announces Resignation |first=Elaine |last=Woo |date=May 23, 1996 |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]}}</ref>
|-
|6
|[[File:David Baltimore Caltech by c michel in 2021.jpg|70px]]
|[[David Baltimore]]
|October 15, 1997
|August 31, 2006
|Molecular biology
|<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/nobel-prize-winning-biologist-david-baltimore-named-president-california-institute-technology |title=Nobel Prize-winning Biologist David Baltimore Named President of the California Institute of Technology |date=May 13, 1997 |publisher=Caltech}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/baltimore-retire-caltech-president-will-remain-institute-biology-professor-1049 |title=Baltimore to Retire as Caltech President; Will Remain at Institute as Biology Professor |date=October 3, 2005 |publisher=Caltech}}</ref>
|-
|7
|
|[[Jean-Lou Chameau]]
|September 1, 2006
|June 30, 2013
|Civil engineering
|<ref>{{cite web |url=https://hr.caltech.edu/news/caltech-presidential-inauguration-student-affair-1268 |title=Caltech Presidential Inauguration - A Student Affair |date=April 30, 2007 |publisher=Caltech}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/chameau-step-down-caltech-president-38740 |title=Chameau to Step Down as Caltech President |date=February 19, 2013 |publisher=Caltech}}</ref>
|- bgcolor="#e6e6aa"
|Interim
|
|[[Edward M. Stolper]]
|July 1, 2013
|June 30, 2014
|Geology
|<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/stolper-interim-president-beginning-july-1-38991 |title=Stolper Interim President Beginning July 1 |date=March 26, 2013 |publisher=Caltech}}</ref>
|-
|8
|[[File:Thomas F. Rosenbaum (cropped).jpg|70px]]
|[[Thomas Felix Rosenbaum|Thomas F. Rosenbaum]]
|July 1, 2014
|Present
|Physics
|<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/caltech-names-thomas-f-rosenbaum-new-president-40887 |title=Caltech Names Thomas F. Rosenbaum as New President |date=October 24, 2013 |publisher=Caltech}}</ref> 
|-
|}

Table notes:
{{notelist|refs=
{{efn|group=tb2|name=Brown|Brown resigned after being nominated and confirmed as the US secretary of defense during the first afternoon of the Carter Administration.}}
}}

== Caltech startups ==
Over the years Caltech has actively promoted the commercialization of technologies developed within its walls. Through its Office of Technology Transfer & Corporate Partnerships,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.innovation.caltech.edu/ |title=Office of Technology Transfer & Corporate Partnerships |access-date=November 18, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181118135544/http://www.innovation.caltech.edu/ |archive-date=November 18, 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref> scientific breakthroughs have led to the transfer of numerous technologies in a wide variety of scientific-related fields such as [[photovoltaic]], [[radio-frequency identification]] (RFID), [[semiconductor]]s, [[hyperspectral imaging]], [[electronic devices]], [[protein]] design, solid state amplifiers and many more.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://universityspinoff.wordpress.com/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100507102529/http://universityspinoff.wordpress.com/|url-status=live|archive-date=May 7, 2010|title=University Spinoffs|website=University Spinoffs}}</ref> Companies such as [[Quora]], Contour Energy Systems, [[Impinj]], Fulcrum Microsystems, Nanosys, Inc., [[Photon etc.]], [[Xencor]], and Wavestream Wireless<ref>{{cite web|url=http://innovation.caltech.edu/startups|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150106103032/http://innovation.caltech.edu/startups|url-status=live|archive-date=January 6, 2015|title=OTTCP's Startups Map}}</ref> have emerged from Caltech.

== In media and popular culture ==
<!--Please don't list every single TV show/movie Caltech is mentioned on or appears in. This is not meant to be a comprehensive list! No one cares about Criminal Minds or Tron; they're no different from 50 other movies where a character went to Caltech. Unless you have an example that is much, much, much better than those already here, don't add it.-->
Caltech has appeared in many works of popular culture, both as itself and in disguised form. On television, it played a prominent role and was the workplace of all four [[List of The Big Bang Theory and Young Sheldon characters#The Big Bang Theory main characters|male lead characters and one female lead character]] in the sitcom ''[[The Big Bang Theory]]''. Caltech is also the inspiration, and frequent film location, for the California Institute of Science in ''[[Numbers (TV series)|Numb3rs]]''.<ref name="realgenius">[http://alumnus.caltech.edu/~erich/real_genius_refs.html Caltech References in "Real Genius"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130510204808/http://alumnus.caltech.edu/~erich/real_genius_refs.html |date=May 10, 2013 }}. Retrieved 2007-11-19.</ref> On film, the Pacific Tech of ''[[The War of the Worlds (1953 film)|The War of the Worlds]]''<ref name="cowan">Cowan, Douglas E. "[http://www.unomaha.edu/jrf/vol11no1/CowanWarWorlds.htm Intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic: Science, Religion, and ''The War of the Worlds''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090517134558/http://www.unomaha.edu/jrf/vol11no1/CowanWarWorlds.htm |date=May 17, 2009 }}." ''Journal of Religion and Film'', Vol. 11, No. 1, April 1, 2007.</ref> and ''[[Real Genius]]''<ref name="realgenius"/> is based on Caltech.
<!--Please don't list every single TV show/movie Caltech is mentioned on or appears in. This is not meant to be a comprehensive list! Unless you have an example that is much, much, much better than those already here, don't insert it.-->
In nonfiction, two 2007 documentaries examine aspects of Caltech: ''Curious'', its researchers,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thirteen.org/curious/ |title="CURIOUS" from Thirteen/WNET |publisher=[[WNET|Thirteen.org]] |access-date=October 13, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091005183716/http://www.thirteen.org/curious/ |archive-date=October 5, 2009 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>[http://mr.caltech.edu/media/Press_Releases/PR13040.html "Documentary Focuses on Caltech Researchers"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071101053532/http://mr.caltech.edu/media/Press_Releases/PR13040.html |date=November 1, 2007 }} Caltech Press Release, October 1, 2007</ref> and ''[[Quantum Hoops]]'', its men's basketball team.

Caltech is also prominently featured in many comics and television series by [[Marvel Entertainment]]. In [[Marvel Comics]], the university serves as the alma mater of [[Hulk]], [[Mister Fantastic]], [[Bill Foster (character)|Bill Foster]] (Black Goliath), and [[Madman (Marvel Comics)|Madman]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Christiansen |first1=Jeff |url=https://archive.org/details/officialhandbook0000unse_i8k4|title=Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe |last2=Byrd |first2=Ronald |last3=Hoskin |first3=Michael |last4=Vandal |first4=Stuart |publisher=Marvel Publishing, Inc |year=2004 |isbn=9780785130284 |edition=1 |location=New York, NY |language=English}}</ref> In the [[Marvel Cinematic Universe]], [[Bruno Carrelli]] ([[Kamala Khan]]'s best friend and love interest) attends Caltech in the miniseries ''[[Ms. Marvel (miniseries)|Ms. Marvel]]''.<ref>{{cite episode |title=No Normal |series=Ms. Marvel |first1=Kevin |last1=Feige |first2=Louis |last2=D'Esposito |first3=Victoria |last3=Alonso |first4=Brad |last4=Winderbaum |network=Disney+ |date=July 2022}}</ref>

Given its Los Angeles-area location, the grounds of the Institute are often host to short scenes in movies and television. The [[Athenaeum at Caltech|Athenaeum dining club]] appears in the [[Beverly Hills Cop (film series)|''Beverly Hills Cop'' series]], ''[[The X-Files (film)|The X-Files]]'', ''[[True Romance]]'', and ''[[The West Wing]]''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.movie-locations.com/movies/b/bevhills.html |title=Film locations for Beverly Hills Cop |publisher=Movie-locations.com |access-date=October 13, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100103131033/http://movie-locations.com/movies/b/bevhills.html |archive-date=January 3, 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
<!--Please don't list every single TV show/movie Caltech is mentioned on or appears in. This is not meant to be a comprehensive list! No one cares about Criminal Minds or Tron; they're no different from 50 other movies where a character went to Caltech. Unless you have an example that is much better than those already here, don't add it.-->

== See also ==
{{Portal|California}}
* [[Engineering education]]
* [[US-China University Presidents Roundtable]]

== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
{{commons category}}
{{Wikiquote}}
* {{official website}}
* [https://gocaltech.com/ Athletics website]
 
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