Letter from Linus Pauling to Richard Gilpin. September 20, 1962. Page 1  Larger Images / More Information. 2 pp.  View Transcript

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Activity Listings

• Check from Mrs. R. Dale Haskin, to Standard Oil Co. of California for $7.86.  [Filed under LP Biographical: Bank Statements and Canceled Checks: Bank of America, September 1960-November 1962: Box #4.019 Folder #19.3]
• Check from Mrs. R. Dale Haskin, to Texaco Inc., for $3.50.  [Filed under LP Biographical: Bank Statements and Canceled Checks: Bank of America, September 1960-November 1962: Box #4.019 Folder #19.3]
• Hotel bill: The Biltmore, New York [Filed under LP Travel, Box #1.003, Folder 3.2] 
• Invitation to drinks with Mr. Y. B. Turkson.  [Filed under LP Biographical: Scrapbooks: Box #6.008 Folder #8.326]
• Letter from Amelia Helmholz to LP RE: Invites LP to come speak at Wellesley College on behalf of the Focus on Peace study group. [Letter from LP to Helmholz October 2, 1962] [Filed under LP Correspondence, W: Individual Correspondence, 1960-1962 Box 445 Folder 445.3]  
• Letter from Irving A. Mandell to LP RE: Thanks LP for the letter and enclosure. Defends his ability to act on reason and not emotion. [Letter from LP to Mandell September 18, 1962] [Filed under LP Correspondence, M: Correspondence 1962-1964 Box 259, Folder 259.1]               
• Letter from John J. Banewicz, Southern Methodist University, to LP. RE: Invites him to participate in a symposium involving authors of outstanding textbooks in the areas of first year and organic chemistry. [Letter from LP September 29, 1962] [Filed under LP Speeches: Speeches by LP, 1962: Box # 1962s Folder #1962s.27] 
• Letter from LP to Richard Gilpin.   [Letter from Gilpin to LP August 9, 1962] [Filed under LP Peace:  Materials re: Fallout and Radiation Shelters, and Civil Defense, 1962-1965: Box #7.008, Folder #8.10]

  20 August 1962

  Dear Mr. Gilpin:

  In answer to your letter, in which you ask me about a statement made in my comment of 6 August 1962, I may quote the Russian scientist A. D. Sakharov, in his article entitled Radioactive Carbon in Nuclear Explosions and Non Threshold Biological Effects, published in the book Soviet Scientists on the Danger of Unclear Tests, under the editorship of A. V. Lebedinsky (Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow, 1960).

  Beginning on page 39, he says "On these assumptions, the total number of victims of carbon 14 in a megaton explosion comes to 6,600 persons. They are distributed over a period of the order of 8,000 years. As follows from the data of O. I. Leipunsky, non threshold biological effects due to strontium 90 and external radiation by cesium 137 increase this figure of human loss by a factor of 1.5 due to losses in this and subsequent generations. The total number affected by nuclear tests to date (50 megatons of explosive energy) is estimated at 500,000 persons. Apparently, this is an underestimation. One should not disregard the fact that the total number of victims is already one million persons and that the annual increase is from 200 to 300,000."

  I made use of the estimate of 6,600 persons in a megaton explosion. The estimate made by Leipunsky is 2,000 genetic victims per megaton. Because of this variation between the two, I did not include the factor 1.5 mentioned in the paragraph above. If I had, I might have rounded the number off to 500,000, instead of 300,000, for 50 megatons.

  500,000 for 50 megatons is the number given above by Sakharov. Then he says that the total number of victims is already one million. I think that the number one million might refer to 100 megatons - in fact, 180 megatons had been exploded before 1960.

  When Sakharov says that the annual increase is from 200 to 300,000, I think that he meant that at the average rate of testing in the years preceding 1960 the bomb tests of one year would produce about this number of victims.

  The editorial in the National Guardian says that Sakharov contended that 50 megatons of fission would claim from 200,000 to 300,000 lives a year for several years and the harmful effects would continue in sharply reduced form for centuries. I surmise that this statement is based upon a misinterpretation of the quotation given above. One might well interpret the concluding sentences in Sakharov’s paragraph as meaning that the number of people already damaged amounted to 200,000 or 300,000 per year; but I feel pretty confident that he was referring to the total number of victims of the bomb tests carried out in one year.

  I estimate that somewhere around one half percent or one percent of all victims come in the first generation. One percent of 500,000 would be 5,000 in the first generation, or a few hundred per year.

  It is too bad that the English translation of the book Soviet Scientists on the Danger of Nuclear Tests is poor.

  Let me know at once if you have any question about this matter.

  Sincerely yours,

  [Linus Pauling]

• Letter from William F. Kieffer to LP RE: Apologizes profusely for the circumstance that gave LP grounds for dissatisfaction with the Journal of Chemical Education. Says that he isn’t sure why LP’s indications on the manuscript and the galley proof were ignored. Asks if LP would like an erratum note or letter to the editor published. Also asks about the articles LP mentioned that he was planning to write several articles for the Journal. [Letter from LP to Kieffer October 2, 1962]  [Filed under J:Organizational Correspondence (Jo - Jo) Box 191, Folder 191.4]
• Letter from William Hubben to LP RE: Thanks LP for the letter he sent concerning the effect of high-energy radiation. [Filed under LP Correspondence, H: Correspondence 1961-1962 Box 168, Folder 168.2] 
• Newspaper Clipping: “It Takes Lots of Courage,” by Walt Party-Miller, The Gazette and Daily, September 20, 1962. [Filed under LP Newspaper Clippings: Newspaper Clippings, Magazine and Journal Articles related to LP, 1962: Box #1962n, Folder #1962n.29]
• Newspaper clipping: “Peace Leaders to Speak Here” East Whitter Review. [Filed under LP Biographical: Scrapbooks: Box #6.008 Folder #8.308]
• Receipt for $7.86. [Filed under LP Biographical: Correspondence: Deer Flat Ranch Bills, Receipts, Invoices, etc., 1960-1969: Box #4.048 Folder #48.1] 
• Receipt from Texaco to Ralph D. Haskin for $3.50. [Filed under LP Biographical: Correspondence: Deer Flat Ranch Bills, Receipts, Invoices, etc., 1960-1969: Box #4.048 Folder #48.1] 
• Telegram from A. J. Muste RE: Says that the Committee for Nonviolent Action’s friends in the Soviet Peace committee have doubts about the integrity of Earle Reynolds. Asks if LP could write to Kotov if he is confident of Reynold’s integrity. [Filed under LP Science: (John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, 1935-1975), Box #14.015, Folder #15.7]
• Telegram from LP to Harry Kalven Jr., University of Chicago. RE: Informs him that neither proposal is acceptable. Asks that his letter be published with a statement by the Bulletin. [Telegram from Kalven September 18, 1962] [Filed under LP Biographical: Typescripts, Correspondence: Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 1962-1963: Box # 3.058 Folder #58.8]