Return to Oz

[Part 2 of 2] In early 1964, China conducted its first nuclear test, an event that catalyzed the second Australian Congress for International Cooperation and Disarmament, which took place in Sydney from October 25-30, 1964.  Organizer and Australian peace leader Professor Sydney Wright extended an invitation to the Paulings to attend this gathering which they [...]

The Paulings Down Under

[Part 1 of 2] Linus and Ava Helen Pauling journeyed to Australia and New Zealand three times across the span of three different decades. They visited for scientific and political reasons, and grew to admire many aspects of the region; in particular the people, their peace movement and the scenery. But the couple’s feelings toward [...]

A Visit to Deer Flat Ranch

In the “Further Evidence that Youtube is Awesome” category, we have this home video uploaded by Youtube user carminesmith.  The video primarily consists of footage shot in 1987 of a family visit to Linus Pauling’s ranch on the Pacific coast near Big Sur, California, and it lends the viewer a terrific sense of the remarkable [...]

Symposia and the Peace Ship: Pauling in Latin America, 1980s.

[Part 5 of 5] The 1980s were a very busy decade for Linus Pauling with regards to trips to Latin America. Over the course of the decade, he attended various scientific symposia in Brazil, Mexico and Venezuela, and also participated in a variety of peace activities – delivering a peace talk in Colombia, meeting with [...]

Women’s Liberation, a Cruise to Acapulco and a Visit to Cuba: The 1970s

[Part 4 of 5] After visiting Chile for the Technical University’s Summer School in 1970, Linus and Ava Helen Pauling traveled to Latin America several more times throughout the decade.  In July 1970, Ava Helen visited Bogotá, Colombia on a rare solo trip, to participate in the Third Congress of Women of America. The Congress [...]

Science and the Future of Humanity: Chile, 1970

[Part 3 of 5] Perhaps because he traveled so often, Linus Pauling sometimes found himself visiting volatile places at dangerous times. One such example was a trip to Chile in 1970, taken when he and Ava Helen were invited to the Universidad Técnica del Estado for the university’s Summer School. The Paulings were asked to [...]

The 1960s: The Nuclear-Free Zone, Oppression in Argentina and Molecules in Mexico

[Part 2 of 5] In January 1962, Linus Pauling visited Chile in order to give an address at the Seventh International Summer School at the University of Concepción, and also to accept a certificate of honorary membership in the Chilean Society of Chemistry, one of many such honorary memberships that he received during his lifetime. [...]

Later Japan

Sixteen years passed between Linus Pauling’s participation in the 1959 Hiroshima Conference and his next visit to Japan in Fall 1975.  And while the 1975 trip largely dealt with his findings and research on Vitamin C – a common theme for many of his travels to East Asia and elsewhere – some of his time [...]

The Paulings and Japan: Roots of a Fruitful Relationship

“As a scientist I am interested in Japan and primarily in the universities…[I am] greatly impressed by the natural and cultural richness of the country… [where] scientific work is of the highest quality…Science of the modern world has been accelerated here by the atom-bomb and radiation…Because of this, hopefully steps will be made towards the [...]

In Israel and the Middle East

Linus and Ava Helen Pauling had a few encounters with the Middle East, traveling to Israel on three separate occasions, and to Iran and Uzbekistan once each. In the Fall of 1953, Pauling made his first trip to Israel for the purpose of dedicating the new Weizmann Institute, a large research institution centered in Rehovoth. [...]