加州理工学院(California Institute of Technology)创建于1891年，这所私立大学的宗旨是“为教育事业、政府及工业发展需要培养富有创造力的科学家和工程师”。迄今为止，它已培养了1万7千名学生，其中有22人获得诺贝尔奖，还有大批获得美国政府颁发的各种科学学术奖项。加州理工学院在2001年全美大学综合排名中名列第4，它被誉为美国一流的科技理工类学院当之无愧。
该校学生人数较少，只有1800人。学校治学严谨，提倡学生一进校就参加各项科研活动。学生多为立志献身科技事业的青年，他(她)们发奋读书、刻苦钻研。学校聘用的教授和讲师都是一流的科学家，很多是诺贝尔奖得主及其他科技奖得主。
学校有六大学系：生物学、化学及化学工程系、工程与应用科学、地质学及行星学、人类学和社会科学、物理数学和天文学。研究生课程由各学科专业教授担任，研究生选择其中一门研究课题后，就同负责此课题的非正式的教授组联系。该院研究生课程门门都出类拔萃，其物理专业在全美大学研究生院中排名第1，数学第8，生物学第5，计算机第11。
该校科研设施先进，着名的科研中心有布斯计算中心、Hale天文台、地震实验室、KerckhOff海洋实验室、Big Bear太阳系观测站、Palomar天文台、Owens峡谷射电天文台、NASA的喷气推进实验室、环境质量实验室、新成立的位于夏威夷的亚毫米观测站、斯坦福线性加速器中心等。
该校的理工类专业设置有：数学、应用数学、物理、应用物理学、天文学、计算机科学、宇宙化学、地球生物学、地球化学、地球物理学、地质学、行星科学、航天学、应用力学、土木工程、化学、化学工程、生物学、细胞生物学和生物物理学等。
The California Institute of Technology (commonly known as Caltech) is a private， coeducational university located in Pasadena， California， in the United States. A leading research university， Caltech maintains a strong emphasis onemphasis on 强调 the natural sciences and engineering. Caltech also owns and manages the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)， a worldleading autonomousspaceflight complex that oversees the design and operation of most of NASA，s spaceprobes.
History
Modern Caltech grew from a vocational school founded in Pasadena in 1891 by local businessman and politician Amos G. Throop. The school was known successively as Throop University， Throop Polytechnic Institute， and Throop College of Technology， before acquiringacquire vt.获得， 学到 its current name in 1920.
The driving force behind the transformation of Caltech from a school of arts and crafts to a worldclass scientific center was the vision of astronomer George Ellery Hale. Hale had joined Throop，s board of trustees after coming to Pasadena in 1907 as the first director of the Mount Wilson Observatory. At a time when scientific research in the United States was still in its infancy， Hale saw an opportunity to create in Pasadena an institution for serious research and education in engineering and the natural sciences. Hale succeeded in attracting private gifts of land and money that allowed him to endow the school with wellequipped， modern laboratory facilities. He then convinced two of the leading American scientists of the time， physical chemist Arthur Amos Noyes and experimental physicist Robert Andrews Millikan， to join Caltech，s faculty and contribute to the project of establishing it as a center for science and technology.
In 1917 Hale hired architect Bertram Goodhue to produce a master plan for the 22acre campus. Goodhue conceivedconceive vt.构思， 以为， 持有 vi.怀孕， 考虑， 设想 of the overall layout of the campus and designed the Physics Building， Dabney Hall， and several other structures， in which he sought to be consistent with the local climate， the character of the school， and Hale，s educational philosophy. Goodhue，s designs for Caltech were also influenced by the traditional Spanish mission architecture of Southern California.