February 25, 1947

Dr. Otto Beeck

Shell Development Company

4560 Horton Street

Emeryville 8, California

Dear Otto:

I am writing to ask if you and Shell Development or Shell could help me out now.

I have been invited to attend several affairs in England, and I finally decided, at the last moment nearly, to go. I must arrive in England by June 8 and leave toward the end of July. I shall attend an affair at Cambridge, and then the centenary celebration of the Chemical Society at London, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (I am to be president of the physical chemistry section), and perhaps a day also at the International Physiological Congress. At present I have a period of nearly a month from the middle of June to the middle of July with no very definite plans.

I do not want to fly, if I can avoid it, partially because of my health. I would like my wife to go with me in order that she could make arrangements for our stay at Oxford during the first half of 1948 (I am to be Eastman Professor during the second and third terms).

So far my efforts to get a steamship reservation have been unsuccessful. Guy Edwards, Shell geologist on campus, suggested that the Shell New York office might be able to help out. If you think there is any chance, would you or Mr. Rund or Mr. Lacumble take this up with the New York office? We need a cabin for two, on a boat arriving in England not later than June 8. The class of the accommodations is not important. In returning we would want to leave England July 28 or as soon as possible thereafter.

I venture to bother you with this because when I think about the Caltech people on your staff, it seems to me I am almost one of the company.

With best regards, I am

Cordially yours,

[Linus Pauling]

Linus Pauling:W