Linus Pauling: I think it’s good, you know, to have, to try and develop a sort of theory of the universe, while you are working, learning
things. Try to couple everything that enters your head, fitted into this theory. So that you can say "well, I understand the
universe."
Well, of course, the fact is that forty-five years ago, it was very hard to do this. Or the theory of the universe that you
had, if you were a chemist, was a very simple one, because you didn’t understand how chemical bonds were, you didn’t know
what the origin of, say, ferromagnetism was. Everything was, sort of, was uncertain, mystical.
Now as time has gone by, I think we can say that, well we can say that it seems, it seems to me that we have a very good idea
about the universe. Not only about the properties of simple molecules but also of complicated molecules, high polymers, or
proteins, nucleic acids, polysaccharides, even such mechanisms as the mechanism of heredity. And the younger generation starting
out with a clear view of the universe, which may not be completely correct, and of course is incomplete, ought to be able
to clarify the portions that still remain dark for us.
