Linus Pauling
Linus Carl Pauling (February 28, 1901 – August 19, 1994) was an American theoretical physical chemist who became the only person in history to win two unshared Nobel Prizes. His first prize (1954) was awarded for research into the nature of the chemical bond and its use in elucidating molecular structure; the second (1962) recognized his efforts to ban the testing of nuclear weapons.
| Linus Carl Pauling | |
|---|---|
| |
| Born | February 28, 1901, Portland, Oregon |
| Died | August 19, 1994 (aged 93), Big Sur, California, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | Oregon Agricultural College (B.S., 1922), California Institute of Technology (Ph.D., 1925) |
| Occupation | Chemist, biochemist, peace activist |
| Known for | Popularization of vitamin C as a cure for the common cold
Only person to win two unshared Nobel Prizes (Chemistry, 1954; Peace, 1962) |
| Notable works | The Nature of the Chemical Bond (1939) |
| Website | Oregon Library |
Early life
Linus Carl Pauling was born on February 28, 1901, in Portland, Oregon. He was the first of three children and the only son of Herman Pauling, a pharmacist, and Lucy Isabelle (Darling) Pauling, a pharmacist's daughter. After his early education in Condon and Portland, Oregon, he went on to pursue higher education in the sciences.[1]
Education and career
Pauling attended Oregon Agricultural College (now Oregon State University), where he met Ava Helen Miller, who would later become his wife, and received his Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering summa cum laude in 1922. He then attended the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), where Roscoe G. Dickinson taught him how to determine the structures of crystals using X-rays. He received his Ph.D. in 1925 for a dissertation derived from his crystal-structure papers.
Following a brief period as a National Research Fellow, he received a Guggenheim Fellowship to study quantum mechanics in Europe, spending most of the 18 months at Arnold Sommerfeld's Institute for Theoretical Physics in Munich.
Pauling spent the majority of his scientific career at Caltech, where he conducted groundbreaking research in chemistry and molecular biology. From 1954 to 1963, he was one of the most prominent scientists engaged in a public debate over the possible hazards from radioactive fallout from nuclear weapons testing. Linus Pauling and the scientific debate over fallout hazards. Endeavour. 2003. The public controversy ended after the signing of the 1963 Limited Test Ban Treaty. Linus Pauling and the scientific debate over fallout hazards. Endeavour. 2003.
In his later years, Pauling founded the Linus Pauling Institute, dedicated to orthomolecular medicine and nutritional research.[2]
Notable/unique
Discovery of the Alpha-Helix
In the spring of 1951, PNAS papers by Linus Pauling, Robert Corey, and Herman Branson proposed the alpha-helix and the beta-sheet, now known to form the backbones of tens of thousands of proteins. They deduced these fundamental building blocks from properties of small molecules, known both from crystal structures and from Pauling's resonance theory of chemical bonding that predicted planar peptide groups. In major respects, the Pauling-Corey-Branson models were astoundingly correct, including bond lengths that were not surpassed in accuracy for more than 40 years.[3]
Molecular Disease
In November 1949, Pauling and his collaborators published a groundbreaking study in the journal Science entitled "Sickle Cell Anemia, a Molecular Disease."Am In this classic study, they showed that hemoglobin from patients suffering from sickle cell anemia has a different electrical charge than hemoglobin from healthy individuals. This result demonstrated for the first time that an abnormal protein could be causally linked to a disease, and that genes determined the structure of proteins. The 1949 paper describing the discovery of sickle cell anemia as the first molecular disease had a major impact on biology and medicine.
Chemical Bonding
Pauling deserves credit for presenting a connection between the quantum theoretical description of chemical bonding and Gilbert Lewis's classical bonding model of localized electron pair bonds for a wide range of chemistry. Using the concept of resonance that he introduced, he was able to present a consistent description of chemical bonding for molecules, metals, and ionic crystals which was used by many chemists and subsequently found its way into chemistry textbooks. Atomic sp, sp², and sp³ hybrid orbitals were introduced by Linus Pauling to explain the nature of the chemical bond.
Vitamin C Research
In the 1970s, Pauling became a prominent advocate for high-dose vitamin C therapy. He argued that very high doses of vitamin C could treat cancer and other diseases.[4] Though controversial at the time, more recent research has explored the potential of intravenous vitamin C in cancer treatment, with some studies showing that high doses of vitamin C can kill cancer cells without harming healthy cells through oxidative stress mechanisms. Various studies from University of Iowa Pauling repeatedly said that only very high doses of vitamin C are likely to have an effect because lower doses act as an antioxidant while higher ones act as an oxidant. Forum discussions on vitamin C research
Theory of Anesthesia
More than 35 years before his death, double Nobel laureate Linus Carl Pauling published a powerful model of the molecular mechanism of general anesthesia, generally referred to as the hydrate-microcrystal (aqueous-phase) theory. This hypothesis, based on the molecular behavior of water molecules, did not receive serious attention during Pauling's lifetime, when scientific tools for examining complex systems such as the brain were still in their infancy.[5]
Nobel Prizes
Pauling is the only person in history to have been awarded two unshared Nobel Prizes:
- Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1954) - For his research into the nature of the chemical bond and its application in the elucidation of the structure of complex substances
- Nobel Peace Prize (1962) - For his campaign against nuclear weapons testing
Death
Linus Pauling died on August 19, 1994, at his ranch in Big Sur, California, at the age of 93. He died of prostate cancer.
Published works
- The Nature of the Chemical Bond (1939) – One of the most influential chemistry books of the 20th century
- General Chemistry (1947) – A widely used college textbook
- No More War! (1958) – On nuclear weapons and disarmament The Architecture of Molecules (1964, with Roger Hayward)
- Vitamin C and the Common Cold (1970)
- Vitamin C, the Common Cold and the Flu (1976)
- Cancer and Vitamin C (1979, with Ewan Cameron) How to Live Longer and Feel Better (1986)
Numerous scientific papers including:
- "Sickle Cell Anemia, a Molecular Disease" (1949, Science)Science 110 (1949) 543-548
- "The Structure of Proteins: Two Hydrogen-Bonded Helical Configurations of the Polypeptide Chain" (1951, PNAS)Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 37:205–210
Patents
Pauling held several patents related to his chemical research, though specific patent numbers require further documentation.
