Linus Carl Pauling

(1901–1994)

Professor of Chemistry

PhD, Physical Chemistry and Mathematical Physics, California Institute of Technology (1925)

BS, Chemical Engineering, Oregon State University (1922)

Honors / Awards

Award in Chemical Education, American Chemical Society (1987)

Priestley Medal, American Chemical Society (1984)

National Medal of Science (1974)

Nobel Peace Prize (1962)

Pierre Fermat Medal in Mathematics (1957)

Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1954)

Award in Pure Chemistry, American Chemical Society (1931)

Irving Langmuir Award, American Chemical Society (1931)

Member, National Academy of Sciences and American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Honorary DSc Chicago, Princeton, Yale, Cambridge, Oxford, London, Paris, Toulouse, Montpellier, Liege, Melbourne, Cracow, Berlin

Boards, Advisory Committees, Professional Organizations

Past President, American Chemical Society

Among the most impactful scientists of the 20th century and the only person to receive two unshared Nobel Prizes, Linus Carl Pauling is credited with helping to establish the fields of quantum chemistry and molecular biology. Professor Pauling’s more than 1,200 books and papers deal with wide-ranging topics in chemical bonding, crystal structure, macromolecular “lock and key” complementarity, medicine and health, and humanism, war and peace. He received the 1962 Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his research into the nature of the chemical bond and its application to the elucidation of the structure of complex substances." His advocacy for nuclear arms control and disarmament led the Nobel Foundation to award him the 1954 Peace Prize.

Professor Pauling was born in Portland, Oregon in 1901. He earned his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Oregon State University (BS), where he was introduced to quantum mechanics. He completed doctoral work in physical chemistry and mathematical physics at the California Institute of Technology (PhD summa cum laude 1925), working in x-ray crystallography with Roscoe Dickinson and Richard Tolman. In 1926, he explored his interest in applying the then-new field of quantum mechanics to understand the electron structure of atoms and molecules through a Guggenheim Fellowship to study under German physicist Arnold Sommerfeld in Munich, Danish physicist Niels Bohr in Copenhagen, and Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger in Zürich. Professor Pauling joined the faculty of Caltech as assistant professor in 1927, rising to associate professor in 1929 and full professor in 1931. In 1967, he moved to the University of California, San Diego, before joining the Stanford faculty as professor of chemistry in 1969, moving in 1974 to the Pauling Institute of Science and Medicine in Palo Alto.

Memorial Resolution: Linus Pauling

The Nobel Peace Prize in 1962: Linus Pauling

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1954: Linus Pauling

National Academies Press Biographical Memoir: Linus Carl Pauling