Papers of Nobel Laureate, Linus Pauling, Added to 'Profiles in Science' Web Site

[Guest guest]

http://healthy.net/scr/article.asp?PageType=Article & id=2242

Papers of Nobel Laureate, Linus Pauling, Added to 'Profiles in Science' Web Site

 

 

 

National Institutes of Health

 

 

 

 

February 7, 2003 (Bethesda, MD) He was a high school drop-out, a maverick who

jumped disciplinary fences, and an activist who was attacked for his political

beliefs. Yet he won two Nobel prizes and published more than 500 papers and 11

books. His name was Linus Carl Pauling (1901-1994) and he is probably one of the

few scientists to be a household name.

Linus Pauling is the eighth scientist to be added to the National Library of

Medicine's (NLM) " Profiles in Science " Web site (http://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/).

He remains the only person in history to win two unshared Nobel Prizes. " Linus

Pauling revolutionized the study of chemistry, and made crucial contributions to

medical research, " said Dr. Alexa McCray, who heads up the " Profiles " project.

To celebrate the inclusion of Pauling's papers on the Profiles Web site, the

Friends of the National Library of Medicine and the American Chemical Society

will host a reception in Room 328 of the Russell Senate Office Building on

Tuesday, February 11, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Dr. Linus Pauling, Jr., the oldest

son of Linus Pauling, will greet the guests.

The " Profiles " online exhibit features correspondence, unpublished manuscripts,

lecture notes, photographs, reprints, and transcripts from speeches documenting

the life and career of Dr. Pauling. Visitors to the Pauling site can view, for

example, his senior class oration at Oregon State Agricultural College,

photographs of Pauling at work in his laboratory, and the petition that he and

other scientists circulated that called for an end to nuclear testing.

The NLM is collaborating with Oregon State University's Valley Library to

digitize and make available over the Web this selection of the Pauling Papers

for use by educators, researchers, students, and the public. The University is

the repository for the Linus Pauling papers.

Pauling was a descendent of a Portland, Oregon pioneer family. He grew up in an

impoverished household after the death of his father when Pauling was 9. His

interest in science began at age 14, following a visit to a friend with a toy

chemistry set.

Pauling dropped out of high school at 16 and enrolled at Oregon Agricultural

College (now Oregon State University), where he graduated as a chemical engineer

in 1922. He set his sights on answering one of the most important questions of

chemistry: how did atoms bond together to form molecules? Pauling chose a

fledgling Pasadena school, the California Institute of Technology, or Caltech,

to help get those answers, and he earned his PhD there in 1925.

After 15 months in Europe on a Guggenheim Fellowship and studying with European

physicists, Pauling returned to Caltech as a young faculty member in 1927. He

began to rebuild chemistry on a new foundation of quantum mechanics. This work

was capped in 1939 with the publication of " The Nature of the Chemical Bond " ,

one of the most-cited texts in the history of science.

From the late 1920s to the 1930s, Pauling devised new ways of discovering the

molecular structures of complex substances. His work focused on the

antigen-antibody reaction and the structure of proteins and, in 1949, Pauling's

team discovered the molecular basis of sickle- cell anemia. In the early 1950s,

Pauling used his model- building approach to solve the large-scale structures of

many proteins, such as hemoglobin, an enormous advance in molecular biology. He

also proposed a model for the structure of DNA. In 1954, Pauling's many

achievements were crowned with the awarding of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

In the post-World War II period, and spurred by the pacifist activism of his

wife Ava Helen, Pauling joined other scientists in expressing concerns about

nuclear bomb testing. The U.S. government responded by putting him under FBI

surveillance, canceling his research grants, and refusing him a passport.

Despite these pressures, Pauling continued to focus his attention on peace work.

He and his wife gained worldwide fame by gathering the signatures of 11,000

scientists on a petition asking for an end to nuclear weapons testing, which

they then presented to the United Nations.

On the day that the first nuclear test ban treaty went into effect, October 10,

1963, Pauling received the news that he was to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Instead of warm public support, the scientist encountered widespread criticism.

" Life Magazine " , for example, called the prize " a weird insult from Norway, " and

the head of Caltech offered a weak congratulations. One week later, Pauling quit

Caltech, leaving the school that had been his academic home for more than 40

years.

Between 1973 and 1994, Pauling's research focused on a field he termed

" orthomolecular medicine, " the concept that optimal health could result from

ensuring the right molecules were present in the right amount in the body. He

viewed Vitamin C as one of the most important of these molecules, oversaw a

number of investigations into its effects on diseases, and encouraged the

ingestion of daily amounts many times greater than the accepted minimum daily

requirement. He conducted research in this field until his death from cancer in

1994, at age 93.

" Profiles in Science " was launched by NLM in September 1998. The Library is a

part of the National Institutes of Health, an agency of the Department of Health

and Human Services, in Bethesda, Maryland. " Profiles " is a continuing project

and the Library plans to announce each new scientist added to the site.

Contact: Robert Mehnert Kathy Cravedi (301) 496-6308 publicinfo

National Library of Medicine http://www.nlm.nih.gov/

 

 

 

 

 

Gettingwell- / Vitamins, Herbs, Aminos, etc.

 

To , e-mail to: Gettingwell-

Or, go to our group site: Gettingwell

 

 

 

 

Send Flowers for Valentine's Day