Dr. Linus: A Life in Prize(s)

Bio-portrait of a very wondrous man whose double Nobel-prize reflected his lifelong pursuit of knowledge/wisdom.

A bio-portrait of the amazing scientist and political-activist Linus Pauling, dual Nobel Laureate!

DISCLAIMER: While this biography-diorama casts historically true facts (source: Wikipedia), it's in no way a reference to any 'formal/official' ties or relationship with the mentioned Nobel-winning celebrity (Linus Pauling) or any of his associations/family. 

----

====

Linus Pauling had published more than 1200 papers/books, 850 of which were of scientific topics. He's one of the few individuals to have won a Nobel prize in two different fields --- the Chemistry-prize in 1954 (for chemical-bonds work and structure-complexity) and the Peace-prize in 1962 (for his social-fight against nuclear-arms race between the East and West). Dr. Linus also endorsed forms of lifestyle nutrition including vitamins/supplements advice and cared a great deal about the study of Vitamin-C.

He was born in 1901 in Oregon to German/English parents and befriended a man whose chemistry lab kit simply fascinated Linus, and this was perhaps the seed of his future study of chemistry. He began collecting spare parts at a steel-plant building to make a lab and started a home-lab with a high-school friend called Palmon Laboratories. He worked as a machinist and a photolab employee and was admitted into Oregon State University for which he departed home and the company of his mother/siblings.

In college, Dr. Linus found the seeds of inspiration which would draw him to becoming one of the founders of quantum chemistry, a very innovative scientific field of study. In college, Dr. Linus met his future wife, Ava Helen Miller. He finished college and was admitted into the Caltech graduate program where he obtained a PhD in physical chemistry and mathematical physics. He traveled to Europe in 1926 to study under Nobel-winning scientists Bohr and Schrodinger. In 1927, he became an assistant-professor at Caltech and taught/studied X-ray crystal analysis and quantum mechanical calculations on atoms/molecules.

Becoming friends with nuclear-scientist Oppenheimer at Caltech would serve as a catalyst to Dr. Linus' interests in nuclear-weapons politics. This would pave the road to his second Nobel prize, after he'd already won the Prize in Chemistry. Still a scientist at heart, Linus invented the Electronegativity Scale for determining the energy for bond-breaking and dipole-moments between molecules. He became the Chairman of the Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at Caltech. How'd a human man become dually triumphant in both science/politics, one might wonder in awe! In 1946, he joined a body chaired by Albert Einstein to warn humanity of the dangers of nuclear science(s). Dr. Linus was also tied to the Unitarian church.

Linus and Ava had four children, 3 of whom became scientists/doctors. Oregon State University built an entire chemistry building in Linus Pauling's name. The US Postal Service commemorated a postage-stamp in his honor! He was even inducted into the California Hall of Fame in 2008 by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The state of Oregon commemorated February 28 as Linus Pauling Day. What his admirers/fans/students consider a great 'portion' of his wondrous celebrity was his way to touch 'magic' to the study of human science and the politics of the state. It's why one might offer him the honored alias "The Vitamin-Life Detective."

"When an old and distinguished person speaks to you, listen to him carefully and with respect, but do not believe him. Never put your trust into anything but your own intellect. Your elder, no matter whether he has gray hair or has lost his hair, no matter whether he is a Nobel laureate, may be wrong. The world progresses, year by year, century by century, as the members of the younger generation find out what was wrong among the things that their elders said. So you must always be skeptical, always think for yourself" (Linus Pauling).

====

"Money is everything" (Ecclesiastes)