2008 Pauling Medal
Award Chair
Dr. James R. Vyvyan
Department. of Chemistry
Western Washington University
Tel: 360-650-2883
Fax: 360-650-2826
Symposium Chair
Dr. Gregory Dake
Chemistry Department
University of British Columbia
Room 2036 Main Mall
Vancouver, British Columbia
CANADA V6T 1Z1
Tel: 604-822-9121
Linus Carl Pauling was born in Portland, Oregon, on February 28, 1901. He graduated from the Oregon Agricultural College in 1922 with a bachelor of science degree in chemistry engineering. Three years later he received his Ph.D. in chemistry from the California Institute of Technology. After a year abroad, Dr. Pauling joined the Caltech faculty and remained there for over three decades. Following stints at the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions, the University of California, San Diego, and Stanford University, he established the Linus Pauling Institute of Science and Medicine at the age of 72.
Linus Pauling was a brilliant chemist and an untiring political activist who received Nobel Prizes for chemistry and peace. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1954 for his chemical research which was centered on the themes of chemical bonding and molecular structure. Published in 1939, his book entitled The Nature of the Chemical Bond remains a landmark study which is still widely read and referenced. Dr. Pauling received the 1962 Nobel Prize for Peace. The award's citation acclaimed him for his work "not only against the testing of nuclear weapons, not only against the spread of these armaments, not only against their very use, but against all warfare as a means of solving international conflicts." Dr. Pauling was the recipient of numerous other awards, including the first Pauling Medal in 1966.
Linus Pauling Centenary Exhibit
Linus Pauling Nobel Award Biography
Linus Pauling and the Nature of the Chemical Bond
1966
Linus Pauling
Manfred Eigen
Herbert C. Brown
Henry Eyring
1970
Harold C. Urey
Gerhard Herzberg
E. Bright Wilson
E. J. Corey
Roald Hoffmann
Paul Bartlett
F. Albert Cotton
John A. Pople
Dudley Herschbach
Daniel Koshland
1980
John D. Roberts
Henry Taube
George Pimentel
Gilbert Stork
John S. Waugh
Harold Scheraga
Harry B. Gray
Harden McConnell
Keith Ingold
Neil Bartlett
1990
James P. Collman
Rudolph Marcus
Kenneth Wiberg
Richard N. Zare
James A. Ibers
Alexander Rich
Kyriacos Nicolaou
Ahmed H. Zewail
Allen J. Bard
Peter B. Dervan
2000
Gabor J. Somorjai
Tobin J. Marks
John Brauman
Robert H. Grubbs
Martin Karplus
George Whitesides
Peter Stang
Jacqueline K. Barton