CALTECH STUDENT HISTORY NOTES
INDIVIDUAL STUDENT ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
Robert Heilbron (BS '26) became a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University.
Horace W. Davenport (BS '35, PhD '??), a biology major, became a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford.
Student deaths are a subject one does not like to dwell on yet accidents and suicides do occur. In the year 1934-35, two students died. John Kiplinger was killed accidentally while cleaning a rifle. Thomas Jackson, a member of the track team, died suddenly at the end of a practice session.
Frank B. Jewett, Jr., Chairman of the Board of Control in 1936-37 was an Olympic yachtsman. In 1933 and 34 he was Junior National Champion in 6-meter yachts. In the Olympic Trials off San Pedro in 1936, Jewett competed in the one-man planing boats without keels and won. In the Olympic competition he placed ninth out of 28 entries.
Jim King was in the first generation of African American students at Caltech - his attendance on the first day had to be escorted and protected by police, accompanied by a "minor problem" that his roommate (Caucasian) refused to share the room with him! Eventually a Chinese student, Chi Chang Wang, agreed to be his roommate. (more on Wang below). Nevertheless, he graduated with a Ph.D. and rose through the ranks at JPL. Jim was the program manager of the stratosphere research program (Gerry Wasserburg made sure he had money to start his research program in atmospheric chemistry). Jim remained an important middle level manager for many years at JPL; he was smart, competent and very skillful with human relations, a necessary skill he undoubtedly acquired during his less than cordial early years at Caltech. Jim retired from JPL to become an Institute Professor at Morehouse College in Atlanta where he ran a research program in space (astro) and solar system chemistry.
Dr. Chi Chang Wang had a distinguished career after graduating from Caltech. Chiang Kai-shek appointed him the president of the premier university of science and technology in Taiwan, Tsinghua University (consisting of the faculty who followed Chiang into exile). Ten years later Typhoon Lee came from that university to study in GPS. Today Typhoon is the king (Wasserburg) of earth science in Taiwan. Taiwan became serious about space, investing US $80 million to be a partner of the GPS project at JPL for improving typhoon prediction.
Caltech faculty who were undergraduates but whose house affiliation is unknown:
| Name | Degrees | Faculty Affiliation |
|---|---|---|
| Jesse W.M. DuMond | BS '16, PhD '29 | Physics |
| Arthur L. Klein | BS '21, MS '24, PhD '25 | Aeronautics |
| Richard McL. Badger | BS '21, PhD '24 | Chemistry |
| Carl D. Anderson | BS '27, PhD '30 | Physics |
| John H. Maxson | BS '27, MS '28, PhD '31 | Geology |
| Ernest E. Sechler | BS '28, MS '29, PhD '33 | Airplane Structures |
| Albert E. Lombard | BS '28, MS '29, PhD '39 | Aeronautics and Mech. Eng. |
| Donald S. Clark | BS '29, MS '30, PhD '34 | Mechanical Eng. |
| Gilbert McCann | BS '34, MS '35, PhD '39 | Applied Science |
| Vito A. Vanoni | BS '26, MS '32, PhD '40 | Hydraulics |
| Francis H. Clauser | BS '34, MS '35, PhD '37 | Engineering |
| Robert P. Dilworth | BS '36, PhD '39 | Mathematics |
| Donald E. Hudson | BS '38, MS '39, PhD '42 | Mechanical Eng. and Appl. Mechanics |
| Richard A. Dean | BS '45 | Mathematics |
| Thad Vreeland | BS '49, MS '50, PhD '52 | Material Science |
| Wolfgang G. Knauss | BS '58, MS '59, PhD '63 | Prof. of Aeronautics and Applied Mechanics |
Caltech faculty who obtained graduate degrees at Caltech:
| Name | Degrees | Faculty Affiliation |
|---|---|---|
| Roscoe G. Dickinson | PhD '20 | Physical Chemistry |
| Ernest H. Swift | MS '20, PhD '24 | Analytical Chemistry |
| Linus Pauling | PhD '25 | Chemistry |
| Ira S. Bowen | PhD '26 | Physics |
| Don M. Yost | PhD '26 | Inorganic Chemistry |
| A. Perry Banta | MS '28 | Sanitary Engineering |
| Arnold O. Beckman | PhD '28 | former Assoc. Chemistry |
| Clark B. Millikan | PhD '28 | Aeronautics |
| Frederick C. Lindvall | PhD '28 | Electrical and Mechanical Eng. |
| Charles E. Richter | PhD '28 | Seismology |
| Morgan Ward | PhD '28 | Mathematics |
| Robert T. Knapp | PhD '29 | Hydraulic Engineering |
| Charles C. Lauritsen | PhD '29 | Physics |
| Albert Tyler | PhD '29 | Embryology |
| James H. Sturdivant | PhD '30 | Chemistry |
| Francis W. Maxstadt | MS '25, PhD '31 | Electrical Engineering |
| James F. Bonner | PhD '34 | Biology |
| Irving P. Krick | MS '33,PhD '34 | Meteorology |
| Bruce H. Sage | MS '31,PhD '34 | Chemical Engineering |
| Hugo Benioff | PhD '35 | Seismology |
| William A. Fowler | PhD '36 | Physics |
| J. Harold Wayland | MS '35, PhD '37 | Engineering Science |
| William R. Sears | PhD '38 | Aeronautics |
| Homer J. Stewart | PhD '40 | Aeronautics |
| Leverett Davis | MS '38, PhD '41 | Theoretical Physics |
| Edward B. Lewis | PhD '42 | Biology |
| Eugene W. Cowan | PhD '48 | Physics |
| Donald E. Coles | MS '48, PhD '48 | Aeronautics |
| Frank E. Marble | AE '47, PhD '48 | Mechanical Eng. and Jet Propulsion |
| Anatol Roshko | MS '47, PhD '52 | Aeronautics |
| Theodore Y.-T. Wu | PhD '52 | Engineering Science |
| Clarence R. Allen | MS '51, PhD '54 | Geology and Geophysics |
| Norman H. Brooks | PhD '54 | Environmental and Civil Engineering |
| James O. McCaldin | PhD '54 | Applied Physics and Electrical Eng. |
| Thomas K. Caughey | PhD '54 | Applied Mechanics and Mechanical Eng. |
| Edward E. Zukoski | MS '51, PhD '54 | Jet Propulsion and Mechanical Eng. |
| Leon T. Silver | PhD '55 | Resource Geology |
| Frederik Zachariasen | PhD '56 | Theoretical Physics |
| Toshi Kubota | MS '52, PhD '57 | Aeronautics |
| Thomas J. Ahrens | MS '58 | Geophysics |
| Bradford Sturtevant | MS '56, PhD '60 | Aeronautics |
| Don L. Anderson | MS '59, PhD '62 | Geophysics |
| Charles W. Peck | PhD '64 | Physics |
| George Zweig | PhD '64 | Theoretical Physics |
| William A. Goddard | PhD '65 | Chemistry and Applied Physics |
| E. John List | PhD '65 | Environmental Engineering Science |
| James H. Strauss | PhD '67 | Biology |
| Thomas C. McGill | MS '65, PhD '69 | Applied Physics |
| George R. Rossman | PhD '71 | Mineralogy |
| Judith G. Cohen | MS '69, PhD '71 | Astronomy |
| Slobodan M. Cuk | PhD '77 | Electrical Engineering |
| Barbara J. Wold | PhD '78 | Biology |
| Glen P. Cass | PhD '78 | Environmental and Mechanical Eng. |
| James L. Beck | PhD '79 | Civil Engineering |
| Matthew L. Spitzer | PhD '79 | Law and Social Science |
| Joseph E. Shepherd | PhD '80 | Aeronautics |
| Thomas R. Palfrey | PhD '81 | Economics and Political Science |
| Yaser S. Abu-Mostafa | PhD '83 | Electrical Eng. and Computer Science |
| Morteza Gharib | PhD '83 | Aeronautics |
| Geoffrey A. Blake | PhD '86 | Cosmochemistry |
| Stephen L. Mayo | PhD '87 | Biology |
| James K. McCarthy | PhD '88 | Astronomy |
OLYMPICS:
Glenn Graham earned a silver medal in the pole vault at the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris, France, contributing to the United States team's 32 total medals in athletics. He continued his Caltech career as captain of the 1926 squad which tied Occidental College for the SCIAC Championship – the Beavers' first in any sport. The year prior, he led the Beavers to an undefeated dual meet record while clearing what still ranks as the sixth-highest bar in program history at 13 feet, 2 7/8 inches.
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| Glenn Graham, silver medalist at the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris | ||
Phil Conley attended Caltech where he played baseball, basketball, and football, in addition to track. He graduated with a BS degree in mechanical engineering. He won the 1956 NCAA title in the javelin throw, after finishing fifth in 1955. At the AAU meet, he finished in the top six 9 of 10 years from 1956-1965, missing only 1963, with best finishes of third in 1958-60. He was a member of the 1956 US Summer Olympic team in Melbourne, Australia, where he competed in the men's javelin throw. He was silver medalist in the javelin at the 1959 Pan American Games. He had a personal best throw in 1964 of 260ft 2in. Phil Conley remained active in track & field throughout his life, serving as a volunteer assistant coach at Stanford.
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| Phil Conley, member of the 1956 US Olympic team. |
Betsy Mitchell, Director of Athletics, Physical Education and Recreation at Caltech was a competitive swimmer for over 10 years. She was a seven-time individual NCAA Champion in the 100- and 200-yard backstrokes and the 200-yard individual medley, holding the American record for both backstroke events for many years and the world record in the 100-yard event. She earned an Olympic silver medal as a high school athlete by placing second in the 100-meter backstroke, and also winning a gold medal as a member of the 400-meter medley relay in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. She earned another Olympic medal after helping the 400-meter medley relay team to a silver medal at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. In between Olympics, she set the world record in the 200-meter backstroke at the 1986 World Championships, a record that stood for five years. Prior to her appointment as the Director of Athletics at Caltech in 2011, Mitchell served as the director of athletics and recreation at Allegheny College in Pennsylvania.
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| Betsy Mitchell, 1984 US Olympic silver and gold medallist. |
Last updated 4/10/04.
Christopher E. Brennen