Linus Carl Pauling

(February 28, 1901 – August 19, 1994)[ was an American chemist, biochemist, peace activist, author, and educator. He was one of the most influential chemists in history and ranks among the most important scientists of the 20th century.[ Pauling was one of the founders of the fields of quantum chemistry and molecular biology.[7]
For his scientific work, Pauling was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1954. In 1962, for his peace activism, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. This makes him the only person to be awarded two unshared Nobel Prizes. He is one of only four individuals to have won more than one Nobel Prize (the others being Marie Curie, John Bardeen, and Frederick Sanger). Pauling is also one of only two people to be awarded Nobel Prizes in different fields, the other being Marie Curie.[8]
He promoted orthomolecular medicine, megavitamin therapy, dietary supplements, and taking large doses of vitamin C.



Early life and education

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Photo of Herman Henry William Pauling, Linus Pauling's father, taken c. 1900.


Pauling was born in Portland, Oregon,[9][10] as the first-born child of Herman Henry William Pauling (1876–1910) and Lucy Isabelle "Belle" Darling (1881–1926).[11] He was named "Linus Carl," in honor of Lucy's father, Linus, and Herman's father, Carl.[12] Lucy's great grandfather William Darling, Sr., has a documented lineage to Elder William Brewster, who arrived in America on the Mayflower, and it is used as a sample lineage.[13]
Linus Pauling spent his first year living in a one-room apartment with his parents in Portland. In 1902, after his sister Pauline was born, Pauling's parents decided to move out of the city.[ They were crowded in their apartment, but could not afford more spacious living quarters in Portland. Lucy stayed with her husband's parents in Lake Oswego, while Herman searched for new housing. Herman brought the family to Salem, where he took up a job as a traveling salesman for the Skidmore Drug Company. Within a year of Lucile's birth in 1904, Herman Pauling moved his family to Oswego, where he opened his own drugstore. The business climate in Oswego was poor, so he moved his family to Condon in 1905.

[ By 1909, Herman Pauling was suffering from poor health and had regular sharp pains in his abdomen. His health worsened in the coming months and he finally died of a perforated ulcer on June 11, 1910, leaving Lucy to care for Linus, Lucile and Pauline

At age nine, Linus was a voracious reader. On May 12, 1910 his
father wrote a letter to The Oregonian inviting suggestions of additional books to occupy his time.[4] Pauling first planned to become a chemist after being amazed by experiments conducted with a small chemistry lab kit by his friend, Lloyd A. Jeffress.[17] At high school, Pauling continued to conduct chemistry experiments, scavenging much of the equipment and material from an abandoned steel plant. With an older friend, Lloyd Simon, Pauling set up Palmon Laboratories. Operating from Simon's basement, the two approached local dairies to offer their services in performing butterfat samplings at cheap prices. Dairymen were wary of trusting two boys with the task, and as such, the business ended in failure.[
By the fall of 1916, Pauling was a 15-year-old high school senior with enough credits to enter Oregon State University (OSU), known then as Oregon Agricultural College.[19] He did not have enough credits for two required American history courses that would satisfy the requirements for earning a high school diploma. He asked the school principal if he could take these courses concurrently during the spring semester, but the principal denied his request, and Pauling decided to leave the school in June without a diploma. His high school, Washington High School in Portland, awarded him the diploma 45 years later, after he had won two Nobel Prizes. During the summer, Pauling worked part-time at a grocery store, earning eight US dollars a week. His mother set him up with an interview with a Mr. Schwietzerhoff, the owner of a number of manufacturing plants in Portland. Pauling was hired as an apprentice machinist with a salary of 40 dollars per month. Pauling excelled at his job, and saw his salary soon raised to 50 dollars per month. In his spare time, he set up a photography laboratory with two friends and found business from a local photography company. He hoped that the business would earn him enough money to pay for his future college expenses.[ Pauling received a letter of admission from Oregon State University in September 1917 and immediately gave notice to his boss and told his mother of his plans