May 4, 1945
Dr. Roger Adams
1703 - 32nd Street N.W.
Washington 25, D.C.
Dear Roger:
I have been thinking over the Navy proposal No. 5, and I am writing to ask your
advice about the propriety of suggesting a small contract between the RBNS and the
California Institute of Technology for work in this field.
I myself have been very much interested in the matter of the structure of metals
and alloys. From time to time I have done a small amount of work in this field, but
I have never settled down to making a straightforward attack on the problems which
the field presents. Professor J.H. Sturdivant of our department is also interested.
We have available not only the X-ray facilities but also apparatus for preparing special
alloys and for measuring some properties under dynamic loading conditions. Work in
this field was carried out for several years under OSRD Contract OEMsr-348, for which
Professor D.S. Clark was Official Investigator.
Do you think it would be in order for me to propose a contract? If we were to
do some of this work, we could probably get started in six months or a year.
Cordially yours,
Linus Pauling
LP:fh
