Affiliation: Alumni - 1920s
An Oral History of the Linus Pauling Institute
Six interviews with Steve Lawson, conducted by Chris Petersen.
August - December 2011
The Linus Pauling Institute was founded in 1973 by Linus Pauling and two colleagues,
and was originally located near the campus of Stanford University. Primarily devoted
to exploring Pauling's controversial ideas on the health benefits of large doses of
vitamin C, the Institute gradually developed a broad and eclectic research agenda
that included work on superconductivity, molecular evolution, and metabolic profiling.
Consistently hamstrung by financial woes and further embattled by personnel disputes
that resulted in legal actions, the Institute was on the brink of closure by the time
of Pauling's death in 1994. Buoyed by a handful of timely donations and the administrative
acumen of Pauling's eldest son, Linus Pauling Jr., the Institute managed to stay afloat
and, in 1996, relocated to Oregon State University. Today the Linus Pauling Institute
is a thriving research enterprise that makes regular contributions to the fights against
cancer and cardiovascular disease, and to the promotion of healthy aging. Over the
course of six interviews, Steve Lawson, an Administrative Officer at LPI who has worked
for the Institute since 1977, relays his memories of the Institute's colorful history
and shares his impressions of Linus Pauling, whom Lawson knew as a colleague and as
a friend for nearly two decades.