Science Explorer Back to mapMap
Discussion

Research in Pasadena

Science Explorer records 53 research institutions in Pasadena, United States. The highest-ranked on research quality in 2022-now are California Institute of Technology, Department of Public Health and Tetra Tech (United States).

Research institutions
53
7 of them ranked worldwide
Research works
135k
▼ 15% vs 2018-21
Citations
6.2M
46.0 per fractional work, all time
Top-10% rate, 2022-now
23.3%
all institutions 10.0%
Active span
1950-2026
77 years on the record

A city carries no overall standing here. The quality score is built for institutions and countries, the units its floors and field normalisation were designed around. An empty rank on this page is a statement about the measure, not about the place.

Which research institutions are in Pasadena?

#InstitutionWorksAgainst the largest hereWorld rank
1California Institute of TechnologyUniversity 123,583 #96
2Fuller Theological SeminaryInstitution 1,883 #12,225
3Pasadena City CollegeUniversity 1,297 #12,119
4Tetra Tech (United States)Company 1,269 #11,552
5Department of Public HealthGovernment institution 766 #8,785
6Huntington Medical Research InstitutesNonprofit 624 #16,231 all time
7TMT ObservatoryResearch facility 327 #27,381 all time
8Lotus Clinical ResearchResearch facility 326 #19,026
9Materia (United States)Company 322 #11,505 all time
10Orbits Lightwave (United States)Company 219 #25,867 all time
11OEwaves (United States)Company 191 #27,338 all time
12University of the PeopleUniversity 177 #14,898
13ArtCenter College of DesignUniversity 148 #29,687 all time
14Pacific Oaks CollegeUniversity 128 #29,537 all time
15FH FoundationNonprofit 107 not ranked
16Planetary SocietyNonprofit 91 not ranked
17Platinum Group Coatings (United States)Company 91 not ranked
18Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals (United States)Company 86 not ranked
19LIGO Scientific CollaborationResearch facility 75 not ranked
20California Liver Research InstituteNonprofit 47 not ranked
21Aeolis Research (United States)Company 37 not ranked
22Spectral Imaging Laboratory (United States)Company 33 not ranked
23Mathematical Systems & Solutions (United States)Company 29 not ranked
24Calando Pharmaceuticals (United States)Company 25 not ranked
25Ashima Group (United States)Company 24 not ranked
26Neumedicines (United States)Company 16 not ranked
27Eureka Aerospace (United States)Company 14 not ranked
28Foundation for Prader-Willi ResearchNonprofit 14 not ranked
29American Jazz InstituteNonprofit 10 not ranked
30Foundation for Advancements in Science and EducationInstitution 10 not ranked
31Evorx (United States)Company 10 not ranked
32Advanced HeliophysicsNonprofit 10 not ranked
33Auritec Pharmaceuticals (United States)Company 9 not ranked
34Western Systems Research (United States)Company 9 not ranked
35Protabit (United States)Company 8 not ranked
36Epicenter Software (United States)Company 7 not ranked
37Providence Christian CollegeUniversity 7 not ranked
38Day OneNonprofit 6 not ranked
39SAFCell (United States)Company 4 not ranked
40National Urea Cycle Disorders FoundationNonprofit 4 not ranked
41Hqphotonics (United States)Company 4 not ranked
42Havana Research InstituteResearch facility 4 not ranked
43O-Ray Pharma (United States)Company 4 not ranked
44National Hispanic Media CoalitionInstitution 4 not ranked
45Cloud Posse (United States)Company 3 not ranked
46Encode Bio (United States)Company 2 not ranked
47Fluid Synchrony (United States)Company 2 not ranked
48Northeast Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis ConsortiumInstitution 2 not ranked
49Aim FoundationNonprofit 2 not ranked
50Ophidion (United States)Company 2 not ranked
51Infinid Technologies (United States)Company 1 not ranked
52Pasadena Child Health FoundationNonprofit 1 not ranked
53National Day Laborer Organizing NetworkNonprofit 0 not ranked

By fractional works over the whole record; world rank on research quality in 2022-now. Bars are scaled to the largest institution in this city, not to anything off the page.

How concentrated the city is

The same institutions as shares of everything the list accounts for. A city that is one university and a city that is twelve read alike as a table and not at all alike here.

California Institute of Technology: 93.6%Fuller Theological Seminary: 1.4%Pasadena City College: 1.0%Tetra Tech (United States): 1.0%48 others listed: 3.1%94%largest
California Institute of Technology124k · 93.6%Fuller Theological Seminary1,883 · 1.4%Pasadena City College1,297 · 1.0%Tetra Tech (United States)1,269 · 1.0%48 others listed4,042 · 3.1%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which fields of science does Pasadena work in?

In 2022-now, 74% of research in Pasadena is in Physical Sciences, 10% in Social Sciences. Its largest fields are Physics and Astronomy (23%), Engineering (20%), Earth and Planetary Sciences (8%). It does 1.9× the world's share of Physical Sciences.

Physical Sciences: 7,748 fractional works · 73.8% of its workPhysics and Astronomy: 2,379 fractional works · 22.7% of its workAstronomy and Astrophysics: 1,318 fractional works · 12.6% of its workAtomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics: 521 fractional works · 5.0% of its workNuclear and High Energy Physics: 184 fractional works · 1.8% of its workInstrumentation: 135 fractional works · 1.3% of its workStatistical and Nonlinear Physics: 110 fractional works · 1.0% of its workCondensed Matter Physics: 65 fractional works · 0.6% of its workRadiation: 39 fractional works · 0.4% of its workEngineering: 2,148 fractional works · 20.5% of its workAerospace Engineering: 552 fractional works · 5.3% of its workElectrical and Electronic Engineering: 512 fractional works · 4.9% of its workBiomedical Engineering: 264 fractional works · 2.5% of its workComputational Mechanics: 162 fractional works · 1.5% of its workControl and Systems Engineering: 151 fractional works · 1.4% of its workMechanical Engineering: 143 fractional works · 1.4% of its workCivil and Structural Engineering: 87 fractional works · 0.8% of its workMechanics of Materials: 80 fractional works · 0.8% of its workOcean Engineering: 78 fractional works · 0.7% of its workAutomotive Engineering: 36 fractional works · 0.3% of its workSafety, Risk, Reliability and Quality: 30 fractional works · 0.3% of its workMedia Technology: 25 fractional works · 0.2% of its workSmaller subfields together: 29 fractional works · 0.3% of its workEarth and Planetary Sciences: 803 fractional works · 7.7% of its workAtmospheric Science: 333 fractional works · 3.2% of its workGeophysics: 230 fractional works · 2.2% of its workOceanography: 149 fractional works · 1.4% of its workEarth-Surface Processes: 28 fractional works · 0.3% of its workPaleontology: 27 fractional works · 0.3% of its workSmaller subfields together: 37 fractional works · 0.3% of its workComputer Science: 746 fractional works · 7.1% of its workArtificial Intelligence: 326 fractional works · 3.1% of its workComputer Networks and Communications: 111 fractional works · 1.1% of its workComputer Vision and Pattern Recognition: 101 fractional works · 1.0% of its workComputational Theory and Mathematics: 80 fractional works · 0.8% of its workInformation Systems: 53 fractional works · 0.5% of its workSmaller subfields together: 76 fractional works · 0.7% of its workEnvironmental Science: 618 fractional works · 5.9% of its workGlobal and Planetary Change: 212 fractional works · 2.0% of its workEcology: 124 fractional works · 1.2% of its workEnvironmental Engineering: 111 fractional works · 1.1% of its workEnvironmental Chemistry: 39 fractional works · 0.4% of its workHealth, Toxicology and Mutagenesis: 33 fractional works · 0.3% of its workManagement, Monitoring, Policy and Law: 31 fractional works · 0.3% of its workWater Science and Technology: 27 fractional works · 0.3% of its workSmaller subfields together: 40 fractional works · 0.4% of its workMaterials Science: 333 fractional works · 3.2% of its workMaterials Chemistry: 195 fractional works · 1.9% of its workElectronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials: 62 fractional works · 0.6% of its workSurfaces, Coatings and Films: 27 fractional works · 0.3% of its workSmaller subfields together: 48 fractional works · 0.5% of its workChemistry: 319 fractional works · 3.0% of its workOrganic Chemistry: 136 fractional works · 1.3% of its workSpectroscopy: 79 fractional works · 0.8% of its workInorganic Chemistry: 48 fractional works · 0.5% of its workPhysical and Theoretical Chemistry: 34 fractional works · 0.3% of its workSmaller subfields together: 22 fractional works · 0.2% of its workMathematics: 262 fractional works · 2.5% of its workMathematical Physics: 59 fractional works · 0.6% of its workGeometry and Topology: 52 fractional works · 0.5% of its workApplied Mathematics: 49 fractional works · 0.5% of its workStatistics and Probability: 40 fractional works · 0.4% of its workSmaller subfields together: 62 fractional works · 0.6% of its workEnergy: 83 fractional works · 0.8% of its workRenewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment: 80 fractional works · 0.8% of its workSmaller subfields together: 3 fractional works · 0.0% of its workChemical Engineering: 56 fractional works · 0.5% of its workCatalysis: 30 fractional works · 0.3% of its workSmaller subfields together: 26 fractional works · 0.2% of its workSocial Sciences: 1,071 fractional works · 10.2% of its workSocial Sciences: 444 fractional works · 4.2% of its workSociology and Political Science: 168 fractional works · 1.6% of its workEducation: 70 fractional works · 0.7% of its workPolitical Science and International Relations: 59 fractional works · 0.6% of its workSafety Research: 24 fractional works · 0.2% of its workSmaller subfields together: 124 fractional works · 1.2% of its workArts and Humanities: 238 fractional works · 2.3% of its workReligious studies: 93 fractional works · 0.9% of its workPhilosophy: 33 fractional works · 0.3% of its workArcheology: 25 fractional works · 0.2% of its workHistory: 21 fractional works · 0.2% of its workSmaller subfields together: 66 fractional works · 0.6% of its workPsychology: 124 fractional works · 1.2% of its workSocial Psychology: 39 fractional works · 0.4% of its workClinical Psychology: 37 fractional works · 0.4% of its workExperimental and Cognitive Psychology: 25 fractional works · 0.2% of its workSmaller subfields together: 22 fractional works · 0.2% of its workDecision Sciences: 105 fractional works · 1.0% of its workManagement Science and Operations Research: 53 fractional works · 0.5% of its workInformation Systems and Management: 24 fractional works · 0.2% of its workSmaller subfields together: 28 fractional works · 0.3% of its workEconomics, Econometrics and Finance: 91 fractional works · 0.9% of its workEconomics and Econometrics: 69 fractional works · 0.7% of its workSmaller subfields together: 22 fractional works · 0.2% of its workBusiness, Management and Accounting: 68 fractional works · 0.7% of its workLife Sciences: 1,000 fractional works · 9.5% of its workBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology: 636 fractional works · 6.1% of its workMolecular Biology: 406 fractional works · 3.9% of its workGenetics: 65 fractional works · 0.6% of its workBiophysics: 51 fractional works · 0.5% of its workCell Biology: 38 fractional works · 0.4% of its workSmaller subfields together: 75 fractional works · 0.7% of its workNeuroscience: 193 fractional works · 1.8% of its workCognitive Neuroscience: 106 fractional works · 1.0% of its workCellular and Molecular Neuroscience: 50 fractional works · 0.5% of its workSmaller subfields together: 37 fractional works · 0.4% of its workAgricultural and Biological Sciences: 112 fractional works · 1.1% of its workPlant Science: 49 fractional works · 0.5% of its workEcology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics: 21 fractional works · 0.2% of its workSmaller subfields together: 42 fractional works · 0.4% of its workImmunology and Microbiology: 41 fractional works · 0.4% of its workImmunology: 29 fractional works · 0.3% of its workSmaller subfields together: 12 fractional works · 0.1% of its workPharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics: 18 fractional works · 0.2% of its workHealth Sciences: 677 fractional works · 6.4% of its workMedicine: 578 fractional works · 5.5% of its workSurgery: 54 fractional works · 0.5% of its workPhysiology: 51 fractional works · 0.5% of its workCardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine: 48 fractional works · 0.5% of its workRadiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging: 47 fractional works · 0.5% of its workPulmonary and Respiratory Medicine: 42 fractional works · 0.4% of its workEpidemiology: 40 fractional works · 0.4% of its workPublic Health, Environmental and Occupational Health: 39 fractional works · 0.4% of its workOncology: 31 fractional works · 0.3% of its workPediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health: 24 fractional works · 0.2% of its workInfectious Diseases: 24 fractional works · 0.2% of its workSmaller subfields together: 178 fractional works · 1.7% of its workHealth Professions: 68 fractional works · 0.6% of its workGeneral Health Professions: 41 fractional works · 0.4% of its workSmaller subfields together: 27 fractional works · 0.3% of its workNursing: 17 fractional works · 0.2% of its workDentistry: 11 fractional works · 0.1% of its workVeterinary: 3 fractional works · 0.0% of its workALL ITS WORKPasadena10kfractional works, 2022-now
Life Sciences10%Physical Sciences74%Health Sciences6%Social Sciences10%

Each ring splits the one inside it: the four domains of science, their fields, their subfields. Size is fractional works in 2022-now. Every slice is a page; the interactive view zooms down to single topics and colours each by how much more of it this city does than the world.

Its 4 domains and 26 fields, with their numbers
    1. Physics and Astronomy2,37922.7%
    2. Engineering2,14820.5%
    3. Earth and Planetary Sciences8037.7%
    4. Computer Science7467.1%
    5. Environmental Science6185.9%
    6. Materials Science3333.2%
    7. Chemistry3193.0%
    8. Mathematics2622.5%
    9. Energy830.8%
    10. Chemical Engineering560.5%
  1. Social Sciences1,07110.2%
    1. Social Sciences4444.2%
    2. Arts and Humanities2382.3%
    3. Psychology1241.2%
    4. Decision Sciences1051.0%
    5. Economics, Econometrics and Finance910.9%
    6. Business, Management and Accounting680.7%
  2. Life Sciences1,0009.5%
    1. Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology6366.1%
    2. Neuroscience1931.8%
    3. Agricultural and Biological Sciences1121.1%
    4. Immunology and Microbiology410.4%
    5. Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics180.2%
    1. Medicine5785.5%
    2. Health Professions680.6%
    3. Nursing170.2%
    4. Dentistry110.1%
    5. Veterinary30.0%
All of science, and how each field's share has moved since 1950: the Science domain explorer

What is Pasadena strongest at in research?

Relative to its size, research in Pasadena is most concentrated in Astronomy and Astrophysics, Instrumentation and Physics and Astronomy (25.1× the world share in Astronomy and Astrophysics).

  1. Astronomy and AstrophysicsSubfield · 1,177.8 works25×
  2. InstrumentationSubfield · 108.8 works24×
  3. Physics and AstronomyField · 2,090.6 works10×
  4. Atmospheric ScienceSubfield · 298.1 works7.5×
  5. Atomic and Molecular Physics, and OpticsSubfield · 455.8 works7.0×
  6. GeophysicsSubfield · 201.4 works6.4×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient against the world baseline. Inside a single field a city is a meaningful unit, which is why this is where a city is measured at all.

The whole field profile

All 26 fields at once: above the ring is more than a place this size would be expected to do. A specialist and a generalist produce the same ranked list and a completely different shape.

Agricultural and Biological Sciences: 0.22× its world share, 93 worksAgricultural and Bio…Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology: 1.02× its world share, 492 worksBiochemistry, Geneti…Immunology and Microbiology: 0.35× its world share, 32 worksImmunology and Micro…Neuroscience: 1.03× its world share, 151 worksNeurosciencePharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics: 0.45× its world share, 14 worksPharmacology, Toxico…Chemical Engineering: 1.53× its world share, 48 worksChemical EngineeringChemistry: 1.79× its world share, 254 worksChemistryComputer Science: 0.93× its world share, 655 worksComputer ScienceEarth and Planetary Sciences: 4.98× its world share, 705 worksEarth and Planetary …Energy: 0.86× its world share, 71 worksEnergyEngineering: 1.41× its world share, 1,915 worksEngineeringEnvironmental Science: 1.20× its world share, 537 worksEnvironmental ScienceMaterials Science: 0.88× its world share, 278 worksMaterials ScienceMathematics: 2.03× its world share, 215 worksMathematicsPhysics and Astronomy: 10.42× its world share, 2,091 worksPhysics and AstronomyDentistry: 0.19× its world share, 8 worksDentistryHealth Professions: 0.24× its world share, 56 worksHealth ProfessionsMedicine: 0.28× its world share, 481 worksMedicineNursing: 0.32× its world share, 14 worksNursingVeterinary: 0.17× its world share, 2 worksVeterinaryArts and Humanities: 0.81× its world share, 212 worksArts and HumanitiesBusiness, Management and Accounting: 0.20× its world share, 58 worksBusiness, Management…Decision Sciences: 1.09× its world share, 95 worksDecision SciencesEconomics, Econometrics and Finance: 0.35× its world share, 68 worksEconomics, Econometr…Psychology: 0.36× its world share, 100 worksPsychologySocial Sciences: 0.33× its world share, 379 worksSocial Sciences1×world share
more than its size predictsabout as predictedless

Rings at 0.5×, 1× and 2×. Widest outward: Physics and Astronomy, 10.4×. Every wedge is a field page.

All 26 fields, with their numbers
  1. Physics and Astronomy10.42×2,091 works
  2. Earth and Planetary Sciences4.98×705 works
  3. Mathematics2.03×215 works
  4. Chemistry1.79×254 works
  5. Chemical Engineering1.53×48 works
  6. Engineering1.41×1,915 works
  7. Environmental Science1.20×537 works
  8. Decision Sciences1.09×95 works
  9. Neuroscience1.03×151 works
  10. Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology1.02×492 works
  11. Computer Science0.93×655 works
  12. Materials Science0.88×278 works
  13. Energy0.86×71 works
  14. Arts and Humanities0.81×212 works
  15. Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics0.45×14 works
  16. Psychology0.36×100 works
  17. Immunology and Microbiology0.35×32 works
  18. Economics, Econometrics and Finance0.35×68 works
  19. Social Sciences0.33×379 works
  20. Nursing0.32×14 works
  21. Medicine0.28×481 works
  22. Health Professions0.24×56 works
  23. Agricultural and Biological Sciences0.22×93 works
  24. Business, Management and Accounting0.20×58 works
  25. Dentistry0.19×8 works
  26. Veterinary0.17×2 works

Which keywords describe research in Pasadena?

By fractional works in 2022-now, weighted toward what it does more of than the world: Solar System Abundances, Terrestrial Planets, Mars, Martian Surface, Climate Change, Exoplanets, Stellar Astrophysics and Remote Sensing.

▲ more of its work than of the world's◆ about the world's share▼ less than the world's

Size is fractional works in 2022-now in the topics tagged with each word; colour is the word's share of this city's work against its share of the world's. The 40 words are chosen for being large and distinctive. Each links to the topic it comes from most.

All 40 words, with their numbers
  1. Climate Change464▲ 1.63×101 topics
  2. Machine Learning368◆ 1.05×85 topics
  3. Remote Sensing304▲ 2.4×39 topics
  4. Solar System Abundances260▲ 51×1 topic
  5. Terrestrial Planets260▲ 51×1 topic
  6. Mars222▲ 64×1 topic
  7. Martian Surface222▲ 64×1 topic
  8. Exoplanets173▲ 41×1 topic
  9. Stellar Astrophysics173▲ 41×1 topic
  10. Biosensors161▲ 3.1×12 topics
  11. Star Formation158▲ 27×2 topics
  12. Gravitational Waves157▲ 26×2 topics
  13. Black Holes154▲ 15×3 topics
  14. Hydrological Modeling150▲ 6.0×5 topics
  15. Data Assimilation146▲ 8.5×4 topics
  16. Magnetic Fields144▲ 21×3 topics
  17. Entanglement143▲ 9.0×4 topics
  18. Accretion Disks142▲ 27×2 topics
  19. Supernovae138▲ 16×2 topics
  20. Tomography131▲ 7.0×5 topics
  21. Satellite Observations131▲ 12×3 topics
  22. Astronomical Instrumentation122▲ 36×1 topic
  23. Spectrograph122▲ 36×1 topic
  24. Dark Matter120▲ 9.9×4 topics
  25. Ocean Circulation115▲ 8.0×3 topics
  26. Turbulence107▲ 11×5 topics
  27. Plate Tectonics105▲ 6.6×3 topics
  28. Sea Level Rise104▲ 7.9×3 topics
  29. Geodetic Measurements99▲ 9.0×2 topics
  30. Nucleosynthesis97▲ 19×3 topics
  31. Thermodynamic Modeling97▲ 8.2×4 topics
  32. Cosmology96▲ 14×4 topics
  33. Quantum Information92▲ 7.5×3 topics
  34. Optical Modulators92▲ 6.2×3 topics
  35. Molecular Clouds90▲ 32×1 topic
  36. Protoplanetary Disks90▲ 32×1 topic
  37. Gamma-Ray Bursts89▲ 32×1 topic
  38. Neutron Stars89▲ 32×1 topic
  39. Galactic Center78▲ 16×2 topics
  40. Quantum Simulation74▲ 8.8×2 topics

What research is done in Pasadena?

  1. 1 Astro and Planetary Science Astronomy and Astrophysics 237 works
  2. 2 Planetary Science and Exploration Astronomy and Astrophysics 203 works
  3. 3 Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies Astronomy and Astrophysics 157 works
  4. 4 Astronomy and Astrophysical Research Instrumentation 96 works
  5. 5 Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae Astronomy and Astrophysics 82 works
  6. 6 Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies Astronomy and Astrophysics 77 works
  7. 7 Photonic and Optical Devices Electrical and Electronic Engineering 68 works
  8. 8 Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research Astronomy and Astrophysics 61 works
  9. 9 Spacecraft Design and Technology Aerospace Engineering 60 works
  10. 10 Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena Astronomy and Astrophysics 58 works

Research output over time

still counting1990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year, against all institutions in the same year.

still counting20%40%Pasadena20.7% in 2025all institutions10.0% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's output, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for its field and year. Peak 35.9% in 1997.

Discussion

Ask a question or share a note about Pasadena. Posts are plain text and can be reported.