Caltech Magazine, Volume 83:2, Summer 2020

Table of Contents

SoCaltech
Meet History Professor Danielle Wiggins • Essential Caltech • A Student Steps Up • Warped Space, in Paint and Poetry

In the Community • Origins
Ask a Caltech Student• Ready, Set, Spark!

A New Day, A New Normal
In the midst of the global pandemic, Caltech researchers focus on the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

Mars 2020: Evolution of a Rover
This summer, the Mars Perseverance rover will set out on its journey to join Curiosity on the Red Planet. The two rovers share design features but differ in mission-specific ways.

Call to Action
Caltech alumni have been at the heart of the response to COVID-19, from better testing to front-line patient care.

Radio Astronomy in the High Desert
New and repurposed telescopes at Caltech’s Owens Valley Radio Observatory will enable faster sky scans and yield more data.

Everything Under the Sun
Within the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis, researchers have spent the past decade pursuing breakthrough chemistry to convert sunlight into fuels capable of meeting humanity’s growing energy needs.

In Memoriam
Allan Acosta, Louis Breger

Endnotes
How are you coping with the coronavirus pandemic, and how has it changed your life?

Object Lesson
Researchers in the laboratory of Doris Tsao (BS ’96), professor of biology and director of the Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Center for Systems Neuroscience, combined tools from machine learning and neuroscience to discover that the brain uses a mathematical system to organize visual objects.