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In his Watson Lecture given on April 25, Shri Kulkarni, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Professor of Astronomy and Planetary Science and the director of the Caltech Optical Observatories, described how Caltech's fully automated Palomar Transient Factory—Kulkarni calls it "Transients 'R' Us"—is revolutionizing how we explore the changing sky.

What do parents want—aside from kids who come home on time and never talk with their mouths full—and why is an economist trying to answer that question? Because, at its heart, economics is all about the process of making choices. 

In James Eisenstein's Watson lecture on January 18, 2012, he uses vivid analogies and nifty animations to lead us through the basics of quantum electronics to his own work with some very bizarre particles—even for quantum mechanics.

John Eiler, Sharp Professor of Geology and Professor of Geochemistry at Caltech, will present the next Watson Lecture on February 29 in Beckman Auditorium. The Watson Lecture Series features Caltech researchers and is named for the late Earnest C. Watson, who founded the series in 1922. He presented one of his most popular lectures, “Liquid Air,” as one of the first programs at the Beckman Auditorium in October 1964.

Watch a webcast of Tom Soifer, chair of the Division of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy, professor of physics, and director of the Spitzer Science Center, exploring some of the exciting discoveries made with the Spitzer Space Telescope in a talk entitled "Seeing the Invisible Universe," which he gave on February 9 at Keck Observatory on the big island of Hawaii. For the video, click here.

Technology entrepreneur Elon Musk will be the speaker for the 118th annual commencement ceremony at Caltech. The ceremony will take place at 10 a.m. on June 15, 2012.

On June 10, Catherine Beni graduated as the youngest woman to ever receive a PhD from Caltech, the youngest person to be bestowed her actual diploma—and locked in a virtual dead heat for the "precociousness title" with physicist and Caltech grad Stephen Wolfram, developer of the Mathematica software program. Wolfram says he was a scant five days younger than Beni when he defended his thesis, making him title-holder. Beni's take? Not so fast, Stephen.

This year, the graduation regalia sported by Caltech grads had a new look: plastic. The caps and gowns were produced from a trademarked material called GreenWeaver, made from 100% post-consumer plastic bottle pellets.

Dr. John P. Holdren, assistant to the president for science and technology, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and co-chair of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), will be the speaker at the 2011 DuBridge Distinguished Lecture Series at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).

Renowned chemist and Nobel laureate Ahmed Zewail, Linus Pauling Professor of Chemistry and professor of physics at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), will be the speaker for Caltech's 117th annual commencement ceremony, which will take place at 10 a.m. on June 10 of this year.