Linus Carl Pauling

1901-1994

Pauling was a towering figure in 20th century science and a tireless activist for world peace. He was the first person to receive two unshared Nobel Prizes, one in chemistry (1954) and the other for peace (1962). His chemical achievements include the application of quantum mechanics to chemical bonding, where he introduced the concepts of electronegativity, orbital hybridization and resonance; his book "The Nature of the Chemical Bond" (1939) was one of the most influential chemical publications ever written. His brilliant stochastic methods, when applied to X-ray crystallography, led to the discovery of the α-helix and pleated sheet structures of proteins. Pauling developed key concepts about molecular size and shape complementarity in antibody-antigen and enzyme-transition state binding.

Sponsor: Mercouri G. Kanatzidis

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Location in chemistry building: First Floor; Elevator area East Wall; Sequence 1

Source: Chemical Heritage Foundation