28 January

Dear Peter:

Many thanks for your kind hospitality while we were in London. I still feel that you went too far in giving up your bed for us. We enjoyed our little visit to Europe very much, although it was pretty hurried. It was pretty funny; we had hardly walked into our house when the whole affair took on an aura of unreality. We are looking forward to having an opportunity to spend a year somewhere, and see more. Our flight home was uneventful and dull, marked only by the beer supply running out, and by water condensing somewhere in the air conditioning as we were approaching San Francisco, so it started dripping all over us. Both the children and the baby-sitters had survived well; I think the worst that had happened was that Cheryl developed a loose tooth. Ah, she's growing up. [...]

I still don't know any more about next year, although things are going well. The Maryland thing didn't develop, in as much as they don't want to develop bacterial genetics at this time. I don't know why they were so interested in me, since it was clear from the beginning what my research interests are.

Grant's Standfast is pretty good; almost good enough to make me a Scotch drinker. Alas, my supply of $2.50 a bottle whiskey is almost gone, and soon I will be limited to beer again. I decided as a result of our visit with you that the myths about English beer are just that, myths. I suppose I ought to reserve ultimate judgment until I have an opportunity to sample the product ton the summer, when a cold beer is so refreshing.

My work is still going well. I can't believe it. The past six months have been the most productive in my career, in terms of results per unit experiment. I am feeling pretty good, actually. I have lots of ideas, and plenty of things to do after I get out. I'm kind of anxious to get out, although I'm not particularly anxious to leave Seattle. It will be nice to have a little more income, though.

Do you want be to do something positive about selling the Merc? I think that it might not hurt to register with the USA Mercedes owners club, who put out calls for such registration. I will do so if you so desire.

By the way, thank you very much for all the Christmas presents. I don't know if Lucy and/or the children have written, but I suppose that they will eventually.

Crellin

28 January 1963

The Nobel Committee for Chemistry

Stockholm 50, SWEDEN

Gentlemen:

I was pleased that the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 1962 was awarded to Kendrew and Perutz for their work on myoglobin and hemoglobin. I had nominated Professor Robert B. Corey, and had thought that it might be justified to include him in the award. I, of course, recognize that there were also good arguments against including him, and I do not disagree with your decision for 1962.

It seems to me that the award of another Nobel Prize in this field, the x-ray investigation of the structure of proteins, could not be justified, and I am accordingly not renewing my nomination of Professor Corey.

Sincerely yours,

Linus Pauling:lh

28 January 1963

The Nobel Committee for

Chemistry Stockholm 50, SWEDEN

Gentlemen:

I am writing to support the proposal that Professor Dorothy Hodgkin be awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 1963. I assume that she has been nominated.

It is my opinion that her work on the determination of the structure of penicillin and the determination of the structure of vitamin B12, by the x-ray diffraction method, represents a really outstanding contribution to science. In each case she found it necessary, in order to achieve her goal, to develop the techniques of x-ray crystallography significantly beyond their accepted limits at the time when her work was carried out. Each of the two substances that she subjected to investigation in this way is of great importance, and her work in determining the two structures shows the greatest virtuosity. I believe that she is to be considered the outstanding x-ray crystallographer of the world.

Sincerely yours,

Linus Pauling:lh