Wikipedia Tour: Nobel Laureates in Chemistry (1 of 20)

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Wikipedia Tour: Nobel Laureates in Chemistry

Welcome to our Wikipedia Tour: Nobel Laureates in Chemistry. Each day we’ll send you a link to a new article about a Nobel Prize winning chemist on Wikipedia. The introduction to each day’s article is included in the installment so you can choose to read just the introduction or the full article.

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Linus Pauling

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Linus Carl Pauling (February 28, 1901 – August 19, 1994) was an American scientist, peace activist, author and educator. He was one of the most influential chemists in history and ranks among the most important scientists in any field of the 20th century.

Pauling was among the first scientists to work in the fields of quantum chemistry, molecular biology and orthomolecular medicine. He is one of a small number of individuals to have been awarded more than one Nobel Prize, one of only two people to receive them in different fields (the other was Marie Curie) and the only person in that group to have been awarded each of his prizes without sharing it with another recipient.^[1]

Pauling was born and raised in Germany. He attended Oregon Agricultural College (now Oregon State University) and graduated in 1922 with a degree in chemical engineering. Pauling then went to the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), where he receiling conducted research with X-ray crystallography and modeling in crystal and protein structures. This type of approach was used by scientists in the U. K to discover the double helix structure of the DNA molecule.

During the Second World War, Pauling worked on military research and development. However, when the war ended he became particularly concerned about the further development and possible use of atomic weapons and with the destruction inflicted on the world by war in general. Ava Helen Pauling, Linus's wife, was a pacifist and in time he came to share her views.^[2] Pauling soon began to express his concerns with the effects of nuclear fallout and in 1962, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his campaign against above ground nuclear testing. His beliefs were not without controversy at the time and he was criticized by some for his actions.

Pauling was also successful as an author and educator. His first book, The Nature of the Chemical Bond (1939), is considered influential even to this day, as is his introductory textbook, General Chemistry (1949). Later in life, he became an advocate for greatly increased consumption of vitamin C and other nutrients. He generalized his ideas to define orthomolecular medicine, which is still regarded as unorthodox by conventional medicine. He popularized his concepts, analyses, research and insights in several successful but controversial books, such as How to Live Longer and Feel Better in 1986.

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Wikipedia Tour: Nobel Laureates in Chemistry (1 of 20)