Linus Pauling

Biography

Linus Carl Pauling, born on February 28, 1901, in Portland, Oregon, was a highly influential 20th-century scientist. He attended Washington High School, Oregon State University, and the California Institute of Technology, where he honed his skills in chemistry and physics. His academic success earned him a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1926, which allowed him to study quantum mechanics in Europe with leading physicists.

Pauling's scientific work changed many areas of chemistry and biology. He was a pioneer in quantum chemistry, using quantum mechanics to understand chemical bonds, introducing the concept of orbital hybridization, and creating the first accurate electronegativity scale for elements. He discovered the significance of alpha helices and beta sheets in protein secondary structure, establishing key ideas in molecular biology. He skillfully merged X-ray crystallography, molecular modeling, and quantum chemistry, pushing forward structural chemistry.

During his career, Pauling received many awards for his scientific work, including the ACS Award in Pure Chemistry (1931), Irving Langmuir Award in Chemical Physics (1931), William H. Nichols Medal (1941), Willard Gibbs Award (1946), and Davy Medal (1947). He became a Foreign Member of the Royal Society in 1948, received an honorary doctorate from the University of Paris in 1948, and gave the Silliman Memorial Lectures in 1947.

In 1954, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his research on chemical bonds and molecular structure. Eight years later, in 1962, he received the Nobel Peace Prize for his activism against nuclear weapons testing. This made him one of only five people to win more than one Nobel Prize and the only person with two unshared Nobel Prizes in different fields. He was married to Ava Helen Pauling, a human rights activist supportive of his peace endeavors.

In his later years, Pauling advocated for nuclear disarmament and promoted orthomolecular medicine and megavitamin therapy, especially high doses of vitamin C. While his peace work was widely admired, his vitamin theories were not embraced by mainstream medicine. He continued his research and advocacy until his death on August 19, 1994, in Big Sur, California, leaving behind a legacy of more than 1,200 published papers and books.