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.

Caltech was ranked first in the 2011 – 2012 Times Higher Education worldwide rankings of universities as well as ranking first in physical science and engineering.

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.

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.

Caltech undergraduates have historically been so apathetic to politics that there has been only one organized student protest in January 1968 outside the Burbank studios of NBC, in response to rumors that NBC was to cancel Star Trek.

Caltech was ranked 1st internationally in 2011 by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings.

Caltech was ranked as the best university in the world in two categories: Engineering & Technology and Physical Sciences.

Caltech was found to offer the highest return of investment of college education, at $ 1, 713, 000 over a 30-year period, according to the same study.

The playing of the Ride is such a strong tradition that the music was used during Apollo 17 to awaken Astronaut Harrison Schmitt, a Caltech alumnus.

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 A. Porter ' 98 and published in May 2007.

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.

This was initially termed " splat cooling " by doctoral student W. Klement at Caltech, who showed that cooling rates on the order of millions of degrees per second is sufficient to impede the formation of crystals, and the metallic atoms become " locked into " a glassy state.

Conversely, JPL, through the Caltech lawyers representing the laboratory, allege that Coppedge's termination was simply due to budget cuts and his demotion from team lead was because of harassment complaints and from on-going conflicts with his co-workers.

This story was called " Instantané pour Caltech ".

Varga was visiting Olga Taussky-Todd and John Todd at Caltech.

His early work was done on mainframes at III, JPL, and Caltech.

The Infrared Radiometer ( IRR ) team was led by Professor Gerald Neugebauer from the California Institute of Technology ( Caltech ).

The term " Moore's law " was coined around 1970 by the Caltech professor, VLSI pioneer, and entrepreneur Carver Mead in reference to a statement by Gordon E. Moore.

An aeronautical engineer by profession, De Camp conducted his undergraduate studies at the California Institute of Technology ( where his roommate was at one point noted rocket fuel scientist John D. Clark ), and earned his Bachelor of Science degree from Caltech in Aeronautical Engineering 1930.

It was discovered on August 9, 1989, by Eleanor F. Helin ( Caltech ) on photographic plates taken at Palomar Observatory.

Goodhue's designs for Caltech were also influenced by the traditional Spanish mission architecture of Southern California.

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.

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.

In addition to managing JPL, Caltech also operates the Palomar Observatory in San Diego County, the Owens Valley Radio Observatory in Bishop, California, the Submillimeter Observatory and W. M. Keck Observatory at the Mauna Kea Observatory, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory at Livingston, Louisiana and Richland, Washington, and Kerckhoff Marine Laboratory in Corona del Mar, California.

The Institute launched the Kavli Nanoscience Institute at Caltech in 2006, the Keck Institute for Space Studies in 2008, and is also the current home for the Einstein Papers Project.

Undergraduates at Caltech are also encouraged to participate in research.

There are also two Caltech Jazz Bands and a Concert Band.

Caltech students have been known for the many pranks ( also known as " RFs ").

" Caltech students also passed out T-shirts to MIT's incoming freshman class that had MIT written on the front and "... because not everyone can go to Caltech " along with an image of a palm tree on the back.

There are also some Caltech graduate students, college student interns and co-op students.

Caltech is also responsible for the well-known Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which designs and engineers many of NASA's spacecraft.

* California Institute of Technology, also called " Caltech ", a university in Pasadena, California

He was appointed Professor of Astronomy at Caltech in 1942 and also worked as a research director / consultant for Aerojet Engineering Corporation ( 1943 – 1961 ) and staff member of Mount Wilson Observatory and Palomar Observatory for most of his career.

The term " house system " is also used to refer to the residential college systems found in some colleges and universities, such as Caltech, Yale College, Harvard College, and University of Chicago.

From 1988 to 2007 he served as Vice-provost of the California Institute of Technology ( Caltech ), where he is also a professor of physics and applied physics, as well as ( since 1995 ) the Frank J. Gilloon Distinguished Teaching and Service Professor.

The name " Pacific Tech " (" Pacific Institute of Technology ") used in the three-part opening episode " Galactica Discovers Earth " is a name used several times in films and television when directors / writers / producers wanted to depict a science-oriented university without using a real institution's name, as also was earlier done in The War of the Worlds and later in Real Genius ; an earlier draft of the script used the real-world name " Caltech ".

He was also briefly president of Caltech.

He was also the architect for the Hoover Dam and early Caltech dorms.

In an interview at Caltech, Benzer also remembered receiving a microscope for his 13th birthday, “ and that opened up the whole world .” The book " Arrowsmith " by Sinclair Lewis heavily influenced the young Benzer, and he even imitated the handwriting of Max Gottlieb, a scientist character in the novel.

He was supposed to take up a position at Caltech, but he was also, unexpectedly, offered a position at the University of Washington, Seattle.

In 2007, researchers at JPL / Caltech have also discovered Raman lasing with fluorite resonators, demonstrating record low threshold and high efficiency.

Raup has also taught at Caltech, Johns Hopkins and the University of Rochester.

Dabney also hosts Drop Day, a party held the Saturday after the second term drop day to celebrate the point of no return, and Dabney Metal Night, an opportunity for the amateur bands of Caltech to play for the crowd.