Linus Pauling Day in the United States

Linus Pauling was one of the most important researchers in immunology and is the only person who has won two undivided Nobel Prizes. His achievements are annually commemorated at Oregon State University.

Is Linus Pauling Day a Public Holiday?

Linus Pauling Day is not a public holiday. Businesses have normal opening hours.

Dr. Pauling is the only person who has won two undivided Nobel Prizes. In 1954 he won the Prize for Chemistry. Eight years later he was awarded the Peace Prize for his opposition to weapons of mass destruction. Pauling also many other awards, including forty-seven honorary doctorates.

After receiving the degree of B.Sc. in chemical engineering in 1922 from Oregon State College, he went on to an appointment as a Teaching Fellow in Chemistry in the California Institute of Technology. In 1925 he was awarded his Ph.D. in chemistry, with minors in physics and mathematics.

Pauling did extensive research on immunology, the structure of hemoglobin and the nature of sickle cell anemia.

The atom bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were a turning point in Pauling's life. Together with other scientists he spoke and wrote against the nuclear arms race, and he was a driving force in the Pugwash movement. It sought to reduce the role of nuclear arms in international politics and was awarded the Peace Prize in 1995.

In 1959, Pauling drafted his famous Hiroshima Appeal, a document issued after the Fifth World Conference against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs.

He was one of the prime movers who urged the nuclear powers the USA, the Soviet Union and Great Britain to conclude a nuclear test ban treaty, which entered into force on 10 October 1963. On the same day, it was announced that Linus Pauling had won the Nobel Peace Prize held over from 1962.

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