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At
Caltech, Pauling worked under the direction of Roscoe Dickinson,
who was using x-ray crystallography to determine the structure of
inorganic crystals. Pauling became one of the first American chemists
to effectively use this x-ray diffraction technique. Much of his
early research used this technique to measure the distances and
angles of bonds in inorganic crystals including topaz, micas, sulfides
and silicates. Pauling trained others in x-ray diffraction, including
William Lipscomb, who would receive a Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Pauling also studied under Richard C. Tolman.
Tolman was an outstanding physical chemist and mathematician.
Even in his eighties, Pauling recalled a Caltech lecture where
Tolman asked a question and Pauling responded, "I don't know.
I haven't studied that yet." A recent Ph.D., Dr. Bozorth,
told him, "Linus you shouldn't have answered Professor Tolman
the way you did; you are a graduate student now and you are supposed
to know everything." Pauling took this comment seriously
and became determined to learn everything about the sciences.
The new university hadn't established course limits,
so Pauling often registered for sixty hours of classes and twenty
research hours. Caltech also had an intensive lecture series of
both visiting and faculty professors and graduate students were
able to hear lectures from the world's leading scientists, including
Albert Einstein. and Arnold Sommerfeld.. There were only seven
graduate students for the nine staff members and this provided
a rare opportunity for individualized mentorships.
As a graduate student, Pauling used a scientific
process which he called the "stochastic method," from
the Greek meaning "to divine the truth from conjecture."
This method combined both intuition and scientific calculation
drawing from his extensive knowledge of chemistry, physics and
mathematics. Pauling would guess what a crystal structure might
be, then he would use the data from the x-ray pictures to calculate
the structures. This method has been used by many scientists before
him, but Pauling refined it and was extremely successful employing
it.
After his first year at Caltech, Pauling returned
to Oregon and married Ava Helen. Pauling returned to his job as
a paving inspector that summer and the couple returned to Pasadena
in the fall. Ava Helen would remain his partner in life and in
science for more than fifty years.
Pauling was brilliant and hard working and he
also had luck on his side. He was at a dynamic new university
at a historic time in chemistry and physics. As quantum physics
was developed, each new finding triggered another discovery, like
well placed dominoes. The science world knew quantum physics would
have an impact on chemistry, but no one knew who would effectively
apply quantum theory to the chemical sciences. |
