Caltech

It’s been a full week and we’re still thinking about Ditch Day ‘26.

What was your favorite stack?

Oscar Mandel, author, playwright, and professor of literature, emeritus, at Caltech, passed away on May 20, 2026. He was 99 years old.

Mandel first came to Caltech as a visiting associate professor of English in 1961. He joined the faculty as an associate professor of English in 1962, became a full professor in 1968, and professor of literature in 1980. A prolific scribe, Mandel wrote in both French and English. His works range from fiction, plays, and poetry to essays on literary theory and art history.

In 2003, after more than 40 years of teaching English and comparative literature at Caltech, he retired and became professor emeritus.

Viruses are incredibly diverse infectious agents that can affect humans, animals, plants, and even bacteria. As discussions around hantavirus continue, understanding the fundamentals of virology can help provide important context for how emerging diseases are studied.

Mail-in voting has become an increasingly important part of how Americans participate in elections. Did you know vote-by-mail increases turnout equally for both parties? What do we know about the security of voting by mail? Swipe to learn more. ➡️

📆 Today is also the last day to register to vote in California’s June Primary! 🐻California voters can register or check their registration status online through the Secretary of State.

Visit Caltech Science Exchange for more evidence-based resources on voting, elections, and other important topics.

Last night, science met art in Caltech’s Feynman Lecture Hall as part of MACH 33: The Caltech Festival of New Science-Driven Plays. Scientists, actors, writers, and directors come together once a year to put on staged readings of new plays, for which scientists from Caltech and JPL, which Caltech manages for NASA, serve as advisors. The festival kicked off Wednesday night with “Parity,” a play based on the life of Chien-Shiung Wu, also known as the First Lady of Physics and the Queen of Nuclear Research. The idea of parity was accepted as a law in physics until the 1950s when Wu, a professor at Columbia University, disproved it against all odds.

The play was directed by Sandra Tsing Loh (BS ‘83) and written by Howard Ho, with Caltech’s Cliff Cheung, professor of theoretical physics and director of the Leinweber Forum for Theoretical Physics, serving as the science advisor. Various actors not affiliated with Caltech played several roles, including Olivia Xing who played Chien-Shiung beautifully. Caltech’s Hirosi Ooguri, the Fred Kavli Professor of Theoretical Physics and Mathematics at Caltech and the Kent and Joyce Kresa Leadership Chair of the Division of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy, played both a waiter in a Chinese restaurant and Wu’s father. Historian David Zierler of the Caltech Heritage Project played J. Robert Oppenheimer.

After the play, David Hitlin, a professor of physics at Caltech, shared personal memories of Wu from the audience—she was his thesis advisor at Columbia University in the 1960s.

Mach 33 plays, put on through Theatre Arts Caltech (TACIT), continue through May 16.