Jump to content

California Institute of Technology

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Guanabot (talk | contribs) at 17:52, 12 September 2004 (Guanaco - robot: fixing <p> and emphasis tags on pages containing <p> tags). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

The California Institute of Technology (commonly known as Caltech) is a coeducational private university located in Pasadena, California. Caltech was originally founded in 1891 as the Throop Polytechnic Institute, and it has maintained a heavy emphasis in engineering and the sciences. Caltech also operates the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA.

California Institute of Technology

Caltech Seal

MottoThe truth shall make you free
Established 1891
School type Private
President David Baltimore
Location Pasadena, CA, USA
Enrollment 900 undergraduate,
1,300 graduate
Faculty 386
Endowment US$1.3 billion
Campus Urban, 124 acres
Sports teams Beavers
Website www.caltech.edu

Student life

During the early 20th century, a Caltech committee visited several universities and decided to transform the undergraduate housing system from regular fraternities to a unique House System, combining the qualities of regular university dormitory and the college system similar to that of the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. Four (south) houses (or hovses, so named for the inscription on the gates thereof) were built: Blacker House, Dabney House, Fleming House, and Ricketts House. In the late 20th century, three north houses were built: Lloyd House, Page House, and Ruddock House. During the 1990s, an additional house, Avery House, was built to accommodate those who feel the original seven houses were not suitable for them. Some students jocularly refer to the Undergraduate Computer Science Laboratory as another house, as a few spend most of their time there.

There are many annual traditions at Caltech, demonstrating the weird and wonderful creativity of its inhabitants. Every Halloween there is a pumpkin drop from the top of the Millikan Library, the highest point on campus, where the frozen pumpkin supposedly flashes as it hits the ground. And then there is the annual Ditch Day, where seniors ditch school but design elaborate tasks and traps at the doors of their rooms to prevent underclassman from entering. This has evolved to the point where many seniors spend months designing mechanical/electrical/software obstacles in order to confound the underclassmen. The faculty has been drawn into the event as well, and cancel all classes on Ditch Day so that the underclassmen can participate in what has become a highlight of the year.

Another tradition was the playing of the Ride of the Valkyries at 7AM the morning of finals week with the largest speakers available in the hallway of the freshmen. The playing of that piece is not allowed at any other time, and any offender is dragged off into the showers to the drenched in cold water fully dressed. The playing of the Ride is such a strong tradition that the music was used during Apollo 17 to awaken Astronaut Harrison Schmitt, the only astronaut-scientist to explore the moon.

Caltech students have been known for the many pranks they have pulled off in the area. The two most famous are the changing of the Hollywood sign to read Caltech, by judiciously covering up certain parts of the letters, and the changing of the Rose Bowl scoreboard to an imaginary game where Caltech soundly trounced MIT.

Another unique feature of the Caltech community is the Honor Code, which states simply: "No member of the Caltech community shall take unfair advantage of any other member of the Caltech community." This is enforced by a Board of Control, consisting of members of the community.

The movie Real Genius was loosely based on events at Caltech.

Noted alumni

Noted faculty

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=California_Institute_of_Technology&oldid=5870884"