In this biography
Quick facts
- Born
- 28 February 1901
- Died
- 19 August 1994
- Birthplace
- Portland, OR, USA
- Country
- United States
- Nationality
- Not independently established
- Known for
- Research on chemical bonding, protein structures and the development of the alpha-helix model
Why this life matters
Research on chemical bonding, protein structures and the development of the alpha-helix model
Timeline
Key moments
Birth
Linus Pauling was born in Portland, OR, USA.
Helical protein models
Published the alpha-helix proposal with Robert Corey and Herman Branson.
Nobel recognition
Received Nobel recognition for the work described in the official award record.
An Oregon education and a Caltech doctorate
Linus Carl Pauling was born in Portland, Oregon, in 1901. He entered Oregon State College in 1917 and graduated in chemical engineering in 1922. Graduate work at the California Institute of Technology followed, under Roscoe Dickinson and Richard Tolman, and he received his doctorate in 1925. Crystallographic experiments and theoretical questions developed together during this period. His interest in the chemical bond was influenced by ideas about shared electrons and by the emerging quantum mechanics that made those ideas more mathematically precise.
Chemical bonding as a research programme
Paulingโs career at Caltech included research, teaching and leadership of its chemistry division. European study brought him into contact with Arnold Sommerfeld, Erwin Schrรถdinger and Niels Bohr. He developed an account of bonding that connected quantum principles with the structures and properties familiar to chemists. His 1954 Nobel Prize in Chemistry recognised research on the chemical bond and its application to complex substances. The programme combined theoretical descriptions with measured molecular geometry rather than replacing empirical chemistry with calculations alone.
A helical model built with colleagues
In 1951 Pauling, Robert Corey and Herman Branson published two hydrogen-bonded helical configurations for a polypeptide chain. Their model building used information about bond distances, angles and the geometry of peptide groups. The alpha helix became one of the important recurring structures in proteins. This was a collaborative chemical proposal, distinct from determining the complete arrangement of an individual globular protein by crystallography. Later structural work by researchers including John Kendrew and Max Perutz made the relationship between such recurring motifs and complete protein architectures concrete.
A second public career and two Nobel Prizes
Pauling also became a prominent opponent of nuclear-weapons testing. His campaigning brought political controversy and restrictions on his passport during the 1950s. He received the 1962 Nobel Peace Prize in addition to his earlier chemistry award. He died in California in 1994. These two strands explain his unusual public significance: a scientist known for molecular ideas also acted in debates about the consequences of scientific technology. His chemical achievement is clearest through the specific bond and structural problems he addressed with collaborators and experimental evidence.
Quick answers
Frequently asked questions about Linus Pauling
- Who co-authored the 1951 helix paper?
- Robert B. Corey and Herman R. Branson worked with Pauling on the published model.
- Was the alpha helix a complete protein structure?
- No. It was a recurring chain configuration that could form part of a much larger protein architecture.
Keep exploring
Lives connected to this story
- Dorothy Hodgkin
Compare model building from chemical constraints with experimental determination of complex molecular structures.
- John Kendrew
Compare a recurring helical motif with the measured architecture of myoglobin.
- Charles J. Pedersen
Explore Charles J. Pedersenโs related research on crown ethers.
Sources and further reading
Explore the evidence
These references support the biography and offer further reading. Official records, first-person accounts and independent reporting provide different perspectives; image records document attribution and licensing.
- 1. Pauling, Corey and Branson / PNAS, 1951The Structure of Proteins: Two Hydrogen-Bonded Helical Configurations of the Polypeptide Chain
The proposal is credited to Pauling, Corey and Branson and distinguished from a complete globular-protein structure.
- 2. Nobel Prize OutreachLinus Pauling โ Nobel lecture
- 3. Nobel Prize OutreachLinus Pauling โ Facts
- 4. Nobel Prize OutreachLinus Pauling โ Biographical