Linus Pauling PhD – Multifacited Genius

 

According to http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/lpbio/lpbio2.html where we obtained most of our information:

 

When Linus Pauling died on Aug. 19, 1994, the world lost one of its greatest scientists and humanitarians and a much respected and beloved defender of civil liberties and health issues.

 

Because of his dynamic personality and his many accomplishments in widely diverse fields, it is hard to define Linus Pauling adequately. A remarkable man who insistently addressed certain crucial human problems while pursuing an amazing array of scientific interests, Dr. Pauling was almost as well known to the American public as he was to the world's scientific community. He is the only person ever to receive two unshared Nobel Prizes — for Chemistry (1954) and for Peace (1962).

 

A multifaceted genius with a penchant for writing, well over 1000 articles, books, editorials and speeches, Dr. Pauling during his sojourn on earth or years was likely the most vocal, visible, and accessible USA scientist.  His trademark, a black beret worn over shocks of wavy whitish hair along with twin sparkling blue eyes, communicated his intense interest in topics difficult for most to tackle.  Linus was a master at explaining, even challenging, abstruse, medical and scientific information in terms understandable to educated lay persons.  Besides his scientific works he wrote extensively even for the general public on health, nutrition, and peace. His introductory textbook General Chemistry, revised three times since its first printing in 1947 and translated into 13 languages, has been used by generations of undergraduates.

 

In addition to the general recognition as one of the two greatest scientists (along with Einstein) of the 20th century, and ranked by some with Galileo and Sir Isaac Newton as well, he was usually acknowledged by his colleagues as the most influential chemist since the 18th-century founder of the modern science of chemistry, Lavoisier.  In the mid-1920s, Pauling entered the field of chemistry as a professional grounded in physics.  His work has affected in turn, the work of every chemist.   Along with his substantial achievements, Dr. Pauling is also considered by many to be the founding father of molecular biology.  His study and published research helped to transform the biological sciences and medicine and provide the basis for modern biotechnology.

 

 

Outline of early beginnings and professional career.

·    1941: Diagnosed with a serious form of Bright’s (renal) disease, believed by experts to be untreatable and fatal. With the low protein, salt-free diet with vitamins and minerals prescribed by his doctor, Thomas Addis (Stanford)  Pauling was able to control the disease 

·    1951: Together with Robert B. Corey described the atomic structure of proteins for the first time

·    1950s: Almost beat Watson and Crick (1953) in discovering the "double helix," the ultrastructure of DNA

·    1962: Nobel Peace Prize leading to the first Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.[1]

·    1994: After battling prostate cancer, died at age 93.  Buried at Oswego Pioneer Cemetery in Lake Oswego, Oregon

 

See also:   

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linus_Pauling  (over two dozen additional medals and prizes)    

 

http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/pau0bio-1  

 

http://paulingcatalogue.org/

 

 

Pet subjects.

Perhaps one of Linus Pauling’s most popular subjects included his detailed nutritional recommendations recommending Vitamin C for the Common Cold, Cancer and as a supplement on for living longer and feeling better.  He regularly took ten grams of the substance daily.  Although considerable controversy arose over Vitamin C as a panacea, Dr. Pauling was never reluctant to express what might be considered by critics as unorthodox scientific ideas, taking some strong moral position, or to arouse the public to a worthy cause.  Stubborn and steadfast and, committed to the ethical principle of the "minimization of suffering" he continued on his chosen and sometimes solitary path as a visionary of science, undaunted by criticism when he felt the subject should matter to humanity.  His imaginative scientific hypotheses and strong social activism often provoked the medical, political and scientific communities, but to his credit, he was willing to take professional and personal risks for the good that most of his colleagues avoided.

 

Important discoveries

Pauling's research interests were amazingly wide-ranging, spanning his seven decade scientific career.   With his colleagues, he published the structures of hundreds of inorganic substances, ventured into metallurgy and mineralogy through the study of atomic structures and bonding of metals and minerals and, made many important discoveries in several fields for which he would apply theoretical physics, notably quantum theory and quantum mechanics, in his investigations of atomic and molecular structure and chemical bonding.   These, often revolutionary, discoveries in genetic diseases, hematology, immunology, brain function and psychiatry, molecular evolution, nutritional therapy, diagnostic technology, statistical epidemiology, and biomedicine demonstrated his comfortable and thorough understanding of the convergence of both theoretical and applied medicine.

 

More:

For photostatic reproductions of Dr. Pauling’s actual notes, correspondence and certain other documents and photos go to:

http://osulibrary.oregonstate.edu/specialcollections/coll/pauling/bond/materials/materials.html

 

[1] The only other people who have received two Nobel prizes are Marie Curie (physics and chemistry), John Bardeen (both in physics) and Frederick Sanger (both in chemistry).