The Mount Wilson Solar Observatory was founded in 1904 by George Hale, who was also a trustee of Throop Polytechnic Institute (which later became Caltech). The first telescope built on-site was the Snow Solar Telescope in 1904, followed closely by the 60-foot Solar Tower and the 60-inch telescope, both of which were completed in 1908. Hale hosted many famous individuals during this time, including Andrew Carnegie in 1910 and Harlow Shapley in 1914. Carnegie was the main financial supporter of the observatory from its inception in 1904, and Shapley was an astronomer who discovered our position in the Milky Way galaxy using the 60-inch telescope.
On April 21st, 2025, Pope Francis passed away. His successor is Pope Leo XIV, whose papacy began on May 8th, 2025. Pope Leo was a close advisor to Pope Francis.
In my time at Caltech, I have found that scientists love to both work hard and play hard. While preparing for a party and hanging decorations at Dabney Garden last Fall, I noticed a statue of the Japanese deity Tenjin, on which I placed an Earth-shaped lantern. This man sitting on a yak with a Japanese name was of particular interest to me, as I have studied the Japanese language for over 10 years. Why had this statue been placed in one of the most historic spaces on campus? Why is Tenjin important?
DeepSeek is a new China-based startup that has created a Large Language Model (LLM) chatbot as capable as the current industry standard, ChatGPT. DeepSeek was founded in 2023.
I just finished reading the new book Star Bound by Emily Carney and Bruce McCandless III (shoutout to my friend Paige Kaufman who released a podcast interview with the authors yesterday – Space Spiels, wherever you get your podcasts). In the book, the authors discuss – among other things – how we have successfully grown plants in lunar regolith brought back from the Apollo missions. This is especially relevant now, as Artemis is aimed at establishing a permanent base on the surface of the Moon.
This past summer I was walking on campus when in a window I saw something I would not expect to see at a technical school – a flyer with the following poem printed on it: I don’t care how God-damn smart / these guys are: I’m bored. / It’s been raining like hell all day long / and there’s nothing to do
Embedded in the story of food is the story of people: in modern society, the people who grow and harvest it, the people who distribute it, the people who cook it, and if we are at a restaurant, the people who serve it.
