Letter from Linus Pauling to Isaac Asimov. May 31, 1963. Page 1  Larger Images / More Information. 2 pp.  View Transcript

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Activity Listings

• Check from AHP to Jiro Sugita RE: $64.97.  [Bank Statement from First Western Bank to LP and AHP June 18, 1963] [Filed under LP Biographical: Business and Financial: Box #4.027, Folder #27.2]
• Contract Status Report: Contract Nonr-220 (33), Chemistry 43 Acct. 65071, Director of Research: LP, May 31, 1963. [Filed under LP Science: (Office of Naval Research: Correspondence, Memoranda, Notes and Assorted Materials re: “The Structure of Metals and Intermetallic Compounds”, Contract Nonr 220(33) (Chemistry 43), 1958-1963), Box #14.035, Folder #35.1]
• Contract Status Report: Contract Nonr-220 (38), Chemistry 49 Acct. 65070, Director of Research: Drs. R.B. Corey and LP, May 31, 1963. [Filed under LP Science: (Office of Naval Research: Correspondence, Memoranda, Notes and Assorted Materials re: “Structure and Properties of Proteins and Synthetic Polypeptides”, Contract Nonr 220(05) (Chemistry 32), 1951-1963), Box #14.032, Folder #32.2] 
• Letter from Dr. Hugo Boyko, World Academy of Art and Science to LP RE: Boyko sends a circular letter informing the members of the World Academy of Art and Science that King Gustaf of Sweden accepted the offer to be the First Honorary Fellow Member of WAAS.  It also included plans for the World University, publications, and statutes.  [Filed under LP Correspondence: (W: Organizational Correspondence (Wa-Wo)), #441.7]
• Letter from Francis Hoague, MacDonald, Hoague & Bayless, to J. P. Tonkoff, RE: States that Eleanor Piel will be taking over LP’s case and requests that Tonkoff sign a consent form for this action. [Letter from Hoague to Tonkoff, June 6, 1963] [Filed under LP Biographical: Legal: Pauling v. News Syndicate Co., Inc., 1961-1966, 1971: Box #3.020, Folder # 20.3] 
• Letter from LP [Signed by Helen Gilrane] to George Tarjan, M.D., Superintendent and Medical Director, Pacific State Hospital, RE: Says that he is happy to learn about Follings’ honorary membership in the AAMD. Informs Tarjan of how he and AHP have been doing. [Letters from Tarjan to LP May 28, 1963, June 4, 1963] [Filed under LP Correspondence: (F: Correspondence) #129.7]  
• Letter from LP to Evelyn S. Smallwood RE: Thanks Smallwood for the letter and for the Jacket she drew for Introduction to Quantum Mechanics. “Req. for opinion nuclear testing 1963," is written in the top right hand corner.  [Letter from Evelyn S. Smallwood to LP May 23, 1963] [Filed under LP Correspondence (S: Correspondence, 1962-1963), #382.2]
• Letter from LP to Professor Isaac Asimov, Department of Biochemistry, Boston University School of Medicine. [Letter from LP to Asimov June 11, 1963] [Filed under LP Correspondence: (Isaac Asimov), #6.17]

  31 May 1963

  Professor Isaac Asimov

  Department of Biochemistry

  Boston University School of Medicine

  Boston 18, Massachusetts

  Dear Asimov:

  I was pleased to learn from the July issue of Fantasy and Science Fiction that you have included me among the seventy-two scientists whom you call great.

  I looked through the list to see how many of the seventy-two are still alive, and I found four. This is why I am writing to you. You have indicated one of the four as having died in 1960. The man about whom you have made a mistake is Louis de Broglie. He is still alive. It was his brother Maurice who died in 1960.

  Also, I might suggest that you make a small change in the wording of your description of me, in case that you publish it again. You say about me "First to propose the halocial structure of large organic molecules, such as proteins, which led on to Crick's work."

  In fact, several people have proposed the halocial structure of large organic molecules, such as proteins, before I discovered the alpha helix, in the late 1940’s. What I did, in this field (with Robert B. Corey and Herman L. Branson) was to discover the correct halocial structure, the alpha helix, and to show that it was the correct structure. Corey and I also discovered the pleated-sheet structures of silk fibroin and stretched keratin. Moreover, Rundle had shown some years earlier that starch has a halocial structure.

  I think that if you were to write "discovered the halocial structure of some protein molecules, which led on to Crick's work", I would be satisfied. You probably know, also, that Corey and I have published a paper on a halocial structure (incorrect) for DNA, and that Watson and Crick may have been helped somewhat in their work by having a copy of the manuscript.

  If I were writing a brief statement about myself, I probably would include also a sentence such as the following: "He discovered the abnormal human hemoglobin molecules, and developed the concept of molecular disease".

  Do you have a copy of my Harvey Lecture? I have a few reprints left, and I am sending one under separate cover.

  Cordially yours,

  Linus Pauling:hpg

• Letter from LP to Roger Howley, Cornell University Press, RE: Says he has been making progress in preparing the manuscript for the fourth edition of The Nature of the Chemical Bond. Suggests that the fourth edition could be published between 1965 and 1970. Mentions preparing a fifth edition of the text after 1970. [Letter from Howley to LP May 29, 1963] [Filed under LP Books: Unpb8.1]
• Letter from LP to Stanley Schaefer, W. H. Freeman & Co., RE: Provides responses to Schaefer’s inquiries about Uitgeverij de Sikkel n.v. and the idea of a Dutch translation of General Chemistry by C. G. Hoste. [Letter from Schaefer to LP May 28, 1963, Letter from LP to Schaefer June 3, 1963] [Filed under LP Books: 1953b.2]
• Letter from Menachem S. Arnoni to LP RE: Attaches a copy of a letter from Robert. W. Gilmore, requesting the publication on the report of the eleven delegates to the Oxford Conference. Requests LP’s opinion on whether or not the report should be published. Also states that he is attaching copies of several letters from Alfred Hassler. Handwritten notes on the bottom left of the letter saying “Don’t publish Hassler’s stuff,” and that AHP also advises against publishing the report. [Letter from Gilmore to Arnoni May 31, 1963, Letter from LP to Arnoni June 3, 1963] [Filed under LP Correspondence: (M.S. Arnoni), #6.15].  
• Letter from Professor Robert D. Vold, University of Southern California, to LP RE: Requests that LP will spend a day at the Conference on Colloid and Macromolecular Chemistry at the University of Southern California. [Program Details 1963, August 1963 and letter from LP to Vold June 4, 1963] [Filed under LP Correspondence: (U: Organizational Correspondence Un-Un), #420.5]
• Newsletter, “Peace News.” [Filed under LP Peace: (Issues of International Diplomacy and Human Rights, Cu-Ir), Box #6.014, Folder #14.8] 
• Receipt from First Western Bank to LP RE: “Commercial Account Counter Check.” $300.00.  [Bank Statement from First Western Bank to LP and AHP June 18, 1963] [Filed under LP Biographical: Business and Financial: Box #4.027, Folder #27.2]
• Statement from California Institute of Technology to LP RE: Net pay of $1,366.28.   [Filed under LP Biographical: Business and Financial: Box #4.061, Folder #61.1]