Subject: Linus Pauling

From: [email-masked] (Pieter Stouten)
Date: Sun, 21 Aug 94 10:24:06 EDT

At the age of 93, Linus Pauling, a brilliant chemist and the only man to
win two Nobel prizes in different categories, passed away on his estate
in California.

In 1954, Pauling received the Nobel prize for chemistry for his research
of, among others, proteins and antibodies. After the development of the
nuclear bomb, Pauling became a convinced pacifist. In 1958 he presented
a petition to the UN, signed by 11,000 scientists, which strongly
protested against nuclear experiments. In 1963, he received the Nobel
prize for peace.

(Source: Dutch Teletekst, available through the World Wide Web)

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From: "Peter Shenkin" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 21 Aug 1994 17:20:00 -0400

On Aug 21, 10:24am, Pieter Stouten wrote:
> Subject: CCL:Linus Pauling

> in California.....

It's difficult to overestimate Pauling's contributions to the ways we
think of things chemical.  Perhaps some others would like to add to 
or elaborate on (or to correct, if appropriate) the following few 
examples:

	Pauling was one of the first chemists to understand the
	implications of quantum theory for chemistry.  Probably
	his major contribution was rationalizing, in terms of the
	new physics, the traditional language that chemists had 
	already been using to describe molecular structure, and
	thereby showing how important it was for chemists to 
	understand these new ideas.  Recall that prior to Schroedinger,
	nobody had the slightest idea why a covalent bond should form.

	Pauling also had an important role in taking these fundamental
	physical laws and reducing them to qualitative rules that could
	explain a whole lot of chemistry;  an example is the concept
	of electronegativity.  Also, resonance, though in use as
	a chemical concept before quantum mechanics, was shown by
	Pauling to be consistent with quantum mechanics.
	
	Pauling predicted that because of resonance, the peptide bond
	should be rigid and planar.  This simplified efforts to 
	understand protein structure.  Pauling predicted the existence 
	of the alpha helix in globular proteins long before X-ray 
	structures demonstrated that they occurred.

He had a few dead ends, too.  For example, his theory of the immune
system (that antibodies were "plastic", and could conform to an antigen 
and keep that conformation, thus keeping a history of past exposure)
turned out to be completely wrong.  And the jury is still out on the 
question whether taking massive doses of vitamin C does anybody any good.
But most would agree that Pauling was the greatest chemist of the
20th century -- at least so far.  (We still have 6 years, after all.... :-) )

	-P.

-- 
******************** Baseball -- 1839 - 1994: RIP ********************
*Peter S. Shenkin, Box 768 Havemeyer Hall, Chemistry, Columbia Univ.,*
*New York, NY  10027;     [email-masked];     (212) 854-5143   *
******************** Woodstock -- 1969 - 1969: RIP *******************

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From: John Meehan <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 22 Aug 1994 08:40:03 +1000 (EST)

G'day everyone
> 20th century -- at least so far.  (We still have 6 years, after all.... :-) )

Pretty much so....it's a petty though that for all that he achieved, in the
popular media he will forever be known for his feelings on Vit. C. Be the
idea right or wrong its unfortunate that his greatest work will probably
go unnoticed by most because of this.

Be prepared for a re-awakening of the Vit. C story I guess    :-)
Cheers
John

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John Meehan                   O     CH2-COOH      
Department of Biochemistry    "    /
University of Tasmania,    HO-P-O-C-COOH
Australia                     |    \
                             HO     CH2-COOH
PHOSPHOCITRIC ACID ----    A powerful, natural 
   inhibitor of Pathological Biomineralization
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