Each year, the Robert F. Christy Lecture Series selects an outstanding physicist to share his or her cutting-edge research findings with faculty, postdocs, students, and the wider Caltech community.

The Christy lectures celebrate the life and accomplishments of Robert F. Christy. A scientist with wide-ranging interests, Christy is noted for fundamental discoveries in theoretical physics and astrophysics, crucial contributions that helped end the Second World War, arms-control advocacy, and leadership at Caltech. He was a professor of theoretical physics at the Institute for 66 years, from 1946 until his passing in 2012. He also served Caltech as provost from 1970 to 1980 and as acting president from 1977 to 1978.

The Robert F. Christy Lecture Series was established in 2017 with gifts from Colene Brown and her husband, Harold Brown, Caltech president from 1969 to 1977, and from I.-Juliana Christy, a Caltech astrophysicist and wife of Robert F. Christy.

More information about Christy's scientific achievements, advocacy for nuclear nonproliferation, administrative service to Caltech, and personal history can be found in the book Achieving the Rare: Robert F. Christy's Journey in Physics and Beyond by I.-Juliana Christy.