Carl Pauling

Carl Pauling Essay, Research Paper

Carl Pauling

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)