Digitized versions of the forty-six research notebooks of two-time Nobel laureate Linus Pauling (1901-1994) will be released on-line to the public on February 28, 2002. The notebooks will be made available via Oregon State University's Valley Library Special Collections website at this URL.
As do many scientists, Pauling utilized bound notebooks to record and manipulate the details of his research as it unfolded. A testament to the remarkable length and diversity of Dr. Pauling's career, the Pauling Papers holdings include forty-six research notebooks spanning the years 1922 to 1994 and covering any number of the scientific fields in which Pauling involved himself.
The notebooks' 7,500 pages contain many of Pauling's laboratory calculations and experimental data as well as scientific conclusions, ideas for further research and numerous autobiographical musings.
Pauling biographer Tom Hager, author of Force of Nature: The Life of Linus Pauling, is enthusiastic in his praise for the digitized notebooks website. "OSU Special Collections has created a unique window on scientific history in the making," says Hager. "The online publication of Linus Pauling's research notebooks -- a vast array of primary and uncensored material from one of the world's great researchers --represents a milestone in archival accessibility and a great boon for scientists, historians, teachers and students."
The digitization effort, carried out by the OSU Special Collections staff, will be revealed to the public on what would have been Dr. Pauling's 101st birthday. By proclamation of Gov. John Kitzhaber, February 28th is, in perpetuity, "Linus Pauling Day" in the state of Oregon. Each year, in celebration of the day, OSU's Pauling Heritage Committee coordinates a series of events meant to focus attention on the remarkable life and career of the university's most famous graduate.
In addition to the OSU initiative, the National Library of Medicine will also be observing this anniversary with a new Profiles in Science digital exhibit dedicated to Linus Pauling. The exhibit, available at this URL, is comprised of over 200 scanned letters, manuscripts and photographs outlining Pauling's biomedically-related work.
Dr. Pauling, an internationally-recognized humanitarian and one of the greatest scientists of the twentieth century, was born in Portland, Oregon, where he attended high school. Pauling later received his undergraduate education at Oregon Agricultural College, now known as Oregon State University.
He remains the only person to have won two unshared Nobel Prizes -- the first for Chemistry in 1954 and the second for Peace in 1962.
The Pauling legacy is represented at OSU by the Ava Helen and Linus Pauling Papers in the Valley Library's Special Collections -- a vast archive of over 500,000 items donated by Dr. Pauling in 1986; the Linus Pauling Institute and its two endowed chairs; the Pauling Chemistry Lecture in the College of Science; the Linus and Ava Helen Pauling Lecture on World Peace in the College of Liberal Arts and an endowed chair in the Department of Chemical Engineering.
Related website:
Oregon State University Special Collections
[Contact: Chris Petersen]
21-Feb-2002
