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| Scientists at the California Institute of Technology have laid the groundwork for a crucial step in quantum information science. They show how entanglement, an essential property of quantum mechanics, can be generated between beams of light, stored in a quantum memory, and mapped back into light with the push of a button. More... |
| The California Institute of Technology stands poised to open the door to advances in nanotechnology that have the potential to revolutionize medical diagnosis and therapy. On Tuesday, March 4, the Kavli Nanoscience Institute (KNI) at Caltech will celebrate the completion of its new cleanroom facility with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and a symposium. More... |
 | Michael Roukes, professor of physics, applied physics, and bioengineering, will be featured in a three-part Fred Friendly seminar on public television called "Nanotechnology: The Power of Small," which will explore the social, ethical, and legal implications of this field. It will air on KLCS and KCET in April and May. The seminar is moderated by National Public Radio correspondent John Hockenberry and produced by former CBS journalist Fred Friendly. Roukes participated in a panel discussion called "Forever Young," which focused on nanotechnology's potential contributions to health and human enhancement. More... |
| The Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California (CENIC) has rewarded researchers at the California Institute of Technology for better connecting physicists worldwide. Lead project scientist Harvey Newman, professor of physics at Caltech, Julian Bunn of the Caltech Center for Advanced Computing Research, and their international team of researchers will receive a trophy for Innovations in Networking at a ceremony in Oakland, California, on March 11. More... |
 | The Advanced LIGO Project, an upgrade in sensitivity for LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatories), was approved by the National Science Board in its meeting on March 27. The National Science Foundation will fund the $205.12 million, seven-year project, starting with $32.75 million in 2008. This major upgrade will increase the sensitivity of the LIGO instruments by a factor of 10, giving a one thousand-fold increase in the number of astrophysical candidates for gravitational wave signals. More... |
| What are the ultimate limits to miniaturization? How small can machinery with internal workings that move, turn, and vibrate, be produced? What is the smallest scale on which computers can be built? In a newly announced global Alliance for Nanosystems VLSI, researchers at Caltech's Kavli Nanoscience Institute in Pasadena, California, and at LETI-MINATEC, the Laboratoire d'Electronique et de Technologie de l'Information-Micro- and Nano-Technologies in Grenoble, France, are working together to pursue these types of questions at an entirely new level. More... |
 | An unusual population of the darkest, most lightweight galaxies known has shed new light on a cosmic conundrum. New observations by Caltech astronomer Josh Simon of eight of these galaxies have revealed that they each contain 99 percent dark matter, a value high enough to solve the "Missing Dwarf Galaxy" problem, a discrepancy between the number of extremely small, faint galaxies that cosmological theories predict should exist near the Milky Way, and the number that have actually been observed. More... |
Wise Elected to NAS  | Mark Wise is one of four faculty members at the California Institute of Technology to be named to the National Academy of Sciences, an honor long considered one of the highest accolades in the scientific world. The election was held during the 144th annual meeting of the assembly in Washington, D.C. More... |
Kamionkowski Wins Lawrence Award  | Marc Kamionkowski, the Robinson Professor of Theoretical Physics and Astrophysics at Caltech, has been named one of eight winners of the Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award. The announcement was made Wednesday, February 7, by U.S. Secretary of Energy Samuel W. Bodman in Washington, D.C. More... |
Cutri Receives NAS Medal  | The National Academy of Sciences will honor 18 individuals with awards recognizing extraordinary scientific achievements in the areas of astronomy, biology, medicine, chemistry, geology, oceanography, physics, and psychology. These outstanding scientists have made fundamental contributions to human knowledge. Caltech's John P. Grotzinger, Fletcher Jones Professor of Geology, and Roc M. Cutri, deputy executive director of the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center (IPAC), are among the recipients. More... |
Unprecedented Mural Created by Caltech for Griffith Observatory  | Caltech scientists have produced the largest astronomical image ever in order to inspire the public with the wonders of space exploration. The image has been reproduced as a giant mural in the new exhibit hall of the landmark Griffith Observatory, which reopened Nov. 3 after several years of renovation. A team led by Caltech Professor of Astronomy George Djorgovski used data from the Palomar-Quest digital sky survey, an ongoing project at the Samuel Oschin Telescope at Palomar Observatory, which is owned and operated by Caltech. More... |
HEP Team Sets New Data Transfer Record | An international team of physicists, computer scientists, and network engineers led by the California Institute of Technology, recently set new records for sustained data transfer between storage systems during the SuperComputing 2006 (SC06) Bandwidth Challenge (BWC). More... |
Telescope Watches Black Hole Munch on a Star | A giant black hole has been caught red-handed dipping into a cosmic cookie jar of stars by NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer, Caltech researchers report. This is the first time astronomers have seen the whole process of a black hole eating a star, from its first to nearly final bites. "This type of event is very rare, so we are lucky to study the entire process from beginning to end," said Dr. Suvi Gezari of Caltech. Gezari is lead author of a new paper appearing in the December 10 issue of Astrophysical Journal Letters. More... |
Balzan Prize  | Andrew Lange, Goldberger Professor of Physics, has been selected to be a corecipient of the 2006 Balzan Prize for Observational Astronomy and Astrophysics, one of four Balzan Prizes to be presented November 24 in the Palazzo Corsini in Rome. Each prize is worth one million Swiss francs (about $810,000), which Lange will share with his corecipient and BOOMERANG colleague, Paolo de Bernardis. The BOOMERANG experiment, utilizing a microwave telescope suspended from a balloon over the Antarctic, has provided important new images of the early universe. A professor at Caltech since 1994 and the Goldberger Professor since 2001, Lange received his BA from Princeton in 1980 and his PhD from UC Berkeley in 1987. |
Now on Stamps  |
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LIGO Science Center Opens | The official opening ceremony for this hands-on science education facility, and a symposium featuring prominent education, science, government, and community leaders, was held on Monday, November 13. More... |
CARMA Dedication  | The official dedication of the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-Wave Astronomy (CARMA) facility was held Friday, May 5, at Cedar Flat in the Inyo Mountains near Bishop. More... |
Two Elected to AAAS  | Two members of the California Institute of Technology faculty are among this year's newly elected fellows of The American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Caltech inductees are Anneila Sargent, the Rosen Professor of Astronomy and director of the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-Wave Astronomy (CARMA), and Henry Lester, the Bren Professor of Biology. Their election brings the total number of fellows from Caltech to 83. More... |
Four Named to National Academy of Sciences  | Three members of the California Institute of Technology faculty and one visiting associate have been named to the National Academy of Sciences. Caltech's newest members are Mark Davis, the Schlinger Professor of Chemical Engineering; Charles Steidel, the DuBridge Professor of Astronomy and executive officer for astronomy; and David Tirrel, division chair of chemistry and chemical engineering, and the McCollum-Corcoran Professor and professor of chemistry and chemical engineering. More... |
Sunil Golwala Honored  |
Kip Thorne Honored  | Professor Kip Thorne of the California Institute of Technology was presented the California Scientist of the Year at this year's Discovery Ball, the California Science Center's annual gala, held June 25, 2005. Thorne was recognized for being one of the world's leading experts on the astrophysical implications of Einstein's General Theory of Relativity and, as stated on the citation for the award, "for having trained a generation of scientists." More... |
Four Named to National Academy of Sciences | Three members of the California Institute of Technology faculty and one former faculty who is now a visiting associate, have been named to the National Academy of Sciences. Caltech's newest members are Richard Andersen, the Boswell Professor of Neuroscience; James Eisenstein, the Roshek Professor of Physics; and Wallace Sargent, the Bowen Professor of Astronomy. Roger Blandford, a former Caltech faculty member and current visiting associate in physics is also among the electees. More... |
Five Elected to AAAS  | Five members of the California Institute of Technology faculty are among this year's newly elected fellows of The American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Caltech inductees are Barry Barish, the Linde Professor of Physics and director of LIGO; Andrew Lange, the Goldberger Professor of Physics; Barry Simon, the IBM Professor of Mathematics and Theoretical Physics; David Tirrell, chair of the Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering and McCollum-Corcoran Professor of chemistry and chemical engineering; and William Bridges, the Braun Professor of Engineering, Emeritus. More... |
Politzer wins Nobel Prize in Physics  | Hugh David Politzer, a professor of theoretical physics at Caltech, has won the 2004 Nobel Prize in physics for work he began as a graduate student on how the elementary particles known as quarks are bound together to form the protons and neutrons of atomic nuclei. More... |
Fink Wins Huygens Probe Competition | Physicist Wolfgang Fink, a visiting associate in physics at Caltech, developed the winning algorithm at this summer's Congress on Evolutionary Computation (CEC) 2006 Huygens Probe Competition. Although a small monetary award was given, bragging rights were the real prize. More... |