Linus Carl Pauling
Linus Carl Pauling was born Feb. 28, 1901 in
Portland Oreg. He has made major contributions in
structural chemistry and molecular biology. Linus
Pauling became interested in biological molecules, and
he preformed magnetic studies on oxygen-carrying
hemoglobin molecules with C. D. Coryell. Linus
developed a structural theory of denatured and
coagulated protein molecules. He was interrupted on
his work during WWII he had to work on explosives and
developed an oxygen detector. He proposed the alpha
helix as the basic structure of proteins and nearly
missed discovering the double-helix structure of DNA.
In 1954 he was awarded the NOBEL PRIZE for chemistry
for his outstanding contributions toward understanding
chemical bonding.
Linus spoke out against nuclear testing after WW
II. Linus presented a petition to the U.N signed by
11,000 scientists. This led to the U.S.-Soviet test-
ban treaty. This led to Linus winning the Nobel Peace
Prize. Later on in his career he looked into medical
issues like he found out sickle-cell disease is
hereditary, and he investigated into MEGAVITAMIN
THERAPY(the use of large amounts of vitamins for
health purposes).
