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"Linus Pauling, Crusading Scientist." 1977. Produced for NOVA by Robert Richter/WGBH-Boston. The Impact of Lloyd Jeffress. (1:45)

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Linus Pauling: Lloyd Jeffress had a chemistry set in his bedroom. And it wasn't a chemistry set because they hadn't been thought of yet. It was a collection of a few chemicals and a little glassware that he had gathered together. This came when I was thirteen. The following year there was practically no chemistry in the course in physiography, a little physics; properties of gases, atmospheric pressure, a few things of that sort. The uh, I think even the barometer was discussed in. Now when I was walking home from school with Lloyd Jeffress, when both he and I were thirteen, we came to his house. Mine was about a mile farther along on the east side in Portland, and he said "would you like to see some chemical experiments?" And I said yes. We went in and he carried out two or three which really did strike my fancy. So that from that time on I was a chemist.

Interviewer: Do you remember what any of those experiments were?

Linus Pauling: I only remember one of them. He mixed potassium chlorate and sugar and then put a drop of concentrated sulfuric acid on it and it began to burn, this mixture. Produced steam, a cloud of smoke, and a black carbonaceous product and this, the combustion zone spread through the material in a very interesting way.

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Date: 1977
Genre: sound
ID: 1977v.66
Copyright: More Information

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