Linus Pauling: scientist and peacemaker

280 Pages·2001·6.211 MB·English

by  Clifford Mead, Thomas Hager

A C E N T E N A RY V O L U M E
Linus Pauling
Scientist and Peacemaker
EDITED BY CLIFFORD MEAD AND THOMAS HAGER
Linus Pauling
Scientist and Peacemaker
(cid:1)(cid:1)(cid:1)
Photograph by Phil Stern
Linus Pauling
Scientist and Peacemaker
(cid:1)(cid:1)(cid:1)
edited by
Clifford Mead
Thomas Hager
Oregon State University Press
Corvallis
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability
of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the
Council on Library Resources and the minimum requirements of the
American National Standard for Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials Z39.48-1984.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Pauling, Linus, 1901-
Linus Pauling : scientist and peacemaker / edited by Cliff Mead, Thomas
Hager.-- 1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-87071-489-9 (alk. paper)
1. Pauling, Linus, 1901- 2. Science—History. 3. Scientists—United
States—Biography. I. Mead, Clifford. II. Hager, Thomas. III. Title.
Q143.P25 A3 2001
540'.92--dc21
00-011894
© 2001 Oregon State University Special Collections
All rights reserved. First edition 2001
Printed in the United States of America
Oregon State University Press
101 Waldo Hall
Corvallis OR 97331-6407
541-737-3166 • fax [phone]
http://osu.orst.edu/dept/press
Preface
(cid:1)(cid:1)(cid:1)
T
he concept of a centenary volume commemorating the hundredth
birthday of Linus Pauling originated with coeditor Cliff Mead. In
his position as Head of Special Collections at Oregon State
University’s Valley Library, Mead oversees the Linus Pauling Collection, the
complete personal papers of this outstanding American scientist, humanist,
and activist , a trove of hundreds of thousands of letters, articles, photographs,
memoranda, and molecular models comprising his entire life’s work. This
vast and important collection is the source of many of the pieces in this book,
a number of which have never before seen publication.
After enlisting the aid of Pauling biographer Tom Hager as coeditor, Mead
decided that the best approach to a valuable and readable centenary volume
would be that of a mosaic, modeled on similar works noting the centenaries
of Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr published by Harvard University Press.
These works were compilations of first-person accounts, historical
reminiscences, illustrations, and short anecdotes that together cast a variety of
lights on their subjects. This, it was decided, would work better than a narrative
biography—which in any case would have been redundant in Pauling’s case,
because several biographies already exist.
This approach also offered the chance to make good use of written materials
and photographs in OSU’s Ava Helen and Linus Pauling Papers, making
public some of the holdings that might otherwise be seen only by a relatively
small number of researchers. In addition, Hager provided tapes of a number
of interviews he held with Pauling’s colleagues and contemporaries, which
appear here in the form of marginalia.
Pieces included in the book were chosen for quality and comprehensiveness.
It is impossible in any one volume to do complete justice to Linus Pauling’s
enormous life’s work, but the editors hope that the selection here will give
first-time readers about Pauling an intriguing taste of his interests and
accomplishments, while providing more knowledgeable scholars with new
and perhaps valuable source materials.
The result is an almost cubistic view, from many angles—personal and
critical, contemporary and historical, first-person and third-person—of one
of the central scientists in twentieth-century history. It is our hope that readers
use these primary and secondary materials to form their own picture of a
fascinating man.
Cliff Mead
Tom Hager
August 2000
Acknowledgements
We should like to take this opportunity to thank the many individuals who
helped us with this project. In particular, we should like to acknowledge
our indebtedness to Anna Coss, Faye Harkins, Chris Petersen, and Tracy
Wells of the Special Collections staff; this book would not have been
possible without their many hours of assistance and support. We should
also like to thank the many student assistants in OSU Special Collections,
including (but not limited to) Sadie Brundage, Jenessa Burmester, Jason
Carver, Mike DeLoy, Kori Haddix, Fabio Hirata, Kimberly Ivancovich,
Shannon Lowers, Marisa Meltbeke, Staci Otto, Emily Syphers, Nick
Warner, and Ryan Wick. Karyle Butcher and Catherine Murray-Rust
encouraged this project from the beginning. Lauren Kessler and Mary
Steckel offered many helpful comments and advice.
The editors and publishers are grateful to the following contributors:
• Tom Hager for “The Roots of Genuis” and “The Triple Helix”
• Dr. Robert Paradowski for “A Pauling Chronology”
• Ava Helen and Linus Pauling Papers at Oregon State University for
“My Best Friend,” “Diary Excerpts,” “Summer Employment,”
“Children of the Dawn,” “The Incident on the Cliff,” “Early Years of
Physical Chemistry at Caltech,” “The Original Manuscript for The
Nature of the Chemical Bond,” “Modern Structural Chemistry,” “How I
Developed an Interest in the Question of the Nature of Life’,
“Orthomolecular Medicine Defined,” “An Episode That Changed
My Life,” “The Ultimate Decision,” “Science and Peace,” “Man—An
Irrational Animal”; Neil A. Campbell interview “There Will Always
be Something Interesting”; and “A World in Which Every Human
Being can Live A Good Life”
• W.H. Freeman and Company for “The Discovery of the Alpha Helix”
• The American Academy for Achievement (www.achievement.org) for
“Interview with Linus Pauling”
• Clara Shoemaker (for David Shoemaker) for “Linus Pauling, The
Teacher”
• Jack Dunitz for “The Scientific Contributions of Linus Pauling,” an
edited version of an appreciation that appeared in Biographical
Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society
• Scientific American for “Pauling and Beadle”
• Bruno Strasser for “Sickle-Cell Anemia”
• Gregory Morgan for “The Genesis of the Molecular Clock”
• National Broadcasting Corporation Inc. Meet The Press, copyright
1958 for “Meet the Press”
We would also like to thank the many friends, family members,
colleagues and associates of Linus Pauling, whose comments, preserved in
the Ava Helen and Linus Pauling Papers have informed the creation of this
volume, and which appear as marginalia.
The editors would like to thank the following for photographs and
illustrations:
• Phil Stern: pp. ii, 77, 90
• Terry Morrison: pp. 1, 226
• Ava Helen and Linus Pauling Papers, Oregon State University Special
Collections: pp.4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 17, 20, 22, 26, 30, 32, 37, 40,
42, 47, 57, 61, 64, 69, 74, 80, 81, 82, 90, 92, 100, 101, 102, 103, 108,
114, 122, 128, 137, 140, 143, 144, 146, 153, 156, 162, 170, 178, 181,
186, 193, 200, 209, 211, 212, 216, 218, 226, 229, 230, 231, 232, 234,
235, 237, 238, 239, 240, 241, 243, 244, 245, 246, 247, 248, 250, 253,
254, 256
• Official Photograph, The White House, Washington: p.18
• News and Communications Services, Oregon State University: pp.
191, 232
• National Broadcasting Company News: pp. 204
• Linus Pauling Institute of Science and Medicine, Cancer and Vitamin C:
p. 47
•Cover Photo: Oregon State University News and Communications
Services
Table of Contents
(cid:1)(cid:1)(cid:1)
Preface.............................................................................. v
Acknowledgments.................................................................vi
Part I. Linus Pauling, The Man
The Roots of Genius .....................................................................2
Tom Hager
A Pauling Chronology....................................................................8
Robert Paradowski
My Best Friend............................................................................21
Linus Pauling
Diary Excerpts .............................................................................25
Linus Pauling
Interview with Dr. Linus Pauling..................................................31
Wayne Reynolds
Summer Employment ..................................................................56
Linus Pauling
Children of the Dawn ..................................................................59
Linus Pauling
Linus Pauling, The Teacher............................................................63
David P. Shoemaker
The Incident on the Cliff .............................................................71
Linus Pauling
Part II. Linus Pauling, The Science
The Scientific Contributions of Linus Pauling ..............................78
Jack Dunitz
Early Years of Physical Chemistry at Caltech.................................98
Linus Pauling
The Original Manuscript for The Nature of the Chemical Bond .....109
Linus Pauling
Modern Structural Chemistry: Nobel Lecture 1954....................111
Linus Pauling
Pauling and Beadle.....................................................................119
George Gray
Sickle-Cell Anemia.....................................................................127
Bruno Strasser
How I Developed an Interest in the Question of the
Nature of Life.........................................................................134
Linus Pauling
The Discovery of the Alpha Helix ..............................................141
Linus Pauling
The Triple Helix ........................................................................150
Thomas Hager
The Genesis of the Molecular Clock..........................................169
Gregory J. Morgan
Orthomolecular Medicine Defined.............................................177
Linus Pauling
“There Will Always Be Something Interesting”...........................184
Interview with Neil A. Campbell
Part III. Linus Pauling, The Peace Work
An Episode That Changed My Life ............................................192
Linus Pauling
The Ultimate Decision...............................................................195
Linus Pauling
Meet the Press............................................................................201
Science and Peace, Nobel Lecture 1963......................................208
Linus Pauling
Man—An Irrational Animal........................................................223
Linus Pauling
A World in Which Every Human Being Can Live a Good Life ...227
Linus Pauling
Part IV. Linus Pauling, Facets..................................229
Pauling Bibliography..........................................................258
Index ............................................................................267