Profiles In Science

 

By Patrick | |
and Getze

 

LINUS PAULING

Reading: “Bulletin of Atomic Scientists,” Dec., 1960; Jan., 1961.
“Great American Scientists,” by the editors of Fortune.
NEXT WEEK: Sigmund Freud, most quoted and misquoted man

in history.

LINUS PAULING, a tali, thin
man with a shock of gray, un-
truly hair, discovered a deep,
closely guarded secret of na-
ture, the secret of how atoms
bind themselves together in
molecules.

We have all read that every- |

thing is made of atoms associ-
ated in molecules. For some
reason these atoms, like those
that make up the chair in which
you sit, do not scatter to the
four winds but stick together so
firmly they can’t be dislodged
even by taking an ax to the
chair. '

All you can do with an ax is
break up the chair. The atoms
that are bound together in the
wood cannot be separated so
crudely.

Pauling won the 1954 Nobel
Prize in chemistry for his dis-
covery of some of the principles
that determine the cohesiveness
of atoms.

The idea of a chemical bond
holding atoms together in mole-
cules was developed 100 years
ago. Pauling removed some of
the mystery and developed the
theory to make it more useful
to chemists.

These discoveries Jed him to
importdnt new understanding of
the atomic framework of both

yorgani¢é and organic things~
ings such as metals and alloys,
drugs and even the living tissue
of plants and animals.

Pauling’s book, “The Nature
of the Chemical Bond,” is one
of the. classics of modern
Science.

Pauling was born in Portland,

Ore., Feb, 28, 1901. He first
showed an interest in science by ,
collecting insects when he was
\l. A year later he was collect-
ing rocks and minerals. When he
was 13 he became a chemist
and has been a chemist ever
since.

From then until now he has
enthusiastically explored the
world of atom and molecule and
navigated the uncharted seas of
sub-microscopic matter.

He went to California Institute
of Technology in 1927 as an as-
sistant professor, became a full
professor when only 30, and head
of the division of chemistry and
chemical engineering when only
36.

Pauling’s interests are as
wide as the world is wide. He
has done original research in
mathematics, physics, geology,
biology and medicine as well as
in chemistry. His work on rocket
propellants and substitutes for
blood in transfusions from 1940
to 1946 earned him the Presi-
dential Medal for Merit.

His interest in politics has
made him a dissenter from
many popular and ‘‘accepted’’
opinions. He is a man President
Kennedy might well have had
in mind when he said Americans
recognize “the value of daring
and dissent” and regard
“healthy controversy as the hall-
mark of. healthy change,”

 

 

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