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By Laura Tiche 
Pauling studied a wide range of topics over the course of his 70 year long career, including chemistry, physics, quantum physics and mechanics, atomic and molecular structure, chemical bonding, metallurgy, and theoretical and applied medicine. He published thousands of books, both for the scientific community and the public. He also used quantum mechanics to explain chemical bonding. Even today, "Pauling's Rules" are invaluable in understanding ionic structures.
Furthermore, he discovered that by using a substance's magnetic properties, one could often determine the type of bond that would take place, as well as introducing the concepts of bond-orbital hybridization and bond resonance. (Hybridization reorganizes an atom's electron cloud so that some electrons are in good positions for bonding. Resonance is a rapid jumping of electrons between two or more possible positions in a bond network.) These two concepts gave chemists fundamental principals to apply to predicting new compounds and chemical reactions on a theoretical basis. Pauling wrote the textbook General Chemistry based on his new teaching methods and the "chemical bond approach." His study of human physiology, health, and biochemistry led him to postulate that the gene might consist of two complementary strands. This was seven years before Watson and Crick's discovery of DNA structure. Always revolutionary, after studying sickle cell anemia, he came up with the concept of molecular disease.
During WWII, Pauling developed some remarkable explosives and a meter to monitor oxygen levels in submarines and airplanes. This invention was later used to keep an eye on oxygen levels for infants in incubators and anesthetized surgery patients. He and an associate synthesized a form of blood plasma for use in emergency transfusions in battlefield clinics.
In 1948, he found that the peptide chain would coil into what he called the alpha helix. His ideas of helical structure and molecular complementariness underlay Watson and Crick's double helix structure of DNA. Additionally, he was decisively opposed to atmospheric nuclear testing, and his six year campaign finally led the then-three nuclear powers (the U.S., Britain, and the U.S.S.R.) signing a treaty. In later years, Pauling statistically demonstrated that smoking is harmful to one's health, and emphasized the importance of various nutrients, especially the role of vitamin C in maintaining health. These things which Pauling leaves us help us and the world today; no one will ever say the world would have been a better place for loack of Linus Pauling. Additional Interesting Facts
- He is only person have ever received two Nobel Prizes - for Chemistry (1954) and for Peace (1962).
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