Linus Pauling - Early Life and Education

Early Life and Education

Pauling was born in Portland, Oregon, as the first-born child of Herman Henry William Pauling (1876–1910) and Lucy Isabelle "Belle" Darling (1881–1926). He was named "Linus Carl," in honor of Lucy's father, Linus, and Herman's father, Carl. Herman and Lucy – then 23 and 18 years old, respectively – had met at a dinner party in Condon. Six months later, the two were married.

Herman Pauling was descended from Prussian farmers, who had immigrated to a German settlement in Concordia, Missouri. Carl Pauling moved his family to California, before settling in Oswego, Oregon. There he worked as an ironmonger at a foundry. After completing grammar school, Herman Pauling served as an apprentice to a druggist. Upon completion of his services, he became a wholesale bread salesman.

Pauling's mother, Lucy, of English/Scottish descent, was the daughter of Linus Wilson Darling, who had served as a teacher, farmer, surveyor, postmaster and lawyer at different points of his life. Linus Darling was orphaned at the age of 11 and apprenticed under a baker before becoming a schoolteacher. He fell in love with a young woman named Alice from Turner, Oregon, whom he eventually married. On July 17, 1888, Alice gave birth to the couple's fifth child, but he was stillborn. Less than a month later, she died, leaving Darling to take care of their four young daughters.

Linus Pauling spent his first year living in a one-room apartment with his parents in Portland. In 1902, after his sister Pauline was born, Pauling's parents decided to move out of the city. They were crowded in their apartment, but couldn't afford more spacious living quarters in Portland. Lucy stayed with her husband's parents in Oswego, while Herman searched for new housing. Herman brought the family to Salem, where he took up a job as a traveling salesman for the Skidmore Drug Company. Within a year of Lucile's birth in 1904, Herman Pauling moved his family to Oswego, where he opened his own drugstore. The business climate in Oswego was poor, so he moved his family to Condon in 1905.

In 1909, Pauling's grandfather, Linus, divorced his second wife and married young schoolteacher who was almost the same age as his daughter Lucy. A few months later, he died of a heart attack, brought on by complications from nephritis. Meanwhile, Herman Pauling was suffering from poor health and had regular sharp pains in his abdomen. Lucy's sister, Abbie, saw that Herman was dying and immediately called the family physician. The doctor gave Herman a sedative to reduce the pain, but it only offered temporary relief. His health worsened in the coming months and he finally died of a perforated ulcer on June 11, 1910, leaving Lucy to care for Linus, Lucile and Pauline.

At age nine, Linus was a voracious reader. On May 12, 1910 his father wrote a letter to The Oregonian inviting suggestions of additional books to occupy his time. Pauling first planned to become a chemist after being amazed by experiments conducted with a small chemistry lab kit by his friend, Lloyd A. Jeffress. At high school, Pauling continued to conduct chemistry experiments, scavenging much of the equipment and material from an abandoned steel plant. With an older friend, Lloyd Simon, Pauling set up Palmon Laboratories. Operating from Simon's basement, the two approached local dairies to offer their services in performing butterfat samplings at cheap prices. Dairymen were wary of trusting two boys with the task, and as such, the business ended in failure.

By the fall of 1916, Pauling was a 15-year-old high school senior with enough credits to enter Oregon State University (OSU), known then as Oregon Agricultural College. He did not have enough credits for two required American history courses that would satisfy the requirements for earning a high school diploma. He asked the school principal if he could take these courses concurrently during the spring semester, but the principal denied his request, and Pauling decided to leave the school in June without a diploma. His high school, Washington High School in Portland, awarded him the diploma 45 years later, after he had won two Nobel Prizes. During the summer, Pauling worked part-time at a grocery store, earning eight US dollars a week. His mother set him up with an interview with a Mr. Schwietzerhoff, the owner of a number of manufacturing plants in Portland. Pauling was hired as an apprentice machinist with a salary of 40 dollars per month. Pauling excelled at his job, and saw his salary soon raised to 50 dollars per month. In his spare time, he set up a photography laboratory with two friends and found business from a local photography company. He hoped that the business would earn him enough money to pay for his future college expenses. Pauling received a letter of admission from OAC in September 1917 and immediately gave notice to his boss and told his mother of his plans.