List of California Institute of Technology people

The California Institute of Technology has had numerous notable alumni and staff.

=Notable alumni=

Alumni who went on to become members of the faculty are listed only in this category.

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
*Kip Thorne, BS 1962, faculty - gravitational physicist
*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)
*Stephen Wolfram, PhD 1979 - Founder of Wolfram Research, Inc. (makers of Mathematica) and author of A New Kind of Science
*Kamaloddin Jenab, PhD - pioneer of nuclear physics in Iran.
*James C. Fletcher, PhD 1948 - served as the 4th and 7th Administrator of NASA.

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)
*Stephen Mayo, PhD 1987, faculty - Vice Provost, HHMI-Professor of Biology and Chemistry, First Black Tenured Professor in (1998)

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)
*C. C. Tan, PhD 1936 - father of Chinese (modern) genetics

Mathematics and Computer Science

*Robert Dilworth, BS 1936, PhD 1939, faculty - mathematician, famous for Dilworth's theorem
*Michael Aschbacher, BS 1966, faculty - winner of the Cole Prize in Algebra (1980)
*Serge Lang, BS 1946 - Mathematician, known for his work in number theory and for his mathematics textbooks, including the influential "Algebra". Received Steele Prize in 1999.
*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.
*Walter Bright, BS 1979 - Computer scientist, developed first native C++ compiler (Zortech C++), first classic strategic computer wargame (Empire), and designed the D programming language.
*Tsutomu Shimomura, undergraduate studies - Computational physicist and computer security expert, tracked down and helped the FBI arrest hacker Kevin Mitnick
*Lloyd R. Welch, PhD 1958 - information theorist, co-inventor of the Baum-Welch algorithm

Engineering

*Robert L. Behnken, MS 1993, PhD 1997 - NASA Astronaut, flew on STS-123
*Frank Borman, MS 1957 - NASA Astronaut, commanded Gemini 7 and Apollo 8 space missions
*Gregory Chamitoff, MS 1985 - NASA Astronaut, flew on STS-124 and staying on Expedition 17 on the International Space Station
*Richard G. Folsom, BS 1928, MS 1929, PhD 1933, President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (1958-1971)
*C. Gordon Fullerton, BS 1957, MS 1958 - Space Shuttle astronaut and test pilot
*Edward Gibson, MS 1960, PhD 1964 - NASA astronaut, flew on Skylab 4
*Tsien Hsue-shen, PhD 1939 - Father of China's rocket program
*York Liao, BS 1967 - inventor of liquid crystal displays. Co-founder and Executive Director, Varitronix.
*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
*Garrett Reisman, MS 1992, PhD 1997, NASA Astronaut, Flew on STS-123 and was part of expedition 16 on the International Space Station. Returned to Earth on STS-124.
*Harold Rosen, MS 1948, PhD 1951 - developer of Syncom family of communication satellites; winner National Medal of Technology 1985; brother of Benjamin Rosen (BS 1954)
*Richard A. Searfoss, MS 1979 - NASA Astronaut, flew on STS-58 and STS-76, commander of STS-90
*Edward E. Simmons, BS 1934, MS 1936 - inventor of the strain gauge

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

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, founding partner Sevin Rosen Funds, brother of Harold Rosen (MS 1948, PhD 1951)
*Bill Gross, BS 1984 - founder of business incubator Idealab which was influential in the dot-com era.

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)

Politics

*Erdal İnönü, PhD 1951 - Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey between 1991 and 1993
*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

Other fields

*Bert Acosta, undergraduate studies - early aviator
*David Brin, BS 1973 - science fiction author
*L. Sprague de Camp, BS 1930 - science fiction author
*Frank Capra, BS 1918 - filmmaker, director of such classics as "It's a Wonderful Life"
*Jess Collins, BS 1948 - visual artist
*Gary W. Cox, BS 1979, PhD 1983 - political scientist
*Virgil Griffith, graduate student - computer hacker, affiliated with the Santa Fe Institute
*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
*Robert J. Lang, PhD - physicist and renown origami master
*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
*Harold McGee, BS (EN) 1973 - pioneer in science-based approach to cooking
*Larry Niven, undergraduate studies - science fiction writer
*William Luther Pierce, graduate studies 1950s - white nationalist, founder of the National Alliance, author of "The Turner Diaries"
* [http://www.answers.com/topic/joe-trela Joe Trela] , BS 1997 - third contestant to win the $1 million Grand Prize on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire [http://www.legendsofcaltech.com/Web_Stories.html?id=zzz1076813769556auto]
*Harry Turtledove, undergraduate studies - historian and fiction writer
*Mark S. Wrighton, PhD 1972 - Chancellor of Washington University

=Notable faculty=

Members of the faculty are listed under the name of the academic division to which they belong.

Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy

*Robert Bacher - nuclear physicist and member of the Manhattan Project
*Harold Brown - physicist, president of Caltech (1969-77), U.S. Secretary of Defense (1977-81)
*Richard Ellis - extragalactic astronomer and cosmologist
*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 H. Schwarz - physicist, string theory pioneer
*Barry Simon - mathematical physicist
*Charles C. Steidel - astronomer, MacArthur Fellow (2002)
*Richard C. Tolman - mathematical physicist
*Mark B. Wise - physicist
*Fritz Zwicky - astronomer, produced the first evidence of dark matter

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)

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)

Engineering and Applied Science

*Theodore von Kármán - expert in aeronautics and rocket-scientist

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

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