Generations of Caltech faculty, alumni, and students have made important contributions to science and engineering research. Watch a slideshow of Caltech's Scientific Milestones A sampling of some of Caltech's historic achievements in science: The Discovery of Anti-matter Carl Anderson In 1934, Caltech physicist Carl Anderson discovered the anti-electron, or positron, the first empirical proof for the existence of anti-matter. In addition to providing inspiration for decades of science-fiction writers, Anderson's discovery permanently reshaped our view of the universe and opened major new avenues of investigation in modern physics. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1936. The Nature of the Chemical Bond Linus Pauling What has been called the single most important discovery in the history of chemistry was made at Caltech in the 1930s by Linus Pauling. Pauling determined the nature of the chemical bond: how atoms link up to form molecules in both living and nonliving systems. Up to that time, chemistry had essentially been a hit-or-miss proposition; Pauling's insight handed chemists a powerful new tool for both predicting and manipulating the outcome of chemical reactions. Major advances in chemistry and molecular biology, and the creation of hundreds of synthetic products, had their roots in this single discovery. Pauling won the Nobel Prize twice: for chemistry, in 1954 and for peace, in 1962.
