The American chemist, Linus Carl Pauling (1901-1994), was twice the recipient of a Nobel Prize. He clarified much that was obscure in the determination of the exact tri-dimensional shapes of molecules, revealed the nature of the chemical bond, helped to create the field of molecular biology, proposed the concept and coined the term "molecular disease;" founded the science of ortho-molecular medicine, and was an activist for peace.

Linus Carl Pauling was born in Portland, Oregon, on February 28, 1901. He was the first of three children born to Herman Henry William Pauling and Lucy Isabelle "Belle" (Darling) Pauling. His father was a druggist who struggled to make a living for his family. With his business failing, Herman Pauling moved the family to Oswego, seven miles south of Portland, in 1903. But, he was no more successful in Oswego and moved the family to Salem in 1904, to Condon (in northern Oregon) in...