Linus Pauling: A Life In Science And Politics and Vitamin C (Orthomolecular Medicine)

332 Pages·1995·12.197 MB·English

by  Ted Goertzel, Ben Goertzel, Linus Pauling

LINUS P A U LING
A LIFE IN SCIENCE AND POLITICS
“Trimmer and more sculptured [than other biographies of Pauling]...
psychologically more probing.” —New York Times Book Review
TED GOERTZEL AND BEN GGERTZEL

LINUS PA U L I N G
1
L I N U n
i

PAULIN n
A LIFE IN SCIENCE
AND POLITICS
Ted Gdertzel
and Ben Gdertzel
with the assistance of
MILDRED GDERTZEL
VICTOR GDERTZEL
with original drawings by
GWEN GDERTZEL
BasicBooks
A Division of HarperCollins/W»/«&m
Copyright © 1995 by Ted Goertzel.
Published by BasicBooks, A Division of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.
All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be
reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief
quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information, address BasicBooks, 10
East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022-5299.
Designed by Elliott Beard
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Goertzel, Ted George.
Linus Pauling: a life in science and politics / by Ted Goertzel and Ben Goertzel with the
assistance of Mildred Goertzel, Victor Goertzel.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-465-00672-8 (cloth)
ISBN 0-465—00673—6 (paper)
1. Pauling, Linus, 1901-1994. 2. Scientists—United States—Biography.
I. Goertzel, Ben. II. Title.
Q143.P25G64 1995
540'.92—dc20
[B] 95-9005
CIP
96 97 98 99 ♦/HC 987654321
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
I NTRODUCTION xiii
1. End of Childhood, 1901—1913 1
2.
Dropout of the
Class of ’17, 19 1 3-1 922 21
3. Hidden Patterns, 1 922—1 925 35
4.
“An Extraordinarily Productive
Scientific Kopf,” 1926—1935 61
3. Proteins, Politics, and
Passports, 1935—1954 85
6. Fallout, 1954—1960 133
CONTENTS
7.
“A Consistent Pro-Soviet Bias,
158
1 960-1 966
8. Orthomolecular Medicine,
192
1966-1990
9. 238
Alone at Big Sur, 199 1-1 994
Appendix: Patterns in Ink 255
N OTES 277
Selected References 283
Index 287
a
V I
Acknowledgments
^^y parents, Mildred and Victor
Goertzel, began work on this biography, with Pauling’s assistance, in
1962, as a continuation of their work on the childhood of eminent peo¬
ple (see Cradles of Eminence and Three Hundred Eminent Personalities).
They admired him especially for his leadership of the peace movement
and thought that his biography would be inspirational for young people
who might be thinking of a career in science or involvement in worthy
causes. They interviewed relatives, teachers, and neighbors who knew
Pauling in his childhood. Pauling was generous with his time in reading
and editing their drafts of early chapters about his childhood and fam¬
ily background. He also authorized the psychologist Anne Roe to pro¬
vide them with a copy of the record of the Rorschach test that Pauling had
taken as one of the subjects in her book The Making of a Scientist. Victor
had done his Ph.D. dissertation in psychology using the Rorschach.
Mildred and Victor differed with Pauling, however, about the focus
of the book. They wanted to emphasize his personality; he wanted
extensive details about his scientific work. They put the project aside for
a number of years but continued to follow his life. They were troubled
when Pauling began his crusade over vitamin C. Much later, they were
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
distressed by his treatment of Arthur Robinson, whom they came to
know personally. They again worked sporadically on the manuscript,
which became more critical, less pacifist hagiography.
Mildred and Victor then asked me, their oldest son and a professor at
Rutgers University with an interest in the psychosocial roots of political
beliefs (see Turncoats and True Believers), to help with the manuscript. I
interviewed some of Pauling’s associates who lived on the East Coast and
added material on Pauling’s scientific contributions and on the contro¬
versies surrounding orthomolecular medicine.
When Pauling contracted prostate cancer in 1991, at the age of
ninety, we decided that I should undertake the preparation of a final
manuscript. Mildred and Victor’s health no longer permitted full par¬
ticipation, and we thought that a complete rewrite by one author would
lead to a more coherent book. My experience in statistical research
methods was particularly helpful in making sense of the ongoing con¬
troversies concerning vitamins and health. Victor and I visited the newly
established Linus and Ava Helen Pauling Papers at Oregon State Univer¬
sity to collect material from letters and other documents and updated
some of the interviews with Pauling’s associates. I reestablished contact
with Pauling, and he was reviewing the manuscript when he died in
August 1994. He had already sent comments and a few minor correc¬
tions of chapter 3 concerning his contributions in chemistry.
At this point, I asked my son, Benjamin Goertzel, a mathematician
and cognitive scientist, to help with the chapters on Pauling’s science.
Our editor, Susan Rabiner at Basic Books, told us that Pauling was right:
the biography needed much more about Pauling’s contributions to sci¬
ence. Ben has the mathematical understanding of quantum theory
needed to understand Pauling’s work fully and the literary skill needed to
communicate it. He also contributed his insights as a cognitive scientist
who understands a great deal about how scientists think (his books
include The Structure of Intelligence, The Evolving Mind, and Chaotic
Logic). In the end, the final draft covers very much the same scientific
material that Pauling told my parents it should thirty years ago.
In no way can this be considered an authorized biography—it is quite
critical of Pauling in many ways. Pauling knew of our views because we
had published them in the Antioch Review in 1980, and we appreciate
VIII