Linus Pauling and Chemistry at Caltech

Abstract

Linus Pauling was without doubt the most influential chemist of the twentieth century. At Caltech, he was a strong and innovative leader, who had the advantage of building on an unusually firm foundation laid so brilliantly by Arthur Amos Noyes. Noyes recognized Pauling's genius early on as a graduate student and carried on a series of skillful maneuvers to both enlarge Pauling's horizons and to keep him on the Caltech faculty. Pauling was an active member of that faculty for 38 years. Pauling took over from Noyes as Chairman of the Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering in 1936 and held that position for 22 years. Pauling had a keen intuition as to new areas that could be profitably exploited by chemistry and he brought the Division to the forefront through outstanding appointments in theoretical chemistry (J. G. Kirkwood), chemical kinetics (N. Davidson), the determination of peptide and protein structures (R. B. Corey), metals and alloys (S. Samson), electron diffraction V. Schomaker), DNA structure (J. Vinograd and N. Davidson), immunochemistry (D. H. Campbell), enzyme kinetics (C. Niemann), carotenoid chemistry (L. Zechmeisler) and small-ring organic compounds (E. R. Buchman). Some of the ways that Linus Pauling achieved his influence on chemistry at Caltech will be discussed along with the legacy of that influence as it exists today.