Early Life
Born in Portland, Oregon, in 1901, Pauling lost his pharmacist father at age nine. He became fascinated by chemistry after seeing a friend's chemistry set and built a home lab. He left high school without a diploma to support his family, but studied chemical engineering at Oregon Agricultural College, teaching classes while still a student. He earned his PhD at Caltech in 1925 and then studied quantum mechanics in Europe with Sommerfeld, Bohr and Schrödinger.
Major Discoveries
- 01Theory of orbital hybridisation and resonance
- 02Electronegativity scale (Pauling scale)
- 03Explained the nature of the chemical bond using quantum mechanics
- 04Discovered the alpha-helix and beta-sheet protein structures
- 05Showed sickle-cell anaemia is a molecular disease
- 06Co-founded molecular evolution with the molecular clock idea
Famous Experiments
- 01Used X-ray crystallography and electron diffraction to determine molecular structures
- 02Folded paper models to discover the alpha-helix while ill in bed in 1948
- 03Used electrophoresis to show abnormal haemoglobin in sickle-cell patients
Awards & Honors
- 01Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1954)
- 02Nobel Peace Prize (1962)
- 03Lenin Peace Prize (1970)
- 04US National Medal of Science (1974)
- 05Davy Medal (1947)
Legacy
His book 'The Nature of the Chemical Bond' (1939) is among the most cited scientific works ever. He campaigned against nuclear weapons testing, helping bring about the 1963 test-ban treaty. Many consider him one of the greatest scientists of the 20th century.
Fun Facts
- 01He received his high school diploma 45 years late, after his two Nobel Prizes
- 02He almost solved DNA's structure but proposed a wrong triple helix
- 03He promoted high-dose vitamin C, which proved controversial
- 04His US passport was once withdrawn due to his political activism