Olga Taussky Todd, painted in Belfast, Ireland, in 1939 by Clara Ewald.  Internationally renowned as a portraitist, the artist was the mother of Peter Paul Ewald, the well-known physicist and crystallographer.  Gift from estate of John Todd.

Acquisitions and Current Projects

Collections Newly Open for Research

The Papers of Murray Gell-Mann (1929-present)

Distinguished particle physicist and Nobel Prize winner. Correspondence with, among many others, physicists A. Bohr, H. Bethe, R. Feynman, S. Hawking, J.R. Oppenheimer, A. Polykov, Y. Zeldovich, and G. Zweig. Also includes scientific notes and papers, government advising, professional, social and environmental organizations, and biographical material. Finding aid available online. [OAC]

The Papers of Victor Wouk (1919-2005)

Caltech alumnus, electrical engineer, and pioneer of hybrid and electric motor vehicles. The papers include correspondence, research and consulting files, manuscripts, lectures and seminars, and expert witness testimonies. Finding aid available online. [OAC]

Collections in Preparation

The Papers of Paul B. MacCready (1925-2007), aeronautical engineer and pioneer in human and solar-powered aircraft.

The Papers of Edward B. Lewis (1918-2004), geneticist and Nobel laureate in physiology or medicine, 1995.

The Papers of Gerald J. Wasserburg (1927-present), geologist, geophysicist, and geochemist, and Crafoord laureate, 1986.

The Papers of John Todd (1911-2007) and Olga Taussky Todd (1906-1995). Both mathematicians, the Todds came to Pasadena in 1957, following his appointment as professor of mathematics. In 1971, after 14 years as a research associate, Olga became a full professor in her own right.

Collections Recently Acquired

The Papers of Kerry Sieh (1950-present)

Kerry E. Sieh came to Caltech in 1977 and from 2003-2008 served as the Robert P. Sharp Professor of Geology. His principal research interest has been earthquake geology. In particular, he has used geological landforms to understand the geometries of active faults, the earthquakes they generate, and the crustal structure their movements produce. His early work on the San Andreas Fault led to the discovery of how regularly it produces large earthquakes in Southern California. More recently, Sieh has been investigating the subduction megathrust that produced the devastating Sumatran earthquakes and Indian Ocean tsunamis of 2004 and 2005. The Sieh collection, gifted in three installments between 2000 and 2008, is comprised of eighteen unprocessed storage boxes that include correspondence, talks, grant proposals, consulting activities, detailed survey maps and original research material.