Linuspauling Essay, Research Paper

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).