Caltech

On October 31, 1936, a small group of Caltech students, researchers, and rocket enthusiasts tested rocket propulsion in the Arroyo Seco—and set in motion the story of JPL. 🚀 Read more: www.caltech.edu/about/news/c...

On October 29, Ray Jayawardhana will be inaugurated as Caltech's 10th president. The event celebrates the spirit of First Light. Join us in celebrating the next chapter! Learn more: inauguration.caltech.edu

As politics in America become more polarized and each voting cycle seems more fraught than the last, but new research shows that congressional elections follow strong statistical patterns, even when individual races produce surprises. www.caltech.edu/about/news/e...

New research from the Caltech lab of Sujit Datta, professor of chemical engineering, bioengineering, and biophysics, helps to explain why Phages can sometimes outnumber bacteria a hundredfold, yet the bacteria endure and even thrive. Read more: www.caltech.edu/about/news/s...

A new Caltech lab will soon inform environmental policy. The lab is being established through a $7 million infusion of funding from the WHH Foundation, a private family philanthropic organization. Read more: www.caltech.edu/about/news/7...

On October 11, NASA's Perseverance rover broke the record for the furthest distance traveled by a vehicle on another world. Initially set by NASA's Opportunity rover in 2014, Perseverance has now driven 28.1 miles. www.caltech.edu/about/news/n...

A new Caltech-led paper demonstrates that an AI program can be used to predict when tipping points occur in simple models, including models of a climate-change system and simulations of turbulent airflow over a plane's wing. www.caltech.edu/about/news/f...

A new study from Caltech neuroscientists has discovered how social behaviors—specifically aggressive displays of intimidation—are wired in the brain of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, a commonly used model organism. www.caltech.edu/about/news/t...

On October 8, the U.S. Department of Energy announced a second round of funding for its Genesis Mission. Among the projects that will receive funding is a Caltech effort that will use AI to help identify new and better catalysts, materials that speed up chemical reactions. tinyurl.com/erbp27p3

Kareem El-Badry, associate professor of astronomy at Caltech, has been selected as one of 20 Packard Fellows for 2026. Much of El-Badry’s work is focused on spotting hidden populations of black holes using data from large-scale sky surveys. www.caltech.edu/about/news/k...

Congratulations Francois! 🧡

I was proud to present @caltech.edu’s Dr. François Tissot, an Eaton Fire survivor, with a Certificate of Congressional Recognition for receiving an NSF award to advance critical research on toxic contamination following wildfires.

Alireza Marandi, professor of electrical engineering and applied physics, has been named a 2026 Moore Experimental Physics Investigator. He is one of 21 new investigators named this year by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. www.caltech.edu/about/news/a...

In recent weeks, a surprisingly contentious debate has been making headlines around the world: What role should artificial intelligence (AI) play in mathematics? www.caltech.edu/about/news/c...

Caltech faculty members Mitchell Guttman and Markus Meister (PhD '87) have been selected to receive "high-risk, high-reward" grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for cutting-edge work in biomedical science and neuroscience. www.caltech.edu/about/news/c...

Optogenetics, the subject of Monday's 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, has revolutionized the work of Caltech neuroscientists. www.caltech.edu/about/news/s...

On September 22, the Coronagraph Instrument on NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope opened its eyes to cosmic light for the first time, which is commanded from Caltech's IPAC. www.caltech.edu/about/news/n...

Alireza Marandi, professor of electrical engineering and applied physics, has been named a 2026 Moore Experimental Physics Investigator. He is one of 21 new investigators named this year by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. www.caltech.edu/about/news/a...

This morning, NASA's SpaceX Crew-13 mission successfully launched to the International Space Station, commanded by NASA astronaut and former Caltech postdoc Jessica Watkins. www.caltech.edu/about/news/f...

Two missions led by Caltech and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), which Caltech manages for NASA, have received recognition from NASA for outstanding achievements. www.caltech.edu/about/news/t...

Welcome back, Beavers! Let’s make this year a great one. #FirstDayOfClasses #Caltech #Fall2026 #FutureOfSTEM

Infertility affects about one in six people of reproductive age, yet its causes often remain unexplained. www.caltech.edu/about/news/a...

NASA has selected PRIMA, a far-infrared space observatory designed to reveal the cold, dusty universe hidden from visible-light telescopes. Caltech, JPL, and IPAC will play key roles in the mission, targeted to launch in the 2030s. Read more: www.caltech.edu/about/news/n...

Caltech has been recognized among the nation's top universities, ranking fifth in the 2027 U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges list. The placement is the Institute's largest single-year climb in more than 25 years. Read more: www.caltech.edu/about/news/c...

We’re proud to announce that Harry B. Gray and Jay R. Winkler have been named Citation Laureates 2026 by @ClarivateAG! Their pioneering research in Chemistry is shaping the future of science. #CitationLaureates #CitationLaureates2026

In computer simulations of The Big One—a large magnitude earthquake that may occur along the San Andreas Fault in California—seismic waves ripple from a magnitude 7.8 epicenter near the Salton Sea up into the Los Angeles Basin. www.caltech.edu/about/news/n...

Researchers at Caltech have developed a new, more effective way to transport potentially life-changing therapeutics across the blood-brain barrier. www.caltech.edu/about/news/n...

Theatre Arts at Caltech teamed up with the Institute for Quantum Information and Matter to run an experiment like none other. www.caltech.edu/about/news/t...

Researchers have discovered a thermal asymmetry deep beneath the surface throughout Mars's southern hemisphere. www.caltech.edu/about/news/t...

Caltech, IPAC and our workforce at NASA JPL is proud to be a part of this extraordinary mission. Go Roman, Go NASA! Read more: www.caltech.edu/about/news/r...

TIME named Bren Professor of Computing and Mathematical Sciences, Anima Anandkumar, to the 2026 TIME100 AI, a list recognizing the 100 most influential people in artificial intelligence. #TIME100AI See the full list here: time.com/time100ai

Benjamin M. Rosen (BS '54), chair emeritus of the Caltech Board of Trustees, life member of the Caltech community, recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award in 2007, and chair emeritus of Compaq Computer Corporation, passed away on August 23, 2026. www.caltech.edu/about/news/c...

On the 20th anniversary of Pluto’s infamous demotion, Mike “Pluto Killer” Brown explains why any reversal of that decision would be driven more by nostalgia than science. www.scientificamerican.com/article/sorr...

NASA has selected Caltech to operate the Orbiting Carbon Observatory missions (OCO-2 and OCO-3) beginning this fall. Read more: www.caltech.edu/about/news/n...

Additionally, Caltech is making huge advances in two avenues of research that could produce a working quantum computer in the coming years: Machines that use neutral atoms as qubits, the quantum version of a classical bit, and those that use superconducting qubits.

The Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 space probes have traveled the farthest into space of any human creation. NASA hopes that a reworking of the aging spacecraft’s power systems could extend their nearly 50-year-old exploration of interstellar space into the early 2030s.

More than two decades before NASA was created, Caltech students and researchers worked side-by-side on daring rocketry experiments in the Arroyo Seco. Today, Caltech students continue that legacy at JPL. caltechmagazine.squarespace.com/post/space-e...

Meet Ashwin Vasavada (PhD '98), a Caltech graduate and project scientist for NASA's Mars Curiosity rover. We’re introducing extraordinary people at Caltech and JPL who make possible some of NASA's most ambitious and technically demanding missions. magazine.caltech.edu/post/a-lifel...

Caltech's Anima Anandkumar says there is a crucial ingredient missing from most AI models: the ability to understand the physical world. www.caltech.edu/about/news/e...

Every centimeter of sea-level rise could displace 1.5 million people, and current estimates of rise range from half a meter to 2 meters by the end of the 21st century—which means that potentially hundreds of millions of people could be affected. www.caltech.edu/about/news/m...

Three years after a team of Caltech scientists showed that pairs of entangled photons could double the resolution of a light microscope, the same lab has figured out a way to double down on that improvement.

At California Institute of Technology, a little-known band of admissions officials is scrutinizing the fonts on science-fair certificates, checking addresses on high-school transcripts and analyzing signatures on awards. 🔗: on.wsj.com/4q4FZZW

Happy 14 Years on Mars, Curiosity!

Last week, @kiss-caltech.bsky.social and @caltech.edu's Brinson Exploration Hub convened experts from industry, academia, & NASA to discuss paradigm-shifting ideas, affordability improvement measures, & personal actions to shape a new era of space science. Thanks to all involved!