Crellin Hallway Exhibit
Welcome to the Crellin Hallway Exhibit Information page. Use the drop down menus below to learn more information about the items currently on display.
When Arnold Beckman, a professor of analytical chemistry at the California Institute of Technology, was asked to devise a way to measure acidity in citrus fruit, the resulting "acidometer" revolutionized chemical instrumentation. The innovative features of the pH meter, including its use of integrated electronic technology and all-in-one design, were the basis for subsequent modern instrumentation developed by Beckman and his company.
The general policy regarding authentic replicas is as follows: each laureate is only allowed to order three replicas at the time of their award. After that, the request has to come directly from a laureate (or ancestors of a laureate).
The replicas that currently are on display are on loan from the respective laureates and/or family's personal collection.
Linus Pauling Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1954
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1954 was awarded to Linus Carl Pauling "for his research into the nature of the chemical bond and its application to the elucidation of the structure of complex substances".
Award Ceremony Video
Linus Pauling Nobel Peace Prize, 1962
The Nobel Peace Prize 1962 was awarded to Linus Carl Pauling "for his fight against the nuclear arms race between East and West".
Pauling is the only person to have been awarded two unshared Nobel Prizes.
Award Ceremony Video
Rudolph A. Marcus Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1992
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1992 was awarded to Rudolph A. Marcus "for his contributions to the theory of electron transfer reactions in chemical systems".
1992 Press Release from The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Ahmed H. Zewail Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1999
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1992 was awarded to Rudolph A. Marcus "for his contributions to the theory of electron transfer reactions in chemical systems".
1999 Press Release from The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Robert H. Grubbs Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 2005
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2005 was awarded jointly to Yves Chauvin, Robert H. Grubbs and Richard R. Schrock "for the development of the metathesis method in organic synthesis".
2005 Press Release from The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Frances Arnold Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 2018
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2018 was divided, one half awarded to Frances H. Arnold "for the directed evolution of enzymes", the other half jointly to George P. Smith and Sir Gregory P. Winter "for the phage display of peptides and antibodies".
2018 Press Release from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Egypt issued two postal stamps with the likeness of Ahmed Zewail, the Linus Pauling Professor of Chemical Physics and professor of physics at the California Institute of Technology. The stamps were issued in 1998 in tribute to Zewail's scientific achievements.
The 1940s and 1950s saw humans venturing into higher altitude flight and deeper diving submarines - environments where the control of oxygen content became essential for long term survival. While oxygen could be used on these missions, there were no instruments available that could measure the amount of oxygen and other gases in present in the environment to know, before human symptoms emerged, if more or less oxygen was needed. The military began research programs to develop such instruments for their airplanes and submarines to improve the health of their service members.
In response to the military requirements, Dr. Linus Pauling at Caltech devised a method to measure oxygen content in air that used the unique magnetic property of diatomic oxygen. Dr. Pauling and his research group built an initial prototype system and demonstrated the feasibility of this measurement concept.
Learn more about oxygen analyzer
Article from the The Saturday Evening Post about the oxygen meter and premature infants
On March 6, 2008, in New York, New York, the Postal Service issued the 41-cent American Scientists commemorative stamp in four designs in a pressure-sensitive adhesive pane of twenty stamps. Linus Pauling was honored for his research on sickle cell anemia.
For the Chem-E-Car competition, teams of undergraduates from different chemical engineering programs around the world each design and build a small autonomous car that is powered only by chemical energy. That vehicle must safely carry a load – between 1 and 500 grams of water – through a course and stop at a given distance, using a chemical reaction for its stopping mechanism. Plus, the mini car must fit inside a piece of under-seat luggage (40 cm x 30 cm x 20 cm) and cost no more than $2,000 to build and run.
Each year since 1999, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) has hosted the Chem-E-Car competition, starting as a single event in Dallas, Texas, in November 1999. Over the years, the competition has expanded to include regional, national, and international rounds, with the finals held each Fall at the Annual AIChE Meeting.
Under the leadership of Maria Newport (BS ChE '19), Caltech first participated in the Chem-E-Car competition at the Western Student Regional Conference in April 2019, hosted by The University of Southern California. Around 300 visitors attended the conference, where a trailblazing team of seven Caltech chemical engineering undergrads put their shoebox-size car to the test against the course, the elements, and other schools.
Because of this first team's dedication – and the performance of their vehicle – students can enroll in ChE70 (Chem-E-Car) each Winter and Spring to design and build that year's Chem-E-Car, while gaining valuable hands-on experience for a team-oriented project with a dedicated graduate teaching assistant. For the Spring 2025 Western Student Regional Conference at Cal State Long Beach in late April, the team used a self-built lead-acid battery for the car's power, with an iodine clock reaction for its timing mechanism.
For more information:
This tool was produced at the B.F. Goodrich Research Center in Brecksville, Ohio approximately in the late 1940s. It was used to determine ozone concentration in the air based off the research of Arie Jan Haagen-Smit, who was appointed Professor of Bio-organic Chemistry in 1937, and Charles Bradley.
Haagen-Smit is widely recognized for identifying automobiles as the primary cause of Southern California's smog, earning him the title "father of air pollution control". He retired from Caltech in 1971. His findings changed the world and opened a major new frontier in chemistry and engineering.
The ozonometer is on loan from Professor Richard Flagan.
Past Exhibited Items
James Ellis LuValle (November 10, 1912 – January 30, 1993) was an American athlete and scientist. He won the bronze medal in the 400 metres at the 1936 Summer Olympics. Under the guidance of Nobel Laureate Linus Pauling, he earned his Ph.D. in chemistry and mathematics in 1940 from Caltech. He was the first African American to receive a Ph.D. from Caltech.
Arthur A. Noyes moved to California—and Caltech—in 1919 to build the Institute's chemistry division, housed in what was then the Gates Laboratory of Chemistry (now the Parsons-Gates Hall of Administration). In addition to shaping the policies that would help create a world-renowned hub of science and engineering, Noyes introduced at least one early Caltech tradition: hot cocoa.
Research meetings, held weekly in Gates, featured cocoa prepared according to this precise recipe, created by Noyes and posted to a bulletin board in the kitchen.
Get the recipe here and make your own
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During conversations about changing Troop's name in 1919, Noyes wrote a strong opinion to James Scherer (then president of Throop). Two months later, the trustees adopted the name California Institute of Technology.