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Letter from Linus Pauling to Dorothy Hodgkin. April 28, 1952.
Pauling writes to inform Hodgkin that he will not be able to travel to England as planned due to his passport having been revoked by the United States Department of State. He also notes that he and his colleagues "seem to have worked out the structure of silk."

Transcript

April 28, 1952

Mrs. Dorothy Hodgkin

Chemical Crystallography Laboratory

University Museum

Oxford

England

Dear Dorothy:

I am sorry to say that we are not going to be able to stay with you in Oxford – nor, indeed, to take part in the Royal Society discussion on the structure of proteins. I have received a letter from the Department of State saying that a passport is not being issued to me since the Department is of the opinion that my proposed travel would not be in the best interests of the United States.

I am keenly disappointed. I am sorry not to get to see you again, and I dislike especially missing the conference on the structure of proteins – I am sure that the discussion will be interesting.

We seem to have worked out the structure of silk, in nearly complete detail. There is a superstructure, that had not been observed before. The structure itself is an interesting one – silk is a pile of sandwiches, with all of the side chains as the filling in the sandwiches.

Ava Helen and I hope that we shall be able to come and visit you at some later year when conditions get better.

Sincerely yours,

Linus Pauling:W

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