Caltech's Ronald and Maxine Linde Hall of Mathematics and Physics Opens
March 04, 2019
Caltech dedicated the newly renovated Ronald and Maxine Linde Hall of Mathematics and Physics on January 31, 2019.
Lead funding to create this new home for the Department of Mathematics came from Caltech's Ronald and Maxine Linde Center for New Initiatives, which was established in 2016 by Caltech Board of Trustees vice chair Ronald Linde (MS '62, PhD '64) and his wife, Maxine, to give the Institute flexible resources to launch promising endeavors. The Ahmanson Foundation provided additional support for the project.
Cutting the ribbon were (from left): Fiona Harrison, Caltech’s Benjamin M. Rosen Professor of Physics and holder of the Kent and Joyce Kresa Leadership Chair in Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy; Elena Mantovan, professor of mathematics and executive officer for mathematics; President Thomas Rosenbaum, holder of the Sonja and William Davidow Presidential Chair and professor of physics; Maxine Linde; Caltech Board of Trustees vice chair Ronald Linde (MS ’62, PhD ’64); Provost David Tirrell, holder of the Carl and Shirley Larson Provostial Chair and Caltech’s Ross McCollum-William H. Corcoran Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering.
Maxine and Ronald Linde used an oversized key card to officially open the doors to their namesake building. “Maxine and I have always had a great love of mathematics: the sheer beauty of it, the purity, the poetry, the pervasiveness, the profundity, even the philosophical implications,” Ronald Linde said. “We wanted to help Caltech demonstrate in a very tangible way its commitment to mathematics, because it is vital in every division and it is a vital part of the education of every Caltech student.”
Over the years, the Lindes have supported numerous Caltech divisions and initiatives. To date, the couple’s commitments to Break Through: The Caltech Campaign total $50 million.
“What this building really represents is that mathematics is important here,” said Professor Elena Mantovan, Caltech’s executive officer for mathematics. “It is my personal pleasure to speak on behalf of everyone in the math department to thank Ron and Maxine for their generous gift. This building makes it obvious to any observer—visitors, prospective faculty, and students— that this is a great place to do mathematics.”
After the dedication ceremony, guests were invited to tour the new classrooms and collaboration spaces. First stop: the main lobby. Astute visitors enjoyed the homage to mathematics depicted in the ceiling, where the mathematical constant pi is represented to 433 decimal places by a sequence of dots in the light panel installation.
Informed by input from students and faculty, the renovations provide adaptable classrooms, upgraded offices for graduate students as well as postdoctoral and visiting scholars, and meeting areas throughout. Division chair Fiona Harrison (center) showed the new 100-seat lecture hall to (from left) Caltech trustee David Thompson (MS ’78), UCLA law professor Richard Sander, and chair of the Caltech Board of Trustees David Lee (PhD ’74). Among the day’s volunteers was mathematics instructor Polona Durcik (right), who helped usher visitors on self-guided tours.
Undergraduate Felix Weilacher (left) and graduate student Victor Zhang welcomed touring guests into one of the building’s study alcoves. Blackboards in these areas were selected for premium writability and erasability, and backed with sound-absorbing material.
Culminating the celebration, guests enjoyed mathematics-themed treats, including dim sum (dim Ʃ), an assortment of hand pi (hand π), and tacos for all (tacos ∀).
Written by
Stacey Hong