Pauline Pauling (1902-2003)

My name is Pauline Darling Pauling Stockton Ney Dunbar Emmett, and you can see I’ve had an interesting life…
-Pauline Pauling Emmett, 1994.
The sister of one distinguished scientist and later the wife of another, Pauline Darling Pauling, the second oldest of the Herman and Belle Pauling’s children, led a long and eventful life. Once a [...]

Pauling’s Best Friend: Lloyd Jeffress

As a child, Linus Pauling had relatively few friends. After moving from Condon, Oregon to Portland, the death of his father and subsequent poverty forced him to work when not in school. The remainder of his time was consumed with studying and household chores, leaving little room for companionship. Pauling, even as [...]

A Prominent High School Dropout

Interviewer: Where did you go to high school at in Portland?
Pauling: I went to Washington High School for 3 ½ years, so that my whole high school career was there. It was on the east side of Portland.
Interviewer: How come they wouldn’t give you a diploma?
Pauling: Well, I didn’t finish the requirements. I started in [...]

Tales from Pauling’s Boyhood: The 1917 Shipbuilders’ Strike

In 1917, Pauling began a diary, (known simply as the “OAC Diary” among Special Collections staff) in which he described his activities, thoughts and feelings, many of which are both enlightening and entertaining. Just as interesting though, are some of the entries about life in the early 20th century. The diary contains a number of [...]

Portland, OR: Pauling’s Teenage Years

“This activist loves Oregon more than he loves life.”
- Tom McCall
Portland, the largest city in Oregon, sits at the convergence of the Willamette and Columbia Rivers on Oregon’s northern border. Known for its microbreweries, environmentalists, and growing nightlife, Portland is nationally recognized as an epicenter of West Coast progressive culture. However, a century [...]

William P. Murphy: Condon’s Other Nobel Prize Winner

Condon – as you are undoubtedly already aware if you are a regular reader of this blog – is a very small town in Gilliam County in North-Central Oregon. According to the 2000 census, the town’s population consisted of only 759 people, and in the early 1900s, when the Pauling family lived in Condon, the [...]

Happy (Belated) Birthday Oregon!

This past Saturday, the state of Oregon officially celebrated its 150th birthday.  In the state capital of Salem, the birthday proper was marked by, among other things, a 400 pound cake, speeches delivered by eight of our most prominent dignitaries, and a rare public display of the original Oregon constitution…somewhere far away from all of [...]

Oregon150: “I am one of its people”

February 14, 2009 will mark the one-hundred and fiftieth anniversary of statehood for Oregon.  In celebration a number of activities are being planned state-wide, including several projects here at Oregon State University.
A strong case can be made that Linus Pauling is the most important individual ever produced by this state, so we think it only [...]

Scenes from the Linus Pauling Legacy Award Lecture

A large and enthusiastic crowd convened at the Hilton Portland and Executive Tower last night to participate in the Linus Pauling Legacy Award ceremonies.
The recipient of the 2008 Pauling Legacy Award, Dr. Roderick MacKinnon of the Rockefeller University, delighted his audience with an engaging talk on the history, evolution and future promise of research on [...]

Roderick MacKinnon talk is Monday, May 5th

What: “Ion Channel Chemistry: The Electrical System of Life.” The 2008 Linus Pauling Legacy Award Lecture by Nobel Laureate Dr. Roderick MacKinnon. Sponsored by the Oregon State University Libraries.
Where: Hilton & Executive Tower, Pavilion Ballroom, 921 SW Sixth Ave., Portland, Oregon
When: Monday, May 5th. 8:00 PM. Free and open to the [...]