Dr. Linus Carl Pauling
Nobel Laureate in Chemistry (1954) and Peace (1962)

Linus Carl Pauling, the only person to win two unshared Nobel Prizes, was born in Portland, Oregon, on February 28, 1901. The 93 years of his long life nearly spanned the entire Twentieth Century, and he was one of the giants of that century. He won the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1954 for his research on the nature of the chemical bond holding molecules together and its use in understanding the structure of complex substances such as protein and antibodies. After the development of the atomic bomb, Mr. Pauling campaigned against nuclear weapons. In 1958, he presented the United Nations with a petition for nuclear disarmament signed by Albert Schweitzer, Bertrand Russell, Albert Einstein and 11,000 scientists and Nobel laureates. On Oct. 10, 1963, the date when the US-Soviet test ban treaty went into effect, he was awarded the 1962 Nobel Peace Prize. He could well have won a third prize but Watson, Crick, and Wilkins just beat him to the secret of the double helix of DNA.

Pauling's parents encouraged his scientific interests from the beginning. At an early age he had read both the Bible and Darwin's Origin of Species. When Linus's father died, his mother found it difficult to support the large family. Linus was an excellent student and won a scholarship to Oregon State University (then called Oregon Agricultural College). In 1922 from Oregon State University at Corvallis he earned his Bacheor of Science degree. He went on in 1925 to earn a Ph.D. in chemistry at the California Institute of Technology, the institution where he taught and carried out his research for the next 33 years. He was a chemistry professor at Stanford University from 1969 to 1973.

Ava Helen Miller was born near Oregon City, Oregon, on December 24, 1903. She received her formal education at Salem High School and Oregon Agricultural college (now Oregon State University). On June 17, 1923 she married Linus Pauling in Salem, Oregon.

Pauling first made his mark in the world of chemistry with his use of X-rays to examine the molecular structure of crystals. This work led him to a more thorough investigation of the nature of the chemical bond. He revolutionized chemistry in the 1920s with his application of quantum physics to the study of chemistry. Linus used the new theory of wave mechanics to explain molecular structures which had baffled chemists for years. Pauling's resonance theory proposed that some molecules "resonate" between different structures, rather than holding a single fixed structure. This insight made possible the creation of many of the drugs, dyes, plastics and synthetic fibers we take for granted today. Pauling publicized his findings in a series of papers culminating in an essential work of modern chemistry: The Nature of the Chemical Bond and the Structure of Molecules and Crystals.

Dr. Pauling next turned his attention to the study of biochemical molecules, particularly proteins. By 1942, Pauling and his colleagues had succeeded in producing synthetic antibodies, a major breakthrough. In 1945 Pauling was co-chairman of a project which developed a substitute for blood plasma. In 1949, he performed a groundbreaking study of sickle cell anemia, a disease which disproportionately affects men and women of African descent. In 1951, Pauling and Robert B. Corey described the atomic structure of proteins for the first time. This work had enormous implications for the struggle against disease. He correctly deduced the alpha helix structure in proteins.

The detonation of the first atomic weapons in 1945 posed an ethical dilemma for Pauling. The more he studied the effects of radiation, the more he became convinced that a nuclear war, or even the continued atmospheric testing of these weapons, could do irreparable damage ot the environment and the human population. Because the government was attempting to conceal the dangers of nuclear testing from the public, Pauling believed it was his duty to speak out, but in the first years of the cold war, many Americans considered such dissent treasonous. Pauling could not remain silent. In books. interviews and press conferences, he educated the public about the hazards of radiation and campaigned for peace, disarmament and the end of nuclear testing. These activities cost him friends, funding for his research, and the job he had held at Cal Tech for 33 years.

The State Department of the United States revoked Dr. Pauling's passport but, when he won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1954 and was unable to leave the U.S. to accept it, the pressure of world opinion forced the Department to relent. Pauling continued his peace activism and, in 1957, drafted a petition calling for an end to the atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons. By the time Pauling delivered his petition to the U.N., he had collected the signatures of 11.021 scientists from all over the world. This campaign led to a Nobel Peace Prize for Pauling in 1962, and to the first Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.

Mrs. Pauling's public work was carried out with several organizations, including the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, in which she served as national vice-president for three years; the American Civil Liberties Union, in which she served as a board member of the Los Angeles Chapter for seven years; and Women Strike for Peace. She worked both jointly with her husband and independently. In her lifetime Mrs. Pauling gave lectures on peace and human rights in most states of the United States and in 39 foreign countries.

In 1961, Mrs. Pauling and her husband arranged a symposium on the prevention and the spread of nuclear weapons that involved 60 scientists from 15 countries, including Australia, Japan, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and the Soviet Union, as well as most other European countries and the United States. The conference was held in the building in which the Norwegian Nobel Committee two years later awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to her husband. The recommendations of the conference were essentially the same as the policy of the United States on nuclear proliferation as announced by President John F. Kennedy the year after the conference was held.

Among the several awards that Mrs. Pauling received are the Janice Holland Award of the Pennsylvania Chapter of Women Strike for Peace (jointly with her husband), an honorary doctorate (Doctor of World Peace) from San Gabriel College, and, about a month before her death, the Ralph Atkinson Award of the Monterey County Chapter of the ACLU. This last honor reads: "To Ava Helen Pauling, who spoke out against the internment of the Japanese-Americans in 1942 ... challenged the inquisitorial committees of Congress in the 1950s and 1960s ... and has actively supported the ACLU and its program for half a century." Ava Helen Pauling, lecturer and worker for peace and human rights, died of cancer December 7, 1981, in Palo Alto, California, at age 77.

In 1973, Dr. Pauling founded the Linus Pauling Institute of Science and Medicine. From this base, he continued his researches and worked to educate the public about the dangers of smoking and the benefits of vitamins. He received numerous, including the Presidential Medal for Merit and the National Medal of Science. He published books for the general reader on a variety of subjects from one of his first No More War to one of his last How to Live Longer and Feel Better. Dr. Pauling published several books and more than 1,000 scientific papers. But he was probably best known in the past two decades for his belief that large doses ("orthomolecular medicine") of ascorbic acid, or vitamin C, could extend a person's life by decades and ward off colds, cancer and cardiovascular disease. His advocacy of large doses of vitamin C to stave off diseases was popular with the public but drew skepticism from fellow scientists and has not been substantiated. Dr. Pauling's 1970 book, "Vitamin C and the Common Cold," persuaded many Americans to take megadoses of vitamin C. Mr. Pauling himself took 18,000 milligrams of vitamin C a day; the recommended daily allowance for adults is 60 milligrams.

He was diagnosed with prostate cancer in December 1991. At the age of 93, Linus Pauling died on Friday August 19th, 1994, in Big Sur, CA at his sea-side home.

Interview with Linus Pauling