Linus Pauling was born in Portland, Oregon on February 28, 1901. His father, Herman, was a pharmacist and his mother, Lucy, was the daughter of a pharmacist. Shortly after Linus was born the family moved to the town of Condon, and Linus started attending the local schools. Shortly after Herman died of an ulcer, the family had to move back to Portland and live in poverty. As a result of his family’s poverty, Linus had to work various jobs to help the family and eventually he had to drop out of high school. At fifteen Linus had already knew that he wanted to be a chemical engineer but did not have to money to become one. What made him want to be one was when he was thirteen his friend Lloyd Jeffress suggested he take a detour on his way home from school …show more content…
His findings are considered to be the foundation of modern chemistry as well as the basis for what is known today as molecular biology. The main aim of Pauling’s scientific career would be to discern the underlying structure of all matter, and to understand how that structure determines the substance, composition, and even the function of objects and living organisms alike. He sought the “secret of life,” as he put it: reducing the simplest creature and the most complex to their elements, which are common not only to both amoeba and biochemist, but to plankton and poet, dandelion and dandruff, lizard and linguine. He was out to answer the sorts of questions that puzzle a wondering child, and that stump the parents and teachers whom the child annoys with his endless importunate curiosity. When the 1940’s came around he paused his work and volunteered his services to the government during World War 2. Pauling had developed oxypolis gelatin, a synthetic blood plasma to be used for emergency transfusions during combat situations, and the invention of an oxygen detector for use in submarines and airplanes. This device would remain in use after the war, in incubators for premature births and for anesthetized surgery