Engineering and Science, Volume 78:1, Spring 2015

Table of Contents

Caltech on Twitter

From the Editor

Random Walk

Dialing into Noise

Letters from Einstein

A Meeting of the Energy Minded

A Nobel Honor

Available Now on Caltech.edu

The Starting Line

From the World Cube Association to the field of basketball analytics to the oft-visited Red Door Café, the things that started for—and were started by—Caltech’s alumni are as diverse as those alumni themselves.

They Came from Outer Space

Caltech nanomineralogist Chi Ma pokes and prods meteorite samples to gain better insight into the materials that break off other celestial bodies and land on Earth.

Memories of Throop By Katie Neith
Although the very first building to rise on Caltech’s campus was demolished over 40 years ago, pieces of that great hall can still be found around campus . . . if you look closely enough.

X-ray Vision By Marcus Woo
Caltech has played a central role in developing a powerful technique for revealing the molecular machinery of life and creating new types of medicine.

Launch Points By Kimm Fesenmaier
The classic tale of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s start naturally involves rockets and explosions. Here is that origin story and nine other fascinating facts about JPL.

In Memoriam
Marvin L. Goldberger • Gerry Neugebauer • Ray D. Owen • Thomas A. Tombrello

Endnotes
What started for you at Caltech?