Holiday Traditions at the Pauling Home

Linus Pauling, Jr. recounts his boyhood memories of Christmas trees and mistletoe in Pasadena.

Formulas, Pictures and Sports Drinks: The Pauling Chalkboard, Part III

Linus Pauling, 1985.

(Part 3 of 3)

While much of the real estate on Linus Pauling’s chalkboard is consumed by lists of names, a number of additional annotations, when examined, prove to be of keen interest.

Metabolic Profiling

On the right side of the board, below the last column of names, is the following text:

NSF – Mol. Str. 21 Mar.

Library 3000 21 Mar.

Aging – NIH Nutrition

American Cancer Society – Dr. Neville

Sample Bank

Mass Spectrometer

Muscular Dystrophy

Aging Patterns in mice

This particular sample of notes relates to the metabolic profiling program carried out for some time at the Linus Pauling Institute of Science and Medicine. As mentioned in part II of this series, a large number of names on the board were involved with the metabolic profiling program, and this particular column of text ties many of the names together. Pauling was working with numerous people from diverse backgrounds and professions. He was in contact with researchers at, among other organizations, the Institute on Aging and the American Cancer Society.

The words “sample bank” refer to urine and blood samples that were to be kept refrigerated for, potentially, decades, and ultimately to be analyzed by mass spectrometry. This particular undertaking was very ambitious, and could have provided a great deal of material for practical study. Unfortunately, the chronically underfunded Institute had trouble with their refrigeration units, and the project was eventually abandoned. (Despite the setbacks, some results of this program of research, headed by Pauling and Arthur Robinson, can be found in articles published at Stanford University as well as in certain of the Institute’s early news releases.)

A New Sports Drink

Another interesting bit of text can be found towards the lower right hand corner of the board:

C + glycine

dextrose

The text is likely the basic outline of a carbonated “sports drink” being worked on by the Institute in the 1980s. The drink was to be infused with vitamins, and the Institute was developing acids that would provide alternative sweeteners. Production and research eventually halted, but it is interesting to think about what may have resulted from a successfully marketed “Paulingaide.”

Vitamin C, Cancer and Heart Disease

The following words, located in the upper right portion of the column ark, have perhaps the most basic and relevant connections to Pauling’s work.

Ascorbate

stimulates

Production of Lymphocytes

The order simply implies that ascorbate, or vitamin C, stimulates the production of lymphocytes, the major cellular components of the body’s immune system. Several studies have shown that increased levels of ascorbate generally correlate with increased levels of lymphocyte production. If nothing else, this is the most centrally relevant theme of Pauling’s work with vitamin C, and the fact that it maintained such a substantial place on his overcrowded board underlines the significance that he himself placed upon it.

In the middle of the board towards its top, is the diagram of a mystery molecule that was crafted by Pauling. Mention of the molecule (given the name “2-azido-5,8-dihydroxy-1,3,4,5,7,9,9b-heptaazaphenalene”) appeared in an article titled “A Prized Collection: Pauling Memorabilia,” published in Chemical and Engineering News in August 2000.

The board's "mystery molecule."

In a 1977 interview, Pauling was asked about his chalkboard and, in particular, about the mystery molecule.  He reponded

I had an idea in the field of organic chemistry about 40 years ago. It involved this unusual compound. Benzine has a six-membered ring of carbon atoms and this compound has three six-membered rings consisting of six carbon atoms and seven nitrogen atoms and then it has these hydroxyl groups attached. It is known that the similar substance with only one ring can be made into certain derivatives that have anti-cancer activity. And I thought that this substance with only three rings might well operate in the same way and that we should study it.

In other words, Pauling was still actively contemplating an idea that had occurred to him 40 years prior – an idea that managed to stay on his chalkboard through his death in 1994. Indeed the mystery molecule exemplifies the function of Pauling’s chalkboard, not only as a mnemonic device, but as a place holder for people and ideas that span decades.

Left of the mystery molecule towards the top of the board, one finds a series of words written one above the other. The seemingly haphazard placement of the words diverts attention from their historical significance in terms of the latter portion of Linus Pauling’s life.

LDL

Cholesterol

Lipoprotein a

The words almost certainly refer to research that Pauling began supporting in conjunction with a German physician named Matthias Rath, which investigated the possibility of a link between vitamin C and heart disease. Over the final years of his life, Pauling spoke of the relationship between vitamin C and heart disease in much the same way that he talked about vitamin C in terms of colds and cancer.

This writing was likely one of the last times that Pauling touched chalk to his board, as his collaboration with Rath did not develop until the early 1990s. The three words both acknowledge and hide the significance of the interaction between Rath and Pauling – a mercurial relationship for much of its duration.

Sandbox

Beneath an ark of name columns, adorned with the mystery molecule at its pinnacle, is a half-circle filled with pictures, figures and chemistry formulas. This area is likely where Pauling exercised the least concern for preservation, and it is supposed that this area of the board was used to aide in his discussions with visitors to his office. The space likely represents over two decades of personal interactions between Pauling and others, a spot on the board where he could explain theories and manifest abstract ideas. In essence, this half circle is where Pauling used the board in a more traditional sense – writing and erasing as suited his needs.

---

Linus Pauling’s chalkboard is covered in historical significance. It functioned as an important tool for a very busy man, and has preserved a telling aspect of both the history of the Linus Pauling Institute and the character of Pauling himself, in part reflecting the organization of his consciousness.

To be sure, the board is merely a fragment of Linus Pauling and his research, but it is unique and intriguing in a very personal sense. The names, pictures and diagrams on the board all represent important aspects of Pauling’s professional life. Not only does it make a valuable contribution to a room dedicated to the man’s work, it preserves the living memory of Pauling by displaying an intimate demonstration of his method.

Pauling's chalkboard, as preserved in the OSU Libraries Special Collections.

What’s With All Those Names? The Pauling Chalkboard, Part II

Linus Pauling in a laboratory at his institute, 1975.

(Part 2 of 3)

There are seventy-six names on Pauling’s chalkboard that stretch across its face in a nearly symmetrical series of columns. The people listed span a diverse range of functions and ages, and were involved at multiple intervals of Linus Pauling’s life.

A majority of the people can be sectioned off into three main categories:  administrative and clerical staff at the Linus Pauling Institute of Science and Medicine, operators who handled the procedural aspects of the Institute’s work, and other researchers who shared the interests and objectives of Pauling and the Institute. Though these categories explain a majority of the names on the board, further inspection reveals complexities and intricacies within and among the categories themselves. Additional names on the board have more unique significance, while the meaning of still others can only be guessed at.

Administration

In terms of administration, there are only a few known names. This is likely due to the close interaction that Pauling, as president and later chairman of the Institute’s board, maintained with administrators within the Institute. The known names include Corrine Gorham, who was a purchasing agent and member of the administrative staff, as well as Walt Davenport and Paul Buck, both early managers at the Institute.

Operations

The Institute was using mass spectrometers for much of its analytical work. A mass spectrometer is a device that converts molecules into ions in order to measure their characteristics. Many of the names on the board were connected to the use and operation of mass spectrometers. The board includes groupings for operators, assistants to operators, researchers, and even a patent holder for the devices.

There are also a great number of names that were specifically involved with the Institute’s metabolite profiling program. Generally speaking, the metabolite profiling program sought to analyze the metabolic fate of vitamin C administered to test patients. The Institute’s program specifically focused upon analysis of data collected through mass spectrometry of urine and blood samples. Included on the board are engineers involved in the project,  as well as people like Steve Burbeck, of the computer division, who developed specialized software for metabolite and protein analysis. Pauling also listed a number of specialists such as Dr. Louis Malter, who was an expert in high-vacuum systems.

Other specialists listed on the board, like Koichi Miyashita and Stuart McGuire, were involved more generally with vitamin C experiments. Likewise, a number of additional names were connected generally to work that was being done with animals. One example is Leonard McPherson, who was an engineer on several projects and developed a sensory apparatus for use in fish toxicology experiments. Pauling also listed an orthomolecular veterinarian and a Dr. Soave, who was a director of the Division of Laboratory Animal Medicine at Stanford University, and who likely served as a veterinary consultant.

The name Prof. C. G. Enke is listed in one of the first columns on the board.  Enke is a co-owner of a patent for a Tandem quadrupole mass spectrometer used for selected ion fragmentation studies – a person that Pauling likely kept in mind as a potential source for the Institute’s mass spectrometers.

Pauling's chalkboard, as preserved in the OSU Libraries Special Collections.

Researchers

In terms of related research, Pauling listed several applicable yet diverse professionals. On his board one finds the names of professors, private sector developers, specialized medical professionals, and researchers from other institutes and societies.

Many of the professors listed on the board have written a number of articles that directly and indirectly related to the Institute’s work. The research topics range from epidemiology, cellular activity and hepatology, to aging, the immune system and studies of various forms of cancer.

A few of the names listed belong to people who were once research assistants for the Institute. These researchers went on to complete their doctoral studies and are now doing relevant work at universities around the world.

Among the listed researchers outside of the Institute, there are a number of people associated with many well-known foundations and organizations. Among the names on the board, one can find individuals affiliated with the American Cancer Society, the Institute of Medicine and the National Institute on Aging.

Linus Pauling, 1980s.

Others

Several names on the board might fall under the category of “Assorted.”  These include philanthropists, correspondents and other individuals loosely connected to the interests of the Institute.

A box with two names and an abbreviation appear within one of the larger columns of names. The abbreviation, Gy topical, likely references a project that the Institute was working on, the focus of which was the topical application of vitamin C to psoriasis patients.

Dr. David Rytand is listed on the top of the board – he is an author who made significant contributions to the literature on physician Thomas Addis. Addis is, among other achievements, credited with having successfully treated Linus Pauling for nephritis, a renal condition, using a method that was far outside of the mainstream of medical thought at the time. The radical treatment program likely saved Pauling’s life, for which Pauling always understandably felt indebted.  In 1994 an article on Addis, struggled over for several years by Pauling and his co-author Kevin Lemley, was published in Biographical Memoirs.  It seems likely that Pauling would have consulted with Rytand in his development of the piece.

The last three names on the board, ending with Harald von Troschke, are a short list of German television interviewers. The date that accompanies them is seven years later than an initial interview of Pauling conducted by von Troschke in May 1976. In this interview, Pauling told von Troschke:

I think that it is the duty of scientists to help their fellow citizens to understand the problems, and to give them the benefit of their own knowledge about the scientific aspects of the problems. In addition, however, to this work of helping to educate their fellow citizens, scientists have, I think, the obligation to express their own opinions, in order to help their fellow citizens.

The names on the board that couldn’t be identified with certainty probably share some of the characteristics and context of most of the known names. It is very likely as well that certain of the unknown names were legal aides and representatives from the various points during which Pauling was involved in legal actions.  One can only guess as to the significance of a handful of additional names – some of them were important to Pauling in ways that likely will never be discerned.

The Pauling Chalkboard – A Short History

Pauling's chalkboard, as preserved in the OSU Libraries Special Collections.

(Part 1 of 3)

Nestled in the northwest corner of the Oregon State University Libraries Special Collections reading room, there exists a small locked area devoted to a permanent display on the life and work of Linus Pauling. In this room you can find Pauling’s desk, his lab coat, his microscope and his Nobel medals. If you walk in you will see models, books, paperwork, pictures, awards and several measuring devices, including an hourglass and two slide rules.

In this room you will also find a large chalkboard on the back wall, covered in names, diagrams, terms, equations and messy impromptu demonstrations. The writings and drawings on the board lend unique insight into Linus Pauling’s interactions and thought processes during his time at the Linus Pauling Institute of Science and Medicine. It becomes clear very quickly that the man operated within a complicated web of people, places and time, necessitating some type of medium to keep lesser-known variables in order.

It is not known exactly when this chalkboard first came into Pauling’s possession. It is believed, because of the wide range of names on its face, that the board was moved to his office before the initial establishment of the Institute. Pauling rarely erased information from his board, so one can see a great bridging of years in the names and drawings, potentially spanning from the mid-1970s to the time of his death in August 1994.

In 1986 Pauling donated all of his materials to Oregon State University, the bulk of which was moved to Corvallis following his passing. Transporting the chalkboard posed a serious problem. The board was located in Palo Alto, California, and its final destination was Oregon’s mid-Willamette valley, some six-hundred miles away. Because it was the intention of those involved to preserve the board exactly as Pauling had left it, there existed great concern about the potential for damage that the moving process might inflict upon this fragile information while in transit.

Coating the board with a preserving fluid was considered, and numerous museums were consulted as to how the move might be accomplished without damaging the chalk writing. This method was discarded, however, as it was determined that, due to the porous molecular nature of the artifact, certain amounts of chalk dust would be pulled into the board upon the application of a sealant.  The notion of a permanent glass cover was also entertained, though it was feared that this method might produce enough static electricity to pull dust off of the board.

Eventually, the curators decided to build a custom crate, with a foam rubber edge, into which the board would be carefully placed. The board itself has a border that protrudes from its face, and the space between the edge of the border and the board itself was enough to ensure that the integrity of the chalk writing was maintained.

Pauling with the chalkboard in 1979.

The crate was placed in a truck with special instructions and the assurance that it would be moved with the utmost caution. It was then driven from California to Oregon, brought to the 5th floor of the Valley Library, and installed in the room now dedicated to Linus Pauling.

The board itself served many functions for Pauling – namely as a type of index, as well as a mnemonic device for remembering the names of people either working at the Institute or otherwise  indirectly involved in some fashion. Besides names, the board was at times a space for demonstrations of theories for guests, and also served similarly as a mnemonic device for particular projects at the Institute. A mnemonic device is a method for enhancing memory, a service that likely gained importance as Pauling aged and the operation of the Institute became more diverse and encompassed more variables.

We’ll talk more about the functions of Pauling’s chalkboard in parts two and three of this series.

Ava Helen in Oregon

Ava Helen Miller (third from bottom) with her seven sisters. 1918.

Ava Helen Pauling was born Ava Helen Miller on her family’s farm near Oregon City on December 24, 1903.

At the time of her birth, Ava had nine siblings. Her father had come to the northwest from Germany in his teens, and was an elementary school teacher in the Willamette Valley before becoming a farmer. As a result, Ava later remarked that, while growing up, there was a great deal of respect in her family for the teaching profession. Her mother was born in Beaver Creek, Oregon to parents who had come to the west by wagon and on foot from Illinois and Missouri.

Ava’s parents met while her mother was a student in her father’s classroom. Her parents eventually divorced when Ava was nine, having, at that point, had two more children together – a grand total of twelve altogether. Her father eventually settled in Chicago for a time and had little-to-no contact with Ava for most of her life. The farm was left to her mother, who finished raising the youngest children that still remained.  (Much more on Ava Helen’s ancestry is available here.)

The family later lived in Canby, Oregon, which is likely where Ava finished grammar school. Ava then attended high school in Salem while living with an older sister. She graduated in June of 1921, and enrolled at Oregon Agricultural College in Corvallis the following year.

During her time as an undergraduate student she took a great number of English, French and Spanish courses. She also took a chemistry class every term, as well as at least one course in physical education. Her home economics courses were more varied and included clothing and textiles, child care and food preparation and selection. Overall she did quite well, finishing with a 89.21 grade point average, and would have finished even higher had she not received an F in an English course during winter term of her freshman year.

Ava Helen Miller at the entrance to the Jason Lee Cemetery, Salem, Oregon. 1920.

It was, coincidentally or not, during that same winter term that Ava met Linus Pauling, as a student in his class. She later wrote of their initial encounter:

In recitation room #211. Chemistry O.A.C. He was my teacher – a student assistant. His curls are lovely.

Following their first meeting, it was some time before the two spent any more time together. An instructor had recently been severely criticized for the attention that he had paid to one of his students, and though Pauling was obviously quite taken with Ava from the beginning, he was determined not to endure the same fate.

One day, however, a note came back to Ava in her chemistry notebook stating that if she waited after class, Pauling would walk across campus with her. The two walked, and then went for more walks, becoming better and better acquainted over the following months.

By the end of the school year, Ava had written Linus a check for the amount of “My heart, my life, my love, my all.” The two wished to marry, but their mothers would not grant permission. Linus resumed working for the Oregon State Highway Commission the following summer while Ava stayed with her mother. During the summer Ava wrote Pauling at least 94 letters, receiving just as many in return.

Ava resumed classes at O.A.C. the following autumn and Linus began his graduate studies at the California Institute of Technology. The two continued to write each other throughout the next year. It is apparent over the course of their exchange that, though they missed each other greatly, both managed to stay well-occupied during their time apart. Linus was working intently on his crystallographic research while overseeing classes and labs. Ava was busy keeping up with friends and her sophomore year classes.

The two stayed close through their correspondence, and shared the daily workings of their lives. Ava sometimes sent Linus candy, and Linus sometimes sent Ava flowers. Above all however, they discussed the prospects of their marriage, and their eager anticipation of the time that they would be spending together in the future.

Ava Helen Miller and Linus Pauling with two O.A.C. classmates. 1922.

Ava and Linus decided to marry following the completion of Linus’ first year of graduate studies, with or without the permission of their mothers. From the perspective of the young couple, they had already been engaged for over a year. They began discussing the details of their forthcoming wedding, informed relatives and purchased their rings.

After waiting over a year longer than had initially been intended, Linus and Ava married in Salem, Oregon on June 17, 1923. The two would spend a brief honeymoon in Corvallis before moving to Portland over the summer. During those summer months, Linus worked for the Warren Construction Company. With the onset of autumn, the newlyweds returned to Pasadena, where Linus renewed his studies at the California Institute of Technology.

For more information on the Paulings in Oregon, check out our Oregon 150 series.

Dr. Mina Carson, Resident Scholar

Dr. Mina Carson and Judy Freeman following Carson's Resident Scholar lecture.

Oregon State University Associate Professor of History Dr. Mina Carson is the third person this year to have presented work supported by the Resident Scholar Program at OSU Libraries.  A professor of American Social and Cultural History, Carson’s research interests have thus far included the Progressive and New Deal eras, the gay and lesbian movements and the recent history of women in music.  A licensed social worker, Dr. Carson has also written and lectured on the history of psychotherapy in western Europe and the United States.

Her latest project hits closer to home for those of us working in the Pauling collection:  Dr. Carson is in the early stages of researching and writing the first full-length biography of Ava Helen Pauling.

As she is just six months into what promises to be a lengthy project, Dr. Carson has thus far focused on identifying a few important themes that seem to have, at least in part, defined Ava Helen Pauling’s remarkable life.  Certain of these themes include

• Ava Helen’s transformation into feminism – Dr. Carson’s preliminary research indicates that Ava Helen was not initially what might now be defined as a “complete feminist.”
• The evolution of both Ava Helen and Linus from their early years as children reared in struggling single-parent homes, to a powerful couple who created a successful bourgeois household.
• The emergence, in her sixties, of Ava Helen as a charismatic force within the peace and women’s movements, a development which led her to question some the choices that she made earlier in life, especially as concerned her acceptance of a conventional gender role within her marriage and household.
• Ava Helen’s role in balancing the tensions that likely grew out of the pressures on Linus Pauling’s time, as peace activism began to envelop the scientific work that was his true professional love.

Ava Helen Pauling participating in the Marathon to Athens Peace March, Greece. May 1964.

Dr. Carson’s Resident Scholar presentation also raised a number of questions about how one goes about writing a biography of a figure like Ava Helen Pauling.  For one, there exists the temptation to write about Ava Helen chiefly as a means to shed further light on the life of Linus Pauling.  However, Ava Helen was an important historical figure in her own right and deserves to be treated as such.

On the same token, any biography of Ava Helen must likewise be a biography of the Pauling family – her’s was the life of the activist and the homemaker intertwined – so the work needs to incorporate an evaluation her roles as center of the household, family administrator and social spark plug.

Last but not least, the biographer of Ava Helen Pauling must wrestle with the difficulties of both writing about a person who lived in recent time (Ava Helen died in 1981) and also of trying to get a handle on the basics of Linus Pauling’s extraordinarily complex professional vita.

As Dr. Carson herself attested, much work lies ahead for this project.  We have no doubt, however, that the end result will constitute a major addition to what the chemist and historian Derek Davenport has termed “the Pauling canon.”

The Resident Scholar Program is generously supported by the Peter and Judith Freeman Fund.  Previous Resident Scholars have included Dr. Burtron Davis of the University of Kentucky’s Center for Applied Energy Research, and Toshihiro Higuchi of Georgetown University.

Pauling’s Failed Rhodes Scholarship Application

Linus Pauling, 1922.

“As to the Rhodes Scholarship, I probably was lucky not to get it, because I think conditions were better in Pasadena than in Oxford. The Oxford people were burned up too when they learned in 1948 while I was Eastman Professor there, that I had been turned down in 1922!“

-Linus Pauling, letter to Fred Allen, November 14, 1954.

In August 1920, Linus Pauling received a letter which invited him to apply for candidacy as a Rhodes Scholar. A day after receiving the letter, Pauling replied to the sender, expressing great interest. A series of letters, applications and recommendations document his efforts during the following year to be recommended by a state committee for the honor. It is evident from available materials that Pauling sincerely desired a place of study at Oxford. However, it is not entirely clear whether or not Pauling was truly ready for the obligation and engagement that such an honor might entail.

The Rhodes scholarship offered Pauling the possibility to learn at an institution whose scientific facilities were, in Pauling’s own words, “not excelled in the world.” The scholarship itself offered three years of expenses-paid study at Oxford, an opportunity that Pauling did not regard flippantly. He was convinced, because of the then current developments in science, that a student with a scientific background would be chosen.

Outside of general qualifications which included a specific age range, class standing and citizenship status, certain qualities were expected of potential representatives who were to be selected by the Oregon state scholarship committee. These qualities, as defined by the Rhodes Scholarship Memorandum, included:

(1) Qualities of manhood, force of character, and leadership.

(2) Literary and scholastic ability and attainments.

(3) Physical vigor, as shown by interest in outdoor sports or in other ways.

Should a candidate who was qualified in all three areas fail to appear, committees were to select those who showed “distinction either of character and personality, or of intellect, over one who shows a lower degree of excellence in both.”

In his initial application letter, Pauling referenced his engagement in campus honor societies, his impressive scholastic record, his status as junior class orator and his involvement in track and field as relevant personal qualifications for the scholarship. Overall it appears that Pauling had prepared a strong application. In it he displayed his knowledge of the scholarship itself, and it is clear that he understood, because of the nature of the scholarship and its qualifications, that this was his only chance to apply and be accepted.

Pauling acquired seven letters of recommendation from numerous faculty members as well as his summer employer. All of the letters offer diverse insights and perceptions of Pauling as a student and potential Rhodes Scholar. Though the recommendations are overwhelmingly positive and illuminating, noting his competence, character and intelligence, a barely perceptible undertone characterizes many of the documents – namely, a tendency to reference his “unusual” nature and sub-surface qualities. It is obvious by context that these traits are considered to be strengths rather than weaknesses; nonetheless, they stand out as abnormalities and may have been a factor in the final consideration of his application.

Pauling at track practice, Bell Field, Oregon Agricultural College. 1917.

It is also clear that some of the faculty felt the need to overcompensate for his lack of established athletic prowess. In subsequent introspective musings, Pauling viewed his lack of interest in sport as a major determinant for the ultimate outcome of his scholarship application.

In the end, Pauling was not offered a Rhodes scholarship. Though he voiced open disappointment, a new and pressing element had made its way into his life. As he received his letter from the appointment committee, informing him regrettably of his failure to be chosen, he was already falling in love with his future wife, then-student Ava Helen Miller.

Reflecting later in life, Pauling appears free of regret, and even thankful that he was not accepted. He remarked later in a letter to a friend that the people at Oxford were “burned up” in 1948 when they found out that he had been denied a Rhodes scholarship in 1922. Similarly, when asked what role sport played in his life, Pauling wrote the following in response:

You have asked what part Sport has played in my life and in my work… I have had the feeling that my lack of interest in sports may have been responsible for my failure to be awarded a Rhodes scholarship, for study at Oxford, at the time in 1922 when I was a candidate for this Scholarship. This may be the most important part that Sport has played in my life.

Though it cannot be known what would have become of Pauling’s life and work had he been admitted to Oxford for three years of study, it can at least be guessed that his particular graduate research at Caltech, and the relationships he developed there, would not have been initiated. Though he may have gone on to accomplish great things after graduating from Oxford, this particular chapter in Linus Pauling’s life seems to reinforce the old adage that one should sometimes be thankful for unanswered prayers.

For more information on Linus Pauling in Oregon, check out our Oregon 150 series. For general information on Linus Pauling, please visit the Linus Pauling Online portal.

The Paving Inspector Job

Linus Pauling (second from right) with a highway work crew, Sutherlin, Oregon. Summer 1922.

A unique chapter of Linus Pauling’s life played out over the summers of his undergraduate years at Oregon Agricultural College. A theme that had shadowed much of his young adult life – problems with finances – would continue to follow him into his graduate studies. The absence of a steady source of income, as well as short periods of more intensified financial hardship, significantly shaped the transition years between his start as an undergraduate and the beginning of his rigorous studies at the California Institute of Technology.

Pauling worked odd jobs on campus to make ends meet during the school year, but during most summers he was employed by the Oregon State Highway Commission as a paving plant inspector, living in a tent and charged with monitoring the quality of the bitumen-stone mixes used in the building of roads. His employment at the highway commission would stretch from the end of his sophomore year to the beginning of his doctoral studies. Over this course of time, particularly his final summer, distinguishing themes and aspects of Pauling’s professional life began to blossom.

Though it was not glorified work, and at times very boring, Pauling did enjoy his time working outdoors. He wrote of his love for the sun, and the benefits of spending a substantial portion of the year outside of a laboratory. Though Pauling would go on to work three additional summers for the highway commission, his first year was not without conflict. At this time he worked under the partial jurisdiction of a man named E.W. Lazell, a chemical and efficiency engineer stationed in Portland. A series of letters and reprimands from Mr. Lazell, as well as consultations with third parties, became common toward the end of Pauling’s first summer at the commission. In early September Pauling replied to department official Leland Gregory, apparently in regard to a complaint lodged against his handling of paving material temperatures. The “misinformed informant,” as Pauling referred to the unnamed complainant (Lazell), could apparently have been better informed had he referred to Pauling’s reports.

At the end of his first season with the commission, Pauling’s mother Belle informed him that she had been forced to use the money he had been sending her over the summer. The money had been meant to pay his school expenses for the following year, and with no additional funds at his disposal, Pauling chose to continue working into the fall.

Luckily, in late autumn of the same year, Pauling was offered a job by the chemistry department at O. A. C. Though it entailed a $25 per month pay cut, Pauling returned to the college as a full-time assistant instructor in quantitative analysis. The following summer he began work once again for the highway commission, and saved enough money to continue his studies as an undergraduate.

As has been well-documented, it is during Pauling’s stint as “boy professor” that he met Ava Helen Miller, his future wife, while teaching chemistry to her and twenty-four other home economics students. The two began dating toward the end of the school year, and the exchange of letters between them during Pauling’s last summer as a paving plant inspector gives one of the clearest and most intimate views of the future Nobel Prize winner’s advancing train of thought. All in all Pauling received 94 letters over the summer from Ava Miller, and replied in kind every day, sometimes two or three times.

You are my own darling girl, and your love is my only priceless possession. I shall try to make my life perfect in order that it may be good enough for you. I love your beautiful big blue eyes, your dainty little ears, your adorable own darling self. I love you.

-Linus Pauling to Ava Helen Miller, June 14, 1922.

The elements that generally defined Pauling’s correspondence with his future wife were a) their wish to be engaged, and b) the strong opposition to marriage that the two faced from their respective families. Always the romantic, Pauling was accused by some of Ava’s friends as being consistently “too mushy,” and indeed there is much written between the two about marriage, children and love.

However, over the course of their exchanges, Pauling likewise discussed much of his evolving personal philosophy. Both suggested reading materials to one another, with the bulk of the books suggested by Ava generally being metaphysical or philosophical in nature. As a result, Pauling discussed, in great detail, his perceptions of the soul, his conflicted feelings between animism and materialism, and his predisposition towards pacifism.

Money, a common theme for the duration of his undergraduate experience, also makes its presence felt throughout their correspondence. At times Pauling secretly mailed money to Ava to help finance trips to see him. He also devoted a substantial portion of his energies to trying to acquire the funds that would allow the two to marry after the summer’s end, with or without help from their parents.

Through youthful confessions, bouts of jealousy, and bold declarations, much can be gleaned about the budding relationship between Pauling and his wife-to-be. Other precursors such as Ava’s influence on Pauling’s diet, as well as his developing fascination with fruits, hint at patterns that would come to define important periods of his future life.

Hand-tinted photo of Pauling at the Sutherlin work site, 1922.

Pauling also read from his own selection of books, and took quite a liking to David Copperfield among others. Far and away, however, a major defining characteristic of his summer evenings was the time that he spent working through proof sheets of the first nine chapters of a newly revised chemistry textbook, Chemical Principles, sent to him by Arthur Amos Noyes, the head of the Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at the California Institute of Technology.

Worked while stationed near the Pacific Coast at Astoria, Pauling devoured all 500 of the listed problems. After discussing his other interests with Noyes by mail, Pauling also began reading books on x-ray crystallography, a new technique being used to study the structure of crystals.  (One of these texts was X-rays and Crystal Structures by W. H. and W. L. Bragg, the latter of whom would eventually become a chief scientific rival of Pauling’s.)  Having completed his reading, and prompted by some nudging from Noyes, Pauling would begin his career as an x-ray crystallographer under the direction Professor Roscoe Dickinson at Caltech the following year.

It is clear by the end of his final summer with the highway commission that Pauling had grown weary of his summer occupation. (In an August 1922 letter to Ava Helen he writes: “I really hate working in a paving plant.  I do it just because I earn more than I would elsewhere.”) Bored, lonely and finished with the problem sets given to him by Professor Noyes, it appears that Pauling was left in an ideal state of mind to begin his graduate studies, and start what would become a brilliant career as an academic, a scientist and an activist for peace.

For more information on Linus Pauling in Oregon, check out our Oregon 150 series. For general information on Linus Pauling, please visit the Linus Pauling Online portal.

Oppenheimer Minerals Update

We’ve received several comments on the unidentified minerals referenced in the previous post.  Here are those comments, along with revised images of the mystery specimens as color-corrected in Photoshop, (the original photos all having been admittedly a bit too yellow).

unidentified-1

“possibly native silver or copper… the colors are a bit distorted in the [original] photo”

“appears to be native silver, perhaps from Mexico”

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unidentified-2

“appears to be native copper, perhaps from Arizona”

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unidentified-3

[No comments yet]

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unidentified-4

“is a polished section(?) through a nautiloid cephalapod”

“this would appear to be an ammonite or other related shell fossil”

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unidentified-5

“appears to be a mica.  If brown it is probably phologopite; if green it is probably chlorite.”

“Biotite or muscovite”

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unidentified-6

[No comments yet]

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Sincere thanks to commenters Axel Emmerman, Pete Richards and Kris Rowe for their feedback.  A note also that Dr. Andrew A. Sicree has kindly posted the full text of his Popular Mineralogy article “Atom Bombs and the Mineral Collector” in the comments section to the previous post.

 

The Oppenheimer Minerals

For a short period of time in the late 1920s, Linus Pauling and J. Robert Oppenheimer were colleagues at the California Institute of Technology.  While the tenor of their relationship was, in the end, rather tumultuous, the two did share many common interests.

One such interest was a passion for minerals.  Both Pauling and Oppenheimer developed a fondness for collecting and classifying rocks at an early age, and as a token of his esteem during their time together at Caltech, Oppenheimer gave to Pauling a large portion of his own collection.  The gift comprised several hundred specimens, once occupying twenty cabinet drawers in Pauling’s office. (For more on Oppenheimer’s fascination with minerals, see page six of this piece by Dr. Andrew A. Sicree – PDF link)

Over the years Pauling gave away a large portion of Oppenheimer’s gift – several items went to Pauling’s son-in-law Barclay Kamb, a renowned geologist, while others were given to Linus Pauling, Jr.  Oppenheimer’s original identifications for many of the specimens were likewise lost over the course of time.

A few of the minerals made their way to the Ava Helen and Linus Pauling Papers, images of which are presented in the gallery below.  We have done our best to classify each item, though our departmental background in mineralogy is admittedly thin.  That noted,  if any of our readers should have an idea as to the proper or more precise identity of any of the stones, please drop us a note in the Comments section and we’ll update our records, and this post.

[All images by Anna Wilsey]

agate-1

agate-2

agate-3

agate-4

agate-5

agate-6

agate-7

amethyst

calcite

fossil

garnets

magnetite

millerite with calcite

opal

orpiment

orpiment with realgar

petrified wood

pyrite

quartz-1

quartz-2

quartz-3

sphalerite on dolomite

tiger’s eye quartz

unidentified-1

unidentified-2

unidentified-3

unidentified-4

unidentified-5

unidentified-6