Linus Pauling and the Structure of Proteins: A Documentary History All Documents and Media  
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William T. Astbury
George W. Beadle
John Desmond Bernal
William Lawrence Bragg
Herman R. Branson
Dan H. Campbell
William B. Castle
Robert B. Corey
Francis H. C. Crick
Max Delbrück
Emil Fischer
Frank Blair Hanson
Maurice Huggins
Harvey A. Itano
John C. Kendrew
Karl Landsteiner
Alfred E. Mirsky
Carl G. Niemann
Linus Pauling
Max F. Perutz
Frederick Sanger
S. Jonathan Singer
Theodor (The) Svedberg
Alexander R. Todd
Warren Weaver
Dorothy Wrinch

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Dorothy Wrinch.
Dorothy Wrinch. approx. 1941.
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Dorothy Wrinch

1893-1981

Dorothy Wrinch Papers
Location: Five College Archives and Manuscript Collection
Address: Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College, Northampton, MA 01063
Size: 35 boxes, oversize materials, 2 volumes (13 linear ft.)
Finding Aid: http://asteria.fivecolleges.edu/findaids/sophiasmith/mnsss403_main.html
Phone: 413-585-2970  Fax: 413-585-2886Web: http://asteria.fivecolleges.edu/findaids/sophiasmith/list

 

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Quotes

"The picture is, however, still very far from definite - she suggests various alternatives and does not make any definite predictions."

Linus Pauling. Letter to Warren Weaver. March 6, 1937.

"[Delbrück's] training in physics is good and he attacks biological problems in a sensible way. He understands their nature, whereas Dr. Wrinch does not."

Linus Pauling. Letter to Warren Weaver. February 23, 1938.

"It has been recognized by workers in the field of modern structural chemistry that the lack of conformity of the cyclol structures with the rules found to hold for simple molecules makes it very improbable that any protein molecules contain structural elements of the cyclol type."

Linus Pauling Carl G. Niemann. "The structure of proteins." Journal of the American Chemical Society, 61, 1860-1867. 1939.

"Deeply inspired by D'Arcy Thompson's ideas on form, Wrinch capitalized on topological considerations. She proposed during the mid-1930s a honeycomb-like cage structure, a cyclol, for native globular proteins. That the cyclol consisted of 288 amino acid residues - and thus supposedly offered yet another independent source of evidence for the Svedberg and Bergmann-Niemann units - only served to enhance the 'hypnotic power of numerology."

Lily E. Kay. The Molecular Vision of Life: Caltech, The Rockefeller Foundation and the Rise of the New Biology (New York: Oxford University Press). 1993.

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