Write about a noble prize winner

The Life and Times of Linus Pauling

Name

Date

As my father 's son I am certainly among his fondest admirers . Now I have ample evidence that all over the nation , and elsewhere in the world innumerable people share my affection and admiration in their own ways They not only admire but love him . They have read his books and articles , have seen him on television , have attended meetings where he spoke , or by chance sat next to him at a banquet or on the airplane . A number have received personal

messages from him or talked with him over the phone . They feel a personal connection , a strong bond , with his values - his valiant anti-nuclear-testing stance , his dedication to world peace , his emphasis on vitamin C as a valuable nutrient for both prevention and treatment of disease , his compassion for the human condition of suffering . For a number of our supporters , Linus Pauling may be the closest embodiment , in this age of uncertainty , amorality and constant conflict , of a living universal hero

- Linus Pauling , Jr , 1993 If the world ever needed a real super hero , a universal man with real super powers , the world would not have to look further then Linus Pauling . Like many of the actors of his day he was larger then life - bright , attractive , successful , and accomplished . The punchline is that Linus Pauling was not a character creative from someone 's imagination but a real life scientist . As a young adult he was already famous for his scientific endeavors . Linus Pauling could not even walk down the street without people knowing who he is . Linus Pauling is most famous for his work on a very specific area of physics . His theory of quantum physics was so complicated most educated people could not begin to comprehend his discoveries . His theory centers around the way in which chemicals bond to each other . Later in life he decided to study biological molecules and created a new science called molecular biology Pauling who solved the first simple protein structures in the late 1940s has been obtained from computer models (in silico ) and from laboratory experiments (in vitro , but in the living cell (in vivo ) the situation is fundamentally more complex , and computer simulations cannot yet solve the 'great mystery ' of the correct protein structure (Hager 1995 ,

.10 .Today , there are whole universities and institutions are devoted to the study of molecular biology . He eventually would apply his theory of quantum physics to biological molecules thus changing the way the public and other scientists viewed the world , the earth , and the universe

Linus Pauling was not only a great scientist but he was a wonderful public speaker . He had the unique ability to take what he knew studied , discovered and break it down so the general public would not just understand it but also enjoy learning about it . He would travel the world making speeches and talking to people . He was also very involved in politics and extremely liberal . This is odd because he was born into an ultra-conservative family . However , when he was a young man Linus found that he support liberal views . He supported Upton Sinclair 's bid to become the governor of California . In doing his actions came under suspicion because Sinclair was consider a socialist However , Pauling was very supportive of the American and British during the war . He wanted to make sure his friends , family , and peers were okay . Once the war began he put his personal scientific endeavors on hold while he helped the war effort . He worked on war vehicles and developed oxygen tanks

Neither Pauling nor most biochemists in America or Europe could devote time to basic research during the war years . However , the fundamental knowledge accrued during the 1930s formed a framework within which researchers could apply the rudimentary knowledge of protein structure to new practical problems relevant to the war effort (Hager 1995 ,

. 161 . He also developed a type of artificial plasma for soldiers wounded in the war that were in need of blood . Linus Pauling , Julian Huxley , and other notables who visited our Institute on the Texas campus from time to time . Williams is known for his publications in the fields of nutrition , alcoholism , cancer , and biochemical individuality (Hager , 1995 ,

. 56 . He is known also for having discovered more vitamins and their variants than any other scientist in the world (Hager , 1995 ,

. 67

He then used his knowledge to try and convince the United States government that nuclear bombs were back for the health of the general public . He had ever collected signatures from all the great scientists of the time against nuclear bombs "Nobel Prize winner Linus Pauling , a major figure in the movement to stop nuclear testing , from sponsorship of the SANE march (Hager , 1995 ,

. 101 . In spending all his time on the war he was ill prepared for his next scientific publication . He decided to published his information about DNA before Watson and Crick did . Linus Pauling 's model of DNA was incorrect and he was embarrassed by the mistake . When Linus Pauling wanted to travel to see Watson and Crick 's work in England but the United States thought that the was a communist and would not give him a passport

Later in life he devote much of his research work to Vitamin C . He believed that vitamin was the cure for the common cold . He claimed that vitamin C was a panacea , useful as a preventative and treatment for all kinds of diseases , including cancer . His advocacy of "orthomolecular medicine " the use of large doses of vitamins and other natural substances to regulate the body 's molecular structure , made him a hero to health food enthusiasts , but it raised grave doubts among many of his scientific admirers "Some time before he died , Dr . Pauling announced cures for the common cold and for cancer . These cures , according to settled medical opinion , proved as efficacious as his proposals for peace , which amounted to getting out of the way of the Soviet Union (Hager , 1995 ,

.5

Hager asserts that Pauling 's transition "from being a public figure of high stature with an idealistic philosophy , to being viewed as a lonely crank " as "a fall as great as in any classical tragedy (Hager , 1995 br

.99 ) While Pauling quickly recognized his error on DNA , accepting it as the kind of mistake any scientist can make and more or less discarding his previous ideas about vitamin treatment of schizophrenia , he never abandoned his claims about vitamin C and the treatment of cancer , and in the last years of his life he felt vindicated when a national medical conference gave him a standing ovation , claiming that "Pauling was right all along " The megavitamin issue remains open to scientific debate , and Pauling can be credited with advocating an alternative point of view and stimulating new directions of research

Some people who have known Pauling well for many years believed that this conflict brought to the surface aspects of Pauling 's personality that had been invisible to his admiring public . Hager explains "My unhappiness with Pauling as a person is that he is an egomaniac although a brilliantly intuitive scientist , and his behavior in the Robinson business was completely inexcusable (Hager , 1995 ,

. 88

It may be inevitable that a "universal living hero " will fail to live up to his billing if one examines his life in detail . Pauling 's human weaknesses are surprising only because our expectations of him are so high . Pauling was not superhuman , but he was a very great man , with an extraordinarily sharp and creative mind , a firm inner determination , and a strong moral sense . His life holds many lessons and poses many intriguing questions for all of us . The nature of the world of today has been greatly changed during recent centuries as a result of scientific discoveries . Every aspect of our lives--the food we eat , the clothes we wear , our methods of communication and transportation , the ways of waging war , the conduct of relations between nations--each of these has been revolutionized by the discoveries made by scientists (Hager , 1995 ,

. 90

References

Hager , Tomas . Force of Nature : the life of Linus Pauling . New York Simon Schuster , 1995...