Closing the Book on Quasicrystals

[Part 4 of 4] Linus Pauling was not the only scientist to offer an alternative theory for the nature of quasicrystals; one of the major competing theories, the “icosahedral glass” theory, was introduced and quickly abandoned by quasicrytals discoverers Dan Shechtman and Ilan Blech,1 but further developed by physicists Peter W. Stephens and Alan I. [...]

Shechtman and Pauling Debate Quasicrystal Theory

[Part 3 of 4] David and Clara Shoemaker were not the only scientists who felt that Linus Pauling’s quasicrystals hypothesis, while admirable, was unsubstantiated by experimental data. In fact, in “Metallic Phase with Long-Range Orientational Order and No Translational Symmetry,” the article that introduced quasicrystals to the scientific community, Dan Shechtman and co-author Ilan Blech [...]

The Pauling Theory of Quasicrystals

[Part 2 of 4] The introduction of a new discovery, quasicrystals, challenged the underlying assumptions of crystallography itself. Some researchers theorized that quasicrystals were a new material existing as an intermediate state between amorphous and crystalline solids, and others proposed that quasicrystals were a new subset of crystalline structures; these hypotheses are generally referred to [...]

The Quasicrystals Puzzle: An Introduction

[Ed Note: This is part 1 of a 4 part series discussing quasicrystals, which has been written in commemoration of Dan Schectman's receipt of the 2011 Nobel Prize for Chemistry.  The science behind and debate over quasicrystals is a complicated one and we do not profess to be experts in the field.  What will follow [...]

Linda Richards, Resident Scholar

Linda Richards, doctoral candidate in the history of science at Oregon State University, is the first individual to have completed a term as an OSU Libraries Resident Scholar in 2012.  Steeped in the tradition of the activist-scholar, Richards has been discussing nuclear history, environmental justice and non-violent conflict resolution for over twenty-five years.  During her [...]

Five More Years of Pauling

We are pleased to announce the release of five new years of the Linus Pauling Day-by-Day project, which attempts to document every day of Pauling’s life. With this release, thirty-seven years of Pauling’s activities, interactions and travels have been meticulously recorded in our online calendar, a mammoth resource now featuring an amazing 188,027 activity listings [...]

Glenn T. Seaborg, 1912-1999

“I hardly noticed that the work was exacting and demanding, because I couldn’t believe that I was being paid to do what I would have chosen as a hobby. It was exciting just to walk into the lab, full of anticipation that that day I might be the first human being ever to see some [...]

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 [...]