Linus Carl Pauling stands as one of the most influential scientists of the twentieth century, renowned for his transformative contributions across multiple disciplines. Born in Portland, Oregon in 1901, he rose from modest beginnings to become what New Scientist described as one of the twenty greatest scientists of all time, eventually establishing himself as the premier structural chemist of his era by the 1950s. His academic journey began at Oregon Agricultural College and culminated in groundbreaking research at the California Institute of Technology where he conducted his Nobel Prize-winning work. Pauling's exceptionally prolific career spanned decades and yielded over 1,200 scientific papers and books that reshaped both chemistry and molecular biology.
Pauling's revolutionary work fundamentally transformed our understanding of chemical bonding through the innovative application of quantum mechanics to chemical problems, establishing the foundation for modern quantum chemistry. His seminal 1939 publication The Nature of the Chemical Bond became one of the most-cited scientific texts in history, teaching an entire generation of chemists to conceptualize molecular structure through his distinctive model-building approach that combined X-ray crystallography, quantum chemistry, and molecular modeling. The Nobel Committee recognized this profound body of work spanning forty years when awarding him the 1954 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for research into the nature of the chemical bond and its application to elucidating complex molecular structures. His discoveries in protein structure, particularly identifying the alpha helix and beta sheet configurations that define protein secondary structure, directly inspired the work of Watson, Crick, and Franklin on DNA.
Pauling holds the unique distinction of being the only person to receive two unshared Nobel Prizes, adding the 1962 Nobel Peace Prize for his tireless campaign against nuclear weapons testing and proliferation following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. His courageous humanitarian advocacy, including presenting a petition signed by 9,235 scientists from 44 countries to the United Nations, proved instrumental in achieving the 1963 Nuclear Test Ban Treaty signed by the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union, with the treaty taking effect on the very day his Peace Prize was announced. Despite controversy surrounding his peace activism that led to his departure from Caltech, Pauling continued scientific work through appointments at Stanford University until 1972, leaving an enduring legacy that encompasses both his transformative contributions to science and his unwavering commitment to applying scientific knowledge for humanity's benefit.
