Earnest C. Watson Lecture Series
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Established in 1922, the Watson Lectures bring Caltech's most innovative scientific research to the public.
Originally known as the "Friday Evening Demonstration Lectures," this public lecture series was started by Earnest C. Watson, a professor of physics at Caltech from 1919 to 1959, in order to share modern scientific advances with the public. Eventually renamed in his honor, the Watson Lectures continue to spotlight the pioneering research Caltech's faculty is currently conducting.
Watson Lectures are free and open to the public.
Jump to: Upcoming Lectures • Past Lectures
Watch Live
Lectures will be live-streamed here so that you can watch them in real time. Virtual audience members can submit questions during the broadcast via the YouTube chat feed.
Upcoming Lectures
Galactic Paleontology with JWST: Finding Living Fossils in the Ancient Universe
Wednesday, February 8, 2023
7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. PT
Chuck Steidel (PhD '90)
Lee A. DuBridge Professor of Astronomy, Division of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy, Department of Astronomy
Since it began its scientific mission in July 2022, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has provided the first detailed glimpses of the most distant reaches of the observable universe, when the first galaxies were emerging more than 13 billion years ago. History suggests that opening new observational windows leads to entirely unanticipated discoveries, and JWST has already begun to fulfill that promise. In this lecture, Steidel will explore what enables the unprecedented power of JWST for studying galaxy formation in its infancy and what we can expect to learn from JWST images and spectra over the next several years.
This lecture will be presented in a hybrid format, allowing for both virtual viewers and in-person attendees. No advance registration is required for either format but you may sign up for reminders about this event.
Enigma of the Heart
Wednesday, March 1, 2023
7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. PT
Morteza (Mory) Gharib (PhD '83)
Hans W. Liepmann Professor of Aeronautics and Medical Engineering; director and Booth-Kresa Leadership Chair of the Center for Autonomous Systems and Technologies (CAST); director of GALCIT, Division of Engineering and Applied Science
Our circulatory system's 500 million years of evolution is on full display during the nine months of human embryonic heart development. The hallmark of this evolution is a beating, complex, autonomous muscular pump that sustains life. In this lecture, Gharib will explain the concept of a wave system established by the beating heart that moves through the human body, which can provide a window to the health of the cardiovascular system and early diagnoses of its devastating diseases by utilizing modern data science.
This lecture will be presented in a hybrid format, allowing for both virtual viewers and in-person attendees. No advance registration is required for either format but you may sign up for reminders about this event.
Electrifying and Decarbonizing Chemical Synthesis
Wednesday, April 19, 2023
7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. PT
Karthish Manthiram
Professor of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry; William H. Hurt Scholar, Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
There is a significant carbon footprint behind the physical world, including the fabrics we wear, the foods we eat, and the disinfectants we spray. This problem presents the need to find ways to synthesize chemicals and materials in a sustainable manner that eliminates greenhouse gas emissions from these products. In this lecture, Manthiram will discuss how his lab is developing an approach that uses electricity to convert air and water into the useful chemicals and materials we rely on every day.
This lecture will be presented in a hybrid format, allowing for both virtual viewers and in-person attendees. No advance registration is required for either format but you may sign up for reminders about this event.
Making Wearable Materials Smarter
Wednesday, May 10, 2023
7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. PT
Chiara Daraio
G. Bradford Jones Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Physics; Heritage Medical Research Institute Investigator, Division of Engineering and Applied Science
Advances in materials science, manufacturing, and computer science have enabled transformative innovations in wearable materials, with designs that that can monitor metabolic activity, change stiffness on command, and even interpret our mood. These new materials will allow garments and fashion to bring together the physical and digital worlds. In this lecture, Daraio will show examples of how these materials will help us stay healthy, how they will revolutionize the way we communicate, and how they will adaptively support our everyday needs.
This lecture will be presented in a hybrid format, allowing for both virtual viewers and in-person attendees. No advance registration is required for either format but you may sign up for reminders about this event.
Explore Past Lectures
Watch more past Watson Lectures on Caltech's YouTube channel.
Past Watson Lectures and Speakers:
2022-2023
October 12, 2022: "The Brain Hates Losing (and Other News from Neuroeconomics)" Colin Camerer, Robert Kirby Professor of Behavioral Economics; Director, T&C Chen Center for Social and Decision Neuroscience
November 12, 2022: "The Dance of Life: How Do We Become Ourselves?" Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz, Bren Professor of Biology and Biological Engineering
January 18, 2023: "When Earth Breathed Deeply," Claire E. Bucholz, Assistant Professor of Geology; Biedebach Memorial Lecturer
2021-2022
October 20, 2021: "Megasupramolecules: From Disaster to Discovery" Julia Kornfield, Elizabeth W. Gilloon Professor of Chemical Engineering
November 10, 2021: "Quantum Matter: Why It Matters" Xie Chen, Professor of Theoretical Physics
April 13, 2022: "The Rhetoric of Change in the Age of Pandemic" Jennifer Jahner, Professor of English
May 11, 2022: "What Entanglement Can Tell Us About Our World," Scott Cushing, Assistant Professor of Chemistry
June 29, 2022: "Rising Tide: Tackling Sea Level Rise From Above and Below," Josh Willis, Project Scientist, JPL
2020-2021
October 7, 2020: "Can America Have a Safe and Secure Presidential Election?," Michael Alvarez, Professor of Political and Computational Social Science
November 11, 2020: "The Power of Nonlinearities: Unlocking Opportunities for Sensing and Computing with Light," Alireza Marandi, Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering and Applied Physics
December 9, 2020: "The Inner Life of the Brain: Fear, Sex, and Violence," David Anderson, Seymour Benzer Professor of Biology; Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute for Neuroscience Leadership Chair; Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute; Director, Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute for Neuroscience
January 13, 2021: "Artificial Intelligence: How It Works and What It Means for the Future," Yisong Yue, Professor of Computing and Mathematical Sciences
February 17, 2021: "What Cosmic Fireworks Unveil About the Universe," Mansi Kasliwal, Assistant Professor of Astronomy
March 10, 2021: "Perseverance on Mars," Kenneth Farley, W.M. Keck Foundation Professor of Geochemistry at Caltech, and Mars 2020 Project Scientist for NASA/JPL
April 21, 2021: "Sunlight to Everything: Catalyzing a Sustainable Future," Jonas Peters, Bren Professor of Chemistry and Director of the Resnick Sustainability Institute
May 12, 2021: "From the Soil to the Clinic: How Infection-Causing Microbes Thrive Without Oxygen," Dianne Newman, Gordon M. Binder/Amgen Professor of Biology and Geobiology and Executive Officer for Molecular Biology
2019-2020
October 16, 2019: "Causality: From Aristotle to Zebrafish," Frederick Eberhardt, Professor of Philosophy
November 6, 2019: "Opportunities in Atomic-Scale Legoland: From Novel Electronic Phases to Quantum Devices," Stevan Nadj-Perge, Assistant Professor of Applied Physics and Materials Science, KNI-Wheatley Scholar
December 11, 2019: "How to Deceive Society: An Insect Masterclass," Joseph Parker, Assistant Professor Biology and Biological Engineering (Biedebach Memorial Lecture)
January 29, 2020: "The Legacy of the Spitzer Space Telescope," Tom Soifer, Harold Brown Professor of Physics, Emeritus; Director, Spitzer Science Center
2018-2019
October 31, 2018: "Space Solar Power: A New Beginning," Sergio Pellegrino, Joyce and Kent Kresa Professor of Aerospace and Civil Engineering; Jet Propulsion Laboratory Senior Research Scientist; Co-Director, Space-Based Solar Power Project
November 28, 2018: "World's Deepest-Penetration and Fastest Optical Cameras," Lihong Wang, Bren Professor of Medical Engineering and Electrical Engineering
January 16, 2019: "The Long Run Behavior of Random Walks," Omer Tamuz, Assistant Professor of Economics and Mathematics (Biedebach Memorial Lecture)
February 13, 2019: "Plant Growth: How Stem Cells Make Stems," Elliot Meyerowitz, George W. Beadle Professor of Biology and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator
February 27, 2019: "My Half Century Romance with Caltech and Black Holes, Wormholes, Time Travel and Gravitational Waves," Kip S. Thorne, Richard P. Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics, Emeritus; 2017 Nobel Laureate
April 3, 2019: "Tiny Chips for Brain-Body-Machine Interfaces," Azita Emami, Andrew and Peggy Cherng Professor of Electrical Engineering and Medical Engineering; Heritage Medical Research Institute Investigator; Executive Officer for Electrical Engineering
April 24, 2019: "Clouds and Climate Tipping Points," Tapio Schneider, Theodore Y. Wu Professor of Environmental Science and Engineering; Jet Propulsion Laboratory Senior Research Scientist
May 29, 2019: "Sugars: The Underappreciated Building Blocks of Life," Linda C. Hsieh-Wilson, Arthur and Marian Hanisch Memorial Professor of Chemistry
2017-2018
November 1, 2017: "Going Out in a Blaze of Glory: Cassini Mission Highlights," Linda J. Spilker, Cassini Mission Project Scientist, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
November 15, 2017: "The Grand Tour: Exploring Planets Outside the Solar System," Heather A. Knutson, Professor of Planetary Science
December 6, 2017: "Toward the Robots of Science Fiction," Aaron D. Ames, Bren Professor of Mechanical and Civil Engineering, and Control and Dynamical Systems
January 17, 2018: "Flat Metasurface Optics," Andrei Faraon, Assistant Professor of Applied Physics and Materials Science, KNI-Wheatley Scholar
February 14, 2018: "Using the Brain of a Modern Fly to Reconstruct the Behaviors of an Ancient World," Michael H. Dickinson, Esther M. and Abe M. Zarem Professor of Bioengineering and Aeronautics
March 14, 2018: "Searching for Earth-like Planets," Andrew W. Howard, Professor of Astronomy
April 11, 2018: "Microbial Life Support: The Invisible Living Networks That Shape Our Oceans," Victoria J. Orphan, James Irvine Professor of Environmental Science and Geobiology
April 25, 2018: "Negotiations and Group Decisions: Passing Bills with Backroom Deals," Marina Agranov, Professor of Economics
May 23, 2018: "Talking to Cells," Mikhail G. Shapiro, Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering; Investigator, Heritage Medical Research Institute (Biedebach Memorial Lecture)
2016-2017
October 26, 2016: Rustem F. Ismagilov, Ethel Wilson Bowles and Robert Bowles Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering; Director of the Jacobs Institute for Molecular Engineering for Medicine
November 9, 2016: Carol A. Raymond, JPL
December 7, 2016: Konstantin Batygin, Assistant Professor of Planetary Science (Biedebach Memorial Lecture)
February 1, 2017: William L. Johnson, Ruben F. and Donna Mettler Professor of Engineering and Applied Science
February 22, 2017: David Prober, Assistant Professor of Biology
April 5, 2017: Dimitri Mawet, Associate Professor of Astronomy
April 19, 2017: Adam C. Wierman, Professor of Computing and Mathematical Sciences; Executive Officer for Computing and Mathematical Sciences; Associate Director, Information Science and Technology
May 10, 2017: Nicolas Wey-Gomez , Professor of History
2015-2016
October 14, 2015: "Back to the Beginning: The Rosetta Comet Rendezvous Mission," Paul Weissman, JPL
November 18, 2015: "Choosing the T-Cell Profession: Higher Education for Stem Cells," Ellen Rothenberg
December 2, 2015: "Complex Quantum Cosmos: Science Puzzles and Technology Solutions," Maria Spiropulu
January 20, 2016: "Algorithmic Magic: Behind the Scenes of Modern Computer Science," Chris Umans
February 10, 2016: "Chasing Extrasolar Space Weather," Gregg Hallinan (Biedebach Memorial Lecture)
March 9, 2016: "Listening to the Thunder of Gravity in the Cosmos," Rana Adhikari
April 20, 2016: "What Columbus Discovered," Nico Wey-Gomez
May 11, 2016: "Signed, Sealed, Delivered: How Proteins Get Where They're Supposed to Go in Cells," Tom Miller
May 25, 2016: "DNA Origami: Folded DNA as a Building Material for Molecular Devices," Paul Rothemund
2014-2015
October 15, 2014: David Hsieh, Assistant Professor of Physics
November 19, 2014: Woodward (Woody) Fischer, Assistant Professor of Geobiology
December 17, 2014: Andrei Faraon, Assistant Professor of Applied Physics and Materials Science
January 7, 2015: William M. (Bil) Clemons, Jr., Professor of Biochemistry
January 21, 2015: Julia R. Greer, Professor of Materials Science and Mechanics
February 4, 2015: John P. O'Doherty, Professor of Psychology; Director, Caltech Brain Imaging Center
April 1, 2015: Pamela J. Bjorkman, Max Delbruck Professor of Biology; Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
May 6, 2015: James L. (Jamie) Bock, Professor of Physics; Jet Propulsion Laboratory Senior Research Scientist
May 20, 2015: Katherine Faber
2013-2014
Richard Ellis
Axel Scherer
Fiona Harrison
Jean Ensminger
Ali Hajimiri
Dennis Kochmann
Michael Lamb
Sarkis Mazmanian
Sarah Reisman
2012-2013
October 24, 2012: "Engineering with Impact," Guruswami (Ravi) Ravichandran, John E. Goode, Jr., Professor of Aerospace and Professor of Mechanical Engineering; Director, Graduate Aerospace Laboratories
November 28, 2012: "Seeing the World in a Grain of Sand," Jose E. Andrade, Associate Professor of Civil and Mechanical Engineering
December 5, 2012: "Brain Control with Light," Viviana Gradinaru, Assistant Professor of Biology (Biedebach Memorial Lecture)
January 9, 2013: "Physics at the Large Hadron Collider: A New World on Matter, Spacetime and the Universe," Harvey B. Newman, Professor of Physics
January 30, 2013: "For Love or Money: Marriage and Economic Development in the Past," Tracy K. Dennison, Professor of Social Science History
February 13, 2013: "Under the Hood of the Earthquake Machine," Nadia Lapusta, Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Geophysics
April 3, 2013: "Quantum Entanglement and Quantum Computing," John P. Preskill, Richard P. Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics
April 24, 2013: John P. Grotzinger, Fletcher Jones Professor of Geology
May 22, 2013: Shu-ou San, Professor of Chemistry
2011-2012
October 12, 2011: "NEUROECONOMICS: HOW DOES YOUR BRAIN MAKE DECISIONS?," Antonio Rangel
November 2, 2011: "CATCHING COMETS CLOSE UP – CHEAPLY," Kenneth P. Klaasen
December 7, 2011: "DESIGN BY EVOLUTION: Engineering Biology in the 21st Century," Frances H. Arnold
January 18, 2012: "ELECTRONS IN FLATLAND," James P. Eisenstein
February 15, 2012: "WHAT PARENTS WANT: Evidence From Child Adoption," Leeat Yariv
February 29, 2012: "THE ISOTOPE TIME MACHINE," John M. Eiler
March 14, 2012: "MAKING MOLECULES," Jonas C. Peters
April 25, 2012, "AN EXPLOSION OF EXPLOSIONS," Shrinivas R. (Shri) Kulkarni
May 16, 2012: "TAMING TURBULANCE," Beverley J. McKeon
2010-2011
October 27, 2010: "RISING MOUNTAINS AND SINKING OCEANS: Earthquakes That Shape the Earth," Jean-Philippe Avouac
November 17, 2010: "RECREATING THE GREAT FORT TEJON EARTHQUAKE OF 1857," Swaminathan Krishnan
December 1, 2010: "PERSONALIZED MEDICINE, MOLECULAR DIAGNOSTICS, AND CANCER," James R. Heath
January 26, 2011: "THE DESIGN OF INFORMATION AGGREGATION MECHANISMS: Collecting and Using the Wisdom of Crowds," Charles R. Plott
February 9, 2011: "ENCEDLADUS: The Hottest Little Moon in the Solar System," Andrew P. Ingersoll
March 9, 2011: "REAVEALING THE COLD UNIVERSE," James J. (Jamie) Bock
April 13, 2011": "GOOD VIBRATIONS INSIDE THE EARTH," Jennifer M. Jackson
April 27, 2011:" "NEURAL PLASTICITY: What Is It and What Can It Do For You?," Mary B. Kennedy
May 25, 2011: "PROBING THE VERY EARLY UNIVERSE WITH THE COSMIC MICROWAVE BACKGROUND RADIATION," Anthony C. Readhead
2009-2010
October 14, 2009: "EXPLORING THE ULTRAVIOLET UNIVERSE," Christopher Martin
November 11, 2009: "WHERE THE WIND COMES FROM, ON EARTH AND OTHER PLANETS," Tapio Schneider
December 2, 2009: "REMEMBRANCE OF FINANCIAL CRISES PAST," Jean-Laurent Rosenthal
January 13, 2010: "PHYSICS AT THE LARGE HADRON COLLIDER: A New Window on Matter, Spacetime and the Universe," Harvey B. Newman
January 27, 2010: "DNA-MEDIATED SIGNALING," Jacqueline K. Barton
February 17, 2010: "INTERSONIC EARTHQUAKES: What Laboratory EarthquakesTeach Us About Real Ones," Ares J. Rosakis
April 7, 2010: "THE ANCIENT CALIFORNIA RIVER AND HOW IT CARVED THE GRAND CANYON IN THE AGE OF T. REX," Brian P. Wernicke
May 5, 2010: "FROM NEWTON'S CRADLE TO NEW MATERIALS," Chiara Daraio
May 19, 2010: "NEURONAL MECHANISMS OF MEMORY FORMATION," Athanasios G. (Thanos) Siapas
July 7, 2010: "THE VOYAGER JOURNEYS TO INTERSTELLAR SPACE," Ed Stone
2008-2009
October 15, 2008: "THE NEUROSCIENCE OF SOCIAL BEHAVIOR: From Looking at Faces to Understanding Autism," Ralph Adolphs
November 12, 2008: "THE PHOENIX MISSION." Leslie K. Tamppari, JPL
December 3, 2008, 2008: "PROTEIN RECYCLING: ITS ROLE IN HUMAN BIOLOGY AND DISEASE," Raymond J. Deshaies
January 21, 2009: "THE QUANTUM INTERNET," H. Jeff Kimble
February 18, 2009: "POWERING THE PLANET WITH SOLAR FUEL," Harry Gray
March 11, 2009: "A WILD RIDE ON THE ROAD TO THE THOUSAND DOLLAR HUMAN GENOME SEQUENCE: From Gene Networks to Autism," Barbara Wold
April 1, 2009: "EXPLORING THE DEEP-SEA FOR CORALS AND CLUES TO OUR CLIMATIC PAST," Jess Adkins
April 22, 2009: "JELLYFISH-INSPIRED ENGINEERING", John Dabiri
May 20, 2009: "IN PURSUIT OF PROGRAMMABLE MOLECULAR TECHNOLOGIES," Niles Pierce
2007-2008
October 17, 2007: "HUBBERT'S PEAK: The Question of Coal and Climate Change," David B. Rutledge
November 7, 2007: "ISAAC NEWTON, SOLOMON'S KINGDOM, AND THE ORIGINS OF CIVILIZATION," Jed Z. Buchwalk
December 5, 2007: "GENES AND CIRCUITS FOR EMOTIONAL BEHAVIOR IN MICE AND FLIES," David J. Anderson
January 23, 2008: "THE PACIFIC-NORTH AMERICA PLATE BOUNDARY, MEXICAN STYLE," Joann Stock
February 20, 2008: "EARTH ATTACKS! NEW RESULTS FROM THE PLANET MARS," Richard W. Zurek
March 12, 2008: "NEXT-GENERATION NEURAL IMPLANTS: Let's Start with Retinal Implants," Yu-Chong Tai
April 16, 2008: "CARMA—RAISING OUR SITES," Anneila I. Sargent
May 14, 2008: "FIGHTING CANCER WITH NANOPARTICLE MEDICINES," Mark E. Davis
2006-2007
October 18, 2006: "NATURAL DISASTERS: What We Know vs. What We Do," Kerry E. Sieh
November 8, 2006: "THE AMAZING WORLD OF BUBBLES," Christopher E. Brennen
December 6, 2006: "WHY DID EUROPEAN STATES CONQUER THE WORLD? How Politics and Economics Created a Comparative Advantage in Violence," Philip T. Hoffman
January 17, 2007: "BOOMING SAND DUNES," Melany L. Hunt
February 14, 2007: "SNOWBALL EARTH," Joseph L. Kirschvink
March 7, 2007: "GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE," John H. Seinfeld
April 25, 2007: "CASSINI-HUYGENS AT SATURN: Discovery of New Worlds, Some Familiar and Some Alien," Dennis L. Matson
May 9, 2007: "BRAIN PLASTICITY DURING LEARNING AND MEMORY," Erin M. Schuman
2005-2006
October 5, 2005: "MATH BY THE NUMB3RS: How Caltech Helps a CBS Television Show Do the Math," Gary A. Lorden
November 2, 2005: "SPIRIT AND OPPORTUNITY'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE IN MARS GEOLOGY," Joy A. Crisp
November 16, 2005: "EINSTEIN'S GENERAL RELATIVITY, FROM 1905 TO 2005: Warped Spacetime, Black Holes, Gravitational Waves, and the Accelerating Universe," Kip S. Thorne
January 18, 2006: "THE COMING REVOLUTION IN PHARMACEUTICALS," William A. Goddard, III
February 22, 2006: "BEYOND PLUTO: Discovery of the 10th Planet," Michael E. Brown
April 12, 2006: "BACTERIAL BIOFILMS: Far More Than a Collection of Germs," Dianne K. Newman
May 3, 2006: "WHY ARE PRICES SO BIZARRE?," R. Preston McAfee
May 17, 2006: "CAN ONE MAKE A MOUSE MODEL OF MENTAL ILLNESS, AND WHY TRY?," Paul H. Patterson
2004-2005
October 13, 2004: "OUT OF GAS: THE END OF THE AGE OF OIL," David Goodstein
October 27, 2004: "HOW FLIES FLY," Michael Dickinson
November 10, 2004: "THE QUEST FOR CONSCIOUSNESS: A Neurobiological Approach," Christof Koch
January 26, 2005: "THE SHUTTLE FLEET, COLUMBIA, AND PRESENT AND FUTURE SPACE ACCESS," Paul Dimotakis
February 23, 2005: "THE SENSE OF SMELL: A WINDOW INTO THE BRAIN AND MEMORY," Gilles Laurent
March 9, 2005: "LIFTING THE COSMIC VEIL: THE INFRARED UNIVERSE REVEALED BY THE SPITZER SPACE TELESCOPE," Michael Werner
April 13, 2005 "ART AND SCIENCE: A DA VINCI DETECTIVE STORY," John Brewer
May 25, 2005: "POWERING THE PLANET: WHERE IN THE WORLD WILL OUR ENERGY COME FROM?," Nate Lewis
2003-2004
October 15, 2003: "VIRUSES, VIRUSES, VIRUSES," David Baltimore
November 15, 2003" "FROM PCs TO PETAFLOPS: The Future of Really Big Computers," Thomas Sterling
November 19, 2003: "EXPERIMENTING WITH SOCIAL NORMS," Jean Ensminger
January 14, 2004: "NANOSYSTEMS BIOLOGY," James Heath
February 11, 2004: "STRING THEORY: PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE," John Schwarz
March 3, 2004: "INVENTING HISTORICAL TRUTH ON THE SILVER SCREEN," Robert Rosenstone
March 31, 2004: "TEAM CALTECH: Racing to Win the Darpa Grand Challenge," Richard Murray
April 28, 2004: "CHALLENGES AND EXCITEMENT OF SPACE EXPLORATION," Charles Elachi
2002-2003
October 9, 2002 "COUNTERING TERRORISM: THE ROLE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY," Jack Beauchamp
October 23, 2002: "THE RESPONSE TO NICOTINE," Henry Lester
November 6, 2002: "THE VOYAGER JOURNEYS TO INTERSTELLAR SPACE," Edward Stone
January 15, 2003: "SUPERCONDUCTIVITY—RESISTANCE IS FUTILE," Nai-Chang Yeh
January 29, 2003: "FUEL CELLS: POWERING PROGRESS IN THE 21ST CENTURY," Sossina Haile
February 19, 2003: "CLEAN WATER: The Oil of the 21st Century," Janet Hering
March 5, 2003: "CATCHING THE WAVES WITH LIGO," Barry Barrish
April 23, 2003: "VOTING: Where We Have Been and Where We Are Going," Michael Alvarez
May 5, 2003: "ALL THE FAULTS IN THE WORLD: The Cutting Edge of Tectonic," Brian Wernicke
May 21, 2003: "ALL QUAOAR AND THE EDGE OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM," Michael Brown
2001-2002
October 10, 2001: "MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR MISSION—A SUCCESS BY ANY MEASURE," Arden Albee
November 14, 2001: "THE QUANTUM-CLASSICAL TRANSITION ON TRIAL: IS THE WHOLE MORE THAN THE SUM OF THE PARTS?" Hideo Mabuchi
January 9, 2002: "COSMIC BACKGROUND IMAGER: READING THE UNIVERSE'S EARLY HISTORY," Anthony C.S. Readhead
January 23, 2002: "ROBOTICS: MOVING BEYOND THE FACTORY FLOOR," Joel Burdick
February 20, 2002: "FORMATION OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM," Marianne Bronner-Fraser
March 6, 2002: "NEW MATERIALS FOR PERFECT VISION," Julia Kornfield
April 3, 2002: "PLANETS ORBITING NEARBY SUNS," David Charbonneau
April 24, 2002: "CAN A MACHINE LEARN TO PLAY ‘WHERE'S WALDO?'," Pietro Perona
May 8, 2002: "THE WIND AND RAISING THE OBELISK," Morteza Gharib
May 22, 2002: "EINSTEIN AT CALTECH: PUBLISHING THE COLLECTED PAPERS OF ALBERT EINSTEIN," Diana Buchwald
2000-2001
October 4, 2000: "COMBINED-VALUE MARKETS," John Ledyard
October 18, 2000: "THE EVOLUTION OF BIG BRAINS," John Allman
November 1, 2000: "KECK: THE EARLY CHILDHOOD OF A SCIENTIFIC GIANT," Judith Cohen
November 15, 2000: "MEMORIES OF CALTECH PAST," Judith Goodstein
January 17, 2001: "THE PHYSICS OF SNOW CRYSTALS," Ken Libbrecht
February 21, 2001: "PLANETARY PHRENOLOGY—THE LUMPS AND BUMPS OF THE EARTH," Michael Kobrick
March 14, 2001: "CHLOROFLUOROCARBONS, CLIMATE CHANGE, AND THE FUTURE OF STRATOSPHERIC OZONE," Paul Wennberg
April 11, 2001: "UNDERSTANDING THE WORLD, ONE MOLECULE AT A TIME," Stephen Quake
May 9, 2001: "IN PRAISE OF PERMISSIVENESS: COAXING CELLS TO MAKE NOVEL MACROMOLECULES," David Tirrell
May 23, 2001: "THE COMING REVOLUTION IN PHOTOGRAPHY," Carver Mead
1999-2000
October 6, 1999: "Where Fundamental Science Can Take You," Robert Grubbs
October 20, 1999: "Stem Cells and the Future of ‘Regenerative Medicine'," David Anderson
November 3, 1999: "Options and Financial Derivatives," Peter Bossaerts
November 17, 1999": "The Y2K Problem: Solved?," Robert Neary
January 12, 2000: "Aeronautics 1899-1909: The French-American Connection," Fred Culick
February 9, 2000: "Sampling the Universe," Edward Stone
April 12, 2000:" "Acts of God, Acts of Man: How Humans Make Natural Hazards into Disasters," Kerry Sieh
May 3, 2000: "Images of the Early Universe," Andrew Lange
May 17, 2000: "A Different View of the DNA Double Helix: A Conduit for Charge Transport," Jacqueline Barton
1998-1999
October 7, 1998: "Cell Life and Cell Death," David Baltimore
October 21, 1998: "The Search for Extraterrestrial Life: Lessons from the Earth," Ken Nealson
November 4, 1998: "A New Mars Revealed by Mars Global Surveyor," Glenn E. Cunningham
November 18, 1998: "Unnatural Selection: The Future of Proteins," Frances Arnold
January 13, 1999: "Is There Such a Thing as Pseudo-Science? Lessons From the History of Mesmerism," Alison Winter
February 10, 1999: "Inside of Earth: A Top-Down Approach to Deep Earth Science," Don L. Anderson
March 3, 1999: "Supercomputer Simulations: A New Tool for Science and Engineering," Steven Koonin
April 21, 1999: "From Dust to Us: The Births of Stars and Planets," Anneila Sargent
May 5, 1999: "Markets as Information-Gathering Tools," Charles Plott
May 19, 1999: "Freezing Time: The Six Millennia Race to Femtoseconds," Ahmed Zewail
1997-98
October 29, 1997: "Earnest Watson and the Amazing Liquid Air Show," David & Judith Goodstein
November 5, 1997: "Gamma-Ray Bursts: Dying Cries from the Deep Universe," Shrinivas Kulkarni
November 19, 1997: "Touching Mars," Donna Shirley
January 14, 1998: "The World of Our Grandchildren: Visualizing the Alternatives with the World Wide Web," Bruce Murray
February 25, 1998: "El Nino and Global Warming: What's Happening to Our Weather?," Andrew lngersoll
April 8, 1998: "Can We Use Chemistry to Change the Way Our Genes Work?," Peter Dervan
May 6, 1998: "Los Angeles, City of the Future?," William Deverell
May 20, 1998: "Learning from a Tragedy: Explosions and Flight 800," Joseph Shepherd
1996-97
October 9, 1996: "Wireless Communication in the 21st Century," Andrea Goldsmith
November 6, 1996: "Learning How the Brain Learns," Erin Schuman
January 15, 1997: "Quantum Information and Quantum Computation," John Preskill
January 29, 1997: "Cardiac Fluid Dynamics: Vortices in the Heart," Morteza Gharib
February 19, 1997: "Return to Mars --Twenty Years After Viking," Arden L. Albee
April 9, 1997: "The Mystery of Cosmic Gamma-Ray Bursts," Fiona Harrison
April 23, 1997: "Geophysical Secrets Beneath Antarctic Waters," Joann Stock
May 7, 1997: "Genes, Eggs, and Embryos," Eric Davidson
May 21, 1997: "Taxing Women," Edward McCaffery
1995-96
September 22, 1995: "Science with the Keck Telescope," George Djorgovski
October 11, 1995: "Heart Attack or Heartburn: New Chemical Diagnostics," Thomas J. Meade
November 15, 1995: "The Caltech Electric Nose Project," Nathan S. Lewis
January 10, 1996: "Global Climate, Mass Extinctions, and the Fallout ... to the Earth," Kenneth Farley
January 24, 1996: "The Hopes (Amidst the Hype) of Nanotechnology," Michael L. Rourkes
February 21, 1996: "Imaging the Infant Universe," Anthony Readhead
March 6, 1996: "Unraveling the Mysteries of Flower Development," Elliot M. Meyerowitz
April 10, 1996: "Taxi Drivers and Beauty Contest Games," Colin Camerer
April 24, 1996: "Seismological Tools for the 21st Century," Thomas H. Heaton
May 22, 1996: "Quantum Gases: The Coldest Stuff on Earth," Kenneth Libbrecht