List of California Institute of Technology people
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The California Institute of Technology has had numerous notable alumni and staff.
Contents |
[edit] Notable alumni
Alumni who went on to become members of the faculty are listed only in this category.
[edit] Physics and Astronomy
- Carl D. Anderson, BS 1927, PhD 1930, faculty - Nobel laureate in physics (1936) for proving the existence of positrons
- Chung-Yao Chao, PhD 1930 - first scientist to capture positrons through electron-positron annihilation; father of atomic energy enterprise of China
- Sidney Coleman, PhD 1962 - theoretical physicist
- William A. Fowler, PhD 1936, faculty - Nobel laureate in physics (1983) for his studies of the nuclear reactions in stars
- Donald A. Glaser, PhD 1950 - Nobel laureate in physics (1960) for the invention of the bubble chamber
- James E. Gunn, PhD 1966 - astronomer, Crafoord laureate (2005)
- Mark M. Mills, PhD 1948 - nuclear physicist, developer of atomic weapons, and deputy director of Livermore
- Frank Oppenheimer, PhD 1939 - Manhattan Project physicist, founder of the Exploratorium
- Douglas D. Osheroff, BS 1967 - Nobel laureate in physics (1996) for discovering the superfluidic nature of 3He
- Joseph Polchinski BS 1975, String theorist
- Leo James Rainwater, BS 1939 - Nobel laureate in physics (1975) for finding the shapes of certain atomic nuclei
- Allan Sandage, PhD 1953 - astronomer, Crafoord laureate (1991)
- William Shockley, BS 1932 - Nobel laureate in physics (1956) for invention of the transistor
- Charles H. Townes, PhD 1939 - Nobel laureate in physics (1964) for contributions to planetary thermal radiation; patented the maser
- Kenneth G. Wilson, PhD 1961 - Wolf Prize laureate (1980), Nobel laureate in physics (1982) for his theory of phase transitions in matter
- Robert W. Wilson, PhD 1962 - Nobel laureate in physics (1978) for discovering the cosmic microwave background radiation (shared medal)
[edit] Chemistry
- Arnold Beckman, PhD 1928 - Inventor of the pH meter, founder of Beckman Instruments and financier of the first "silicon" company in Silicon Valley, Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory
- William A. Goddard, III, PhD 1965, faculty - theoretical chemist
- Edwin Mattison McMillan, BS 1928, MS 1929 - Nobel laureate in chemistry (1951)
- William Lipscomb, PhD 1946 - Nobel laureate in chemistry (1976)
- Linus Pauling, PhD 1925, faculty - Nobel laureate in chemistry (1954) and peace (1962)
- Kenneth Pitzer, BS 1935 - winner of the National Medal of Science, third president of Rice University, sixth president of Stanford University, Director of Research for U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (1949-1951)
[edit] Biology and Medicine
- Leland H. Hartwell, BS 1961 - Nobel laureate in physiology or medicine (2001)
- David Ho, BS 1974 - AIDS researcher
- Edward B. Lewis, PhD 1942, faculty - Nobel laureate in physiology or medicine (1995)
- Howard M. Temin, PhD 1960 - Nobel laureate in physiology or medicine (1975)
[edit] Mathematics and Computer Science
- Michael Aschbacher, BS 1966, faculty - winner of the Cole Prize in Algebra (1980)
- Fernando J. Corbató, BS 1950 - Computer scientist, recipient of the 1990 Turing Award
- Juris Hartmanis, PhD 1955 - Computer scientist, recipient of the 1993 Turing Award
- Donald Knuth, PhD 1963 - Computer scientist, creator of TeX typesetting language, and author of The Art of Computer Programming, recipient of the 1974 Turing Award
- Benoît Mandelbrot, Eng 1949 - Pioneer of fractal geometry
- John McCarthy, BS 1948 - Computer scientist, inventor of the Lisp programming language and recipient of the 1971 Turing Award
- Andrew Odlyzko, BS, MS 1971 - mathematician, demonstrated the Montgomery-Odlyzko Law
- John Platt PhD 1989 - Computer scientist
- Irving S. Reed, BS 1944, PhD 1949 in mathematics - achieved fame in computer science as the co-inventor of Reed-Solomon error correction, also worked in early digital computer design (the MADDIDA)
- Robert Tarjan, BS 1969 - Computer scientist, recipient of the 1986 Turing Award
- Edward Felten, BS 1985 - Computer scientist, worked on proof-carrying authentication, Java security, and the SDMI challenge.
- Matthew Cook, PhD 2005 - Computer scientist, proved that the Rule 110 cellular automaton is Turing-complete.
[edit] Engineering
- Tsien Hsue-shen, PhD 1939 - Father of China's rocket program
- York Liao, BS 1967 - inventor of liquid crystal displays
- Paul MacCready, MS 1948, PhD 1952 - Father of Human Powered Flight, invented the Gossamer Condor and the Gossamer Albatross
- Carver Mead, BS 1956, MS 1957, PhD 1959, faculty - pioneer in microelectronics and computer science
- Simon Ramo, PhD 1936 - co-founder of TRW and developed ICBMs
- Edward E. Simmons, BS 1934, MS 1936 - inventor of the strain gauge
[edit] Geology and Planetary Science
- Charles Francis Richter, PhD 1928, faculty - seismologist, creator of the Richter scale
- Harrison Schmitt, BS 1957 - astronaut and US Senator, the only geologist to have ever walked on the moon
- Eugene Merle Shoemaker, BS 1947, MS 1948, faculty - astrogeologist, co-discoverer of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9
[edit] Business
- Sabeer Bhatia, BS 1991 - Co-founder of Hotmail
- Chester Carlson, BS 1930 - Inventor of the photocopier, the foundation of Xerox
- Yuan-Cheng Fung, PhD 1948 - Founder of Biomechanics
- Cleve Moler, BS 1961 - Inventor of MATLAB, co-founder of The MathWorks, influential in the field of numerical analysis
- Gordon E. Moore, PhD 1954 - co-founder of Intel Corp. and author of Moore's law
- Benjamin Rosen, BS 1954 - co-founder of Compaq
- Stephen Wolfram, PhD 1979 - Creator of Mathematica
[edit] Economics
- Robert Barro, BS 1965 - economist
- Robert C. Merton, MS 1967 - Nobel laureate in economics (1997)
- Vernon L. Smith, BS 1949 - Nobel laureate in economics (2002)
[edit] Politics
- Moshe Arens, MS 1953 - former Israeli defense minister and foreign minister
- Steingrímur Hermannsson, MS 1952 - former Prime Minister of Iceland
- John M. Poindexter, PhD 1964 - Director of DARPA Information Awareness Office, National Security Advisor to Ronald Reagan
- Eberhardt Rechtin, BS 1946, PhD 1950 - Director of DARPA, Assistant Secretary of Defense, chief engineer of Hewlett-Packard, and president of The Aerospace Corporation
[edit] Other fields
- Bert Acosta - early aviator
- David Brin, BS 1973 - science fiction author
- Frank Capra, BS 1918 - filmmaker, director of such classics as It's a Wonderful Life
- Jim Hall, BS 1958 - Race car driver and founder of the Chaparral racing team
- N. Katherine Hayles, MS 1966- critical theorist
- Herman Kahn, graduate studies - nuclear strategist
- Alan Lightman, PhD 1974 - physicist and novelist
- Sandra Tsing Loh, BS 1983 - writer, performer, musician, humorist
- Tyson Mao, BS 2006 - Rubik's Cube solver, TV star
- Larry Niven, undergraduate studies - science fiction writer
- Harry Turtledove, undergraduate studies - historian and fiction writer
- Gary W. Cox, BS 1979, PhD 1983 - political scientist
- Mark S. Wrighton, PhD - Chancellor of Washington University
[edit] Notable faculty
Members of the faculty are listed under the name of the academic division to which they belong.
[edit] Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy
- Robert Bacher - nuclear physicist and member of the Manhattan Project
- Richard Feynman - Nobel laureate in physics (1965)
- Murray Gell-Mann - Nobel laureate in physics (1969) and co-founder of Santa Fe Institute
- David Goodstein - director of The Mechanical Universe, Vice-Provost of Caltech
- George Ellery Hale - astronomer
- Robert A. Millikan - Nobel laureate in physics (1923)
- Rudolf Mössbauer - Nobel laureate in physics (1961)
- Robert Oppenheimer - physicist, director of the Manhattan Project
- H. David Politzer - Nobel laureate in physics (2004)
- John Preskill - physicist
- Herbert John Ryser - mathematician, leading figure in Combinatorics
- Maarten Schmidt - discovered quasars
- John Schwarz - physicist, string theory pioneer
- Barry Simon - mathematical physicist
- Charles C. Steidel - astronomer, MacArthur Fellow (2002)
- Kip Thorne - physicist
- Richard C. Tolman - mathematical physicist
- Mark B. Wise - physicist
- Fritz Zwicky - astronomer, produced the first evidence of dark matter
[edit] Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
- John D. Roberts - Physical chemist, one of the pioneers of NMR as a tool to study organic compounds, winner of the National Medal of Science (1990) and the Priestley Medal (1987)
- Jacqueline Barton - Bioinorganic chemist and MacArthur Fellow (1991)
- Harry Gray - Inorganic chemist, winner of National Medal of Science (1986), the Wolf Prize in Chemistry (2004), the Priestley Medal (1991) and founding director of the Beckman Institute
- Robert H. Grubbs - Nobel laureate in chemistry (2005)
- Rudolph Marcus - Nobel laureate in chemistry (1992)
- Arthur A. Noyes - Chemist
- Ahmed H. Zewail - Nobel laureate in chemistry (1999)
[edit] Biology
- David Baltimore - Nobel laureate in physiology or medicine (1975), President of Caltech (1997-2006)
- George Wells Beadle - Nobel laureate in physiology or medicine (1958)
- Seymour Benzer - Crafoord laureate in biosciences (1993)
- Pamela J. Bjorkman - pioneering structural and cell biologist
- Max Delbrück - Nobel laureate in physiology or medicine (1969)
- Renato Dulbecco - Nobel laureate in physiology or medicine (1975)
- Christof Koch - biologist
- Thomas Hunt Morgan - Nobel laureate in physiology or medicine (1933)
- James Olds - neuroscientist
- Roger W. Sperry - Nobel laureate in physiology or medicine (1981)
[edit] Engineering and Applied Science
- Theodore von Kármán - expert in aeronautics and rocket-scientist
[edit] Geological and Planetary Sciences
- Don L. Anderson - Crafoord laureate in geosciences (1998)
- Clair Cameron Patterson - determined the age of the Earth, exposed lead pollution
- Gerald J. Wasserburg - Crafoord laureate in geochemistry (1986)
- Michael E. Brown - discovered many trans-Neptunian objects
[edit] Humanities and Social Sciences
- Colin F. Camerer - economist
- Charles Plott - economist
- Preston McAfee - economist
- Kim C. Border - economist
- Philip T. Hoffman - economic historian
- J. Morgan Kousser - historian
