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Linus
Carl Pauling was born in Portland, Oregon on February 28, 1901.
He was the son of a self-taught pharmacist, Herman Pauling, and
his wife, Lucy Isabelle Darling. Linus was followed by two sisters,
Pauline Darling (1902) and Frances Lucile (1904). Herman Pauling
struggled financially, and the family moved several times. Herman
was ambitious and driven and he worked hard to establish a successful
pharmacy. Lucy Isabelle ("Belle") married young and had
a difficult time adjusting to the role of wife and mother.
When
Linus was 9, Herman wrote the Portland Oregonian, asking for advice
on what books would be best for his prodigious son. Herman noted,
"And don't say the Bible and Darwin's Origin
of the Species because he has already read them."
Herman Pauling, ambitious, industrious and striving for the best
for his children, died a month later, at the age of 33. Belle
Pauling was left with three small children to raise. She was 29
and had never handled any finances. She bought a boarding house
to provide a steady income for her family, but struggled with
financial difficulties, chronic illness and depression for the
rest of her life.
Belle didn't understand her young son who loved
to read, and young Linus had a difficult time adjusting to the
loss of his father. Science provided respite from the family struggles.
By 11, Pauling was collecting insects; at 12 he started collecting
rocks and minerals and at 13 he became interested in chemistry
when his friend Lloyd Jeffress showed him how sulfuric acid could
change sugar to steaming black carbon. Jeffress and Pauling built
their own chemistry lab using discarded equipment and chemicals
and they would annoy and amuse their neighbors by making stink
bombs and loud, but unharmful, explosions.
Linus attended
Washington High School where he was an excellent student. He held
many part times jobs including delivering milk and running a movie
projector. Pauling had taken so many math and science classes
in high school, that he waited until his final semester to enroll
for two required history classes. He wasn't allowed to take the
classes concurrently, so, though he had more than enough credits
to graduate, he left high school in 1917 at the age of 16, with
no diploma. He is, perhaps, history's most successful high school
dropout.
Pauling worked
as an apprentice machinist, making fifty dollars a month, but
he dreamed of going to college and becoming a chemical engineer.
His mother couldn't understand why Linus would want to sacrifice
a good job for a college education, but Linus applied to the Oregon
Agricultural College and was accepted. |
