Pasadena - California Institute of Technology

The Throop Polytechnic Institute was founded in 1891. In 1920 it was given its present name, California Institute of Technology. This private college employs 780 teachers for its 1,800 students. It also runs the almost 6,600ft/2,000m high observatory on Mount Palomar in the north of San Diego County, while the scarcely less well-known observatory 5,600ft/1,700m up on Mount Wilson near Pasadena is directed by the Carnegie Institution.