Letter from Linus Pauling to G. J. Moody and J. D. R. Thomas. November 22, 1965. Page 1  Larger Images / More Information. 2 pp.  View Transcript

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Activity Listings

• Check from LP to Sears RE: $91.21.  [Bank Statement from First Western Bank to LP and AHP December 24, 1965] [Filed under LP Biographical: Business and Financial: Box #4.028, Folder #28.2]
• Letter form Mai Van Bo Republique Democratiue du Viet-Nam to LP RE: [Written in French] [Filed under LP Peace: Box #6.005, Folder #5.1]
• Letter from Chester F. Protheroe, Needham High School, to LP. RE: Asks about the electronegativity of ternary compounds. [Letter from LP December 23, 1965] [Filed under LP Correspondence: P: Correspondence (1965): Box #315 Folder #315.2] 
• Letter from Duane Inman, to LP. RE: Asks for information on experimenting with hemoglobin for a Science Fair Project. [Letter from LP December 16, 1965] [Filed under LP Correspondence: I: Correspondence, 1936-1973: Box #185 Folder #185.26] 
• Letter from John Raeburn Green, Green, Hennings, Henry & Arnold, Attorneys at Law, to LP RE: Discusses bills including a October 28, 1965 bill from St. Louis Law Printing Company, Inc.  Briefly discusses the appearance in the Court of Appeals on November 15, 1965.  Bill attached. [Letter from Green to LP, November 18, 1965, Letter from Green to LP, December 15, 1965] [Filed under LP Biographical: Legal: Pauling v. Globe-Democrat Publishing Company, 1960-1967: Box #3.003, Folder #3.8]
• Letter from Josephine A. Williams, National Academy of Sciences, to LP. RE: Acknowledges receipt of the manuscript ‘Toward a Quantitative View of the Engram’ by Arthur Cherkin. Would like to have instructions regarding the page costs. [Letter from LP December 15, 1965] [Filed under LP Correspondence: P: Organizational Correspondence (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences): Box #311 Folder #311.5]
• Letter from LP to Betsy Holland Gehman. RE: Does not have any information regarding the cause of the increase in the number of multiple births. [Letter from Gehman November 14, 1964] [Filed under LP Correspondence: G: Correspondence, 1962-1965: Box # 142 Folder #142.4] 
• Letter from LP to Elvin A. Salem. RE: Express his sympathy. Informs him that it is not possible to say what the cause of any one case of leukemia is. [Letter from November 14, 1964] [Filed under LP Correspondence: S: Correspondence (1965): Box #383 Folder #383.2] 
• Letter from LP to G. J. Moody and J. D. R. Thomas, Welsh College of Advanced Technology. [Letter from Thomas, Moody November 27, 1964] [Filed under LP Correspondence: M: Correspondence, (1965-1967): Box #260 Folder #260.1] also [Filed under LP Correspondence: T: Correspondence (1965): Box #412 Folder #412.2]

  November 22, 1965

  G. J. Moody and J. D. R. Thomas

  Welsh College of Advanced Technology

  Cathays Park

  Cardiff, Great Britain

  Dear Messrs. Moody and Thomas:

  I apologize for the delay in answering your letter of last November, which arrived while I was in Australia, and then escaped my attention.

  In my 1961 paper on anesthesia I made a statement that reflected the state of knowledge at that time, namely, "Xenon is completely unreactive chemically. It has no ability whatever to form ordinary chemical compounds, involving covalent or ionic bonds."

  In this article, about anesthesia, I was thinking of the possibility that xenon would undergo reaction under the conditions inside the human body. I did not think that it was worth while for me to discuss there the general problem of chemical reactivity of xenon, with, for example, the element fluorine. I had formed the opinion thirty years earlier, on the basis of theoretical arguments, that xenon should form certain compounds. My theoretical arguments were rather simple ones, involving extrapolation from the behavior of other elements, close by in the periodic table.

  I had got a sample of xenon from a friend and I asked my colleague Professor Don M. Yost if he would see whether it would combine with fluorine — he had been doing some work with fluorine. When he and Mr. Kay reported a negative result, I decided that the rate of reaction might be small, or the equilibrium more unfavorable than I had anticipated. I continued to hold to this opinion over later years, when no other investigator had reported that he had prepared any fluorine or oxygen compounds of xenon, or any other compounds, except the clathrate compounds.

  I do not remember having discussed in any thoroughgoing way the question of chemical reactivity of xenon, at any time after 1933. I am sure that if I had been asked whether or not I thought that in the course of time some fluorine and oxygen compounds as xenon would be made, I would have answered yes.

  I apologize for the delay in answering your letter -- I am afraid that you have in the meantime published your book.

  Sincerely yours,

  Linus Pauling

• Letter from LP to H. B. Sachse, Keystone Carbon Company. RE: Answers his scientific questions. [Letter from Sachse November 23, 1964] [Filed under LP Correspondence: S: Correspondence (1965): Box #383 Folder #383.2] 
• Letter from LP to Karen Wessberg. RE: Sends some documents under separate cover. Does not think that the decline of the birthrate in the United States is related to radiation and DDT. [Letter from Wessberg November 19, 1964] [Filed under LP Correspondence: W: Correspondence, 1965: Box # 446 Folder #446.3] 
• Letter from LP to Leonid Harrison, University of New South Wales Medical Society. RE: Has decided that it will not be possible for him to prepare an article for his journal. [Letter from Harrison November 5, 1964] [Filed under LP Correspondence: H: Correspondence, 1963-1966: Box #169 Folder #169.3] 
• Letter from LP to Lutz Seydlitz. RE: Thanks him for his letter. Found his poem about nuclear war to be powerful. [Letter from Seydlitz October 13, 1965] [Filed under LP Correspondence: S: Correspondence (1965): Box #383 Folder #383.2] 
• Letter from LP to Mrs. Charles D. Thompson. RE: Investigated the chemical basis of mental retardation for a couple years. Encloses copies of two papers for Mr. Hilling. [Letter from Thompson November 22, 1964] [Filed under LP Correspondence: T: Correspondence (1965): Box #412 Folder #412.2] 
• Letter from LP to Robert E. O’Brian. RE: Does not have detailed knowledge about the activities at Oak Ridge, but does not think that radioactive material in wasps’ nests is a hazard. [Letter from O’Brian November 8, 1965]  [Filed under LP Correspondence: O: Correspondence (1965): Box #300 Folder #300.27]
• Letter from LP to S. R. Ramesh. RE: Expresses his appreciation for his letter from last year. Has been making an effort to take effective action in the direction he discussed. Sends a copy of his Nobel Peace Prize lecture. [Letter from Ramesh August 11, 1964] [Filed under LP Correspondence: R: Correspondence (1965): Box #343 Folder #343.2] 
• Letter from LP to T. Marinescu. RE: Has decided that he has not worked closely enough with the biochemistry of the living cell to permit him to prepare an article. Encloses another popular article on a scientific subject. [Letter from Marinescu November 29, 1964] [Filed under LP Correspondence: M: Correspondence, (1965-1967): Box #260 Folder #260.1] 
• Letter from LP to W. Jankowsky. RE: Thanks him for his manuscript ‘Was Ist Humanismus?’. Sends a couple publications under separate cover. [Letter from Jankowsky November 6, 1965] [Filed under LP Correspondence: J: Correspondence, 1965-1978: Box #193 Folder #193.1] 
• Note from J. B. Willey to W. H. Freeman and Co. RE: Says that LP’s General Chemistry is an excellent book, but is too difficult for the students he comes in contact with. [Filed under LP Books: (General Chemistry, Third Edition, by LP. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman, 1970, 959 pages), Box #1970b4, Folder # 1970b4.1]
• Research Notebook of LP RE: Autobiographical entry, p. 266. [Filed under LP Research Notebooks: 25R]       
• Statement from Standard Oil Company of California RE: Total of $14.76.  [Filed under LP Biographical: Business and Financial: Box #4.061, Folder #61.2]