The California Institute of Technology (abbreviated Caltech) is a private doctorate-granting university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Although founded as a preparatory and vocational school in 1891, the college attracted 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 1921. 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. The university is one among a small group of Institutes of Technology in the United States which tends to be primarily devoted to the instruction of technical arts and applied sciences.

Caltech is frequently cited as one of the world's best universities. Caltech alumni and faculty include 34 Nobel Prizes (Linus Pauling being the only individual in history to win two unshared prizes), 1 Fields Medalist, 6 Turing Award winners, and 71 have won the United States National Medal of Science or Technology. There are 112 faculty members who have been elected to the United States National Academies. In addition, numerous faculty members are associated with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute as well as NASA. According to a 2015 Pomona study, Caltech ranked number one in the USA for the percentage of its graduates who go on to earn a PhD.

History

Caltech started as a vocational school founded in Pasadena in 1891. The vocational school was disbanded and the preparatory program was split off to form an independent Polytechnic School in 1907. 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. The United States Navy also maintained a naval training school for aeronautical engineering, resident inspectors of ordnance and naval material, and a liaison officer to the National Defense Research Committee on campus. In the 1950s–1970s, 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 colorful, unconventional character.

Curriculum

The Institute is organized into six primary academic divisions: Biology and Biological Engineering, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Engineering and Applied Science, Geological and Planetary Sciences, Humanities and Social Sciences, and Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy. 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.