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Interview no.: 0067
Date of interview: 6 April 1987
Location: Denver, Colorado
No. of pages: 33
Interviewer:
Jeffrey L. Sturchio
Minutes: 120
Access level: Free Access. Users may view, quote from, cite, or reproduce the oral history with the permission of CHF. Users citing interviews for purposes of publication are obliged under the terms of the CHF Oral History Program to notify CHF of publication and credit CHF using the following format: [Name of interviewee], interview by [name of interviewer] at [interview location], [interview date] (Philadelphia: Chemical Heritage Foundation, Oral History Transcript # [interview number]).
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Linus Pauling begins this interview by describing his early interest in science. While growing up in Portland, Oregon, he collected laboratory equipment and carried out chemistry experiments in his home. He also worked in the chemistry laboratory of his high school. Pauling supported himself through his undergraduate years at Oregon State Agricultural College by working in the chemistry department stockroom and assisting an engineering professor. During graduate school at Caltech, he learned x-ray crystallography from Roscoe Dickinson and published his first paper. Pauling continued to use crystallography to attack more complex chemical problems. In 1926, Pauling was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship to study in Europe. In Zurich, he carried out research on the interaction of two helium atoms which later led him to develop the theory of the three-electron bond. Pauling concludes this interview with his return to Caltech as assistant professor of chemistry.
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Page No. |
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Early Interest in Science
Growing up in Portland, Oregon. Collects laboratory equipment and carries out first chemistry experiments. Sisters and brothers. Takes high school chemistry and works in the lab after school. |
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1 |
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Oregon Agricultural College
Chemistry textbooks, classes and independent study. Supports self through college. Applies to several graduate schools and accepts appointment at Caltech. |
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5 |
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Caltech
Learns x-ray crystallography from Roscoe Dickinson. Publishes first paper. Studies physical science with Richard C. Tolman. Mathematics. Personal interaction with faculty and students. Publishes series of papers with Dickinson. Studies quantum mechanics. |
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10 |
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Guggenheim Fellowship in Europe
Münich. Expands Gregor Wentzel's method to calculate properties of atoms and ions. Zürich. Works on problem of helium atom interaction. Studies wave mechanics. American friends. |
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18 |
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Return to Caltech
Influence of A. A. Noyes. Becomes assistant professor of chemistry. Berkeley. |
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22 |
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Notes
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25 |
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Index
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29 |
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| 1922 |
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B.S., Chemical Engineering, Oregon State College |
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| 1925 |
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Ph.D., Physical Chemistry and Mathematical Physics, summa cum laude, California Institute of Technology |
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| National Research Council |
| 1925-1926 |
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Fellow |
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| Universities of Münich, Zürich, and Copenhagen |
| 1926-1927 |
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Guggenheim Fellow |
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| California Institute of Technology |
| 1922-1925 |
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Teaching Fellow |
| 1923-1927 |
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Research Associate |
| 1927-1929 |
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Assistant Professor |
| 1929-1931 |
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Associate Professor |
| 1931-1964 |
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Professor |
| 1936-1958 |
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Chairman, Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering |
| 1936-1958 |
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Director, Gates and Crellin Chemical Laboratories |
| 1945-1948 |
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Member, Executive Committee, Board of Trustees |
| 1963-1967 |
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Research Professor, Center for Study of Democratic Institutions |
| 1967-1969 |
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Professor of Chemistry, University of California, San Diego |
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| Stanford University |
| 1969-1974 |
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Professor of Chemistry |
| 1974-Present |
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Professor Emeritus |
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| Linus Pauling Institute of Science and Medicine |
| 1973-1975 |
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President |
| 1973-Present |
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Research professor |
| 1978-1979 |
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President |
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| 1931 |
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Langmuir Prize, American Chemical Society
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| 1941 |
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Nichols Medal, New York Section, American Chemical Society
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| 1947 |
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Davy Medal, Royal Society
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| 1948 |
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United States Presidential Medal for Merit
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| 1952 |
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Pasteur Medal, Biochemical Society of France
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| 1954 |
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Nobel Prize, Chemistry
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| 1955 |
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Addis Medal, National Nephrosis Foundation
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| 1955 |
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Phillips Memorial Award, American College of Physicians
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| 1956 |
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Avogadro Medal, Italian Academy of Science
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| 1957 |
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Pierre Fermat Medal in Mathematics
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| 1957 |
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International Grotius Medal
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| 1965 |
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Order of Merit, Republic of Italy
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| 1965 |
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Medal, Academy of the Rumanian People's Republic
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| 1966 |
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Silver Medal, Institute of France
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| 1966 |
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Supreme Peace Sponsor, World Fellowship of Religion
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| 1972 |
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United States National Medal of Science
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| 1972 |
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International Lenin Peace Prize
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| 1978 |
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Lomonosov Medal, USSR Academy of Science
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| 1979 |
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Medal for Chemical Sciences, National Academy of Science
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| 1984 |
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Priestley Medal, American Chemical Society
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| 1984 |
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Award for Chemistry, Arthur M. Sackler Foundation
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| 1987 |
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Award in Chemical Education, American Chemical Society
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| 1989 |
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Vannevar Bush Award, National Science Board
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| 1990 |
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Richard C. Tolman Medal, Southern California, Section, American Chemical Society
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Jeffrey L. Sturchio is Executive Director, Public Affairs, Human Health Europe, Middle East & Africa, at Merck & Co., Inc., where he is responsible for the development, coordination, and implementation of a range of policy and communications initiatives for the region. Before assuming his current position in 1995, he was Merck’s Director, Science & Technology Policy, in the Corporate Public Affairs Department from 1993 to 1994; and Associate Director, Information Resources & Publishing, from 1992 to 1993. After a sojourn on the senior staff of the AT&T Archives, Dr. Sturchio joined Merck & Co., Inc. as Corporate Archivist in June 1989. He received an A.B. in history from Princeton University and a Ph.D. in the history and sociology of science from the University of Pennsylvania. He was Associate Director of the Beckman Center for the History of Chemistry from 1984 to 1988, and has held teaching appointments at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Rutgers University, and the University of Pennsylvania as well as a fellowship at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.
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