RIHST

The Research Institute for the History of Science and Technology (RIHST) at Caltech and The Huntington is a collaboration that makes the most of what each institute is best at: Caltech's expertise in science and The Huntington's extensive historical archives and status as a premiere research library. The joint program, which launched in 2019, is directed by Jed Z. Buchwald, the Doris and Henry Dreyfuss Professor of History, with Daniel Lewis, the Dibner Senior Curator of the History of Science and Technology at The Huntington and lecturer in history at Caltech, serving as associate director.

RIHST continues to build momentum each year, as new researchers and initiatives allow for the exploration of new topics. The theme for the 2022–23 academic year focuses on the development of science during the seventeenth century, a period during which laboratory manipulation and quantification rapidly developed in conjunction with novel conceptions of the universe's fundamental structure. This year's visiting fellow, Dmitri Levitin, studies the intellectual, cultural, and religious history of early modern Europe and its relationship with the world.

The institute's establishment and early years of programming were made possible by a gift from the late Stephen E. Rogers, a longtime member and president of the Caltech Associates and member of The Huntington's Board of Governors.