21 November 1952

Dr. Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

Laboratory of the Institute for Muscle Research

Marine Biological Laboratory

Woods Hole, Massachusetts

Dear Dr. Szent-Gyorgyi:

I am very pleased to have your letter of 8 November 1952. I shall be especially pleased, of course, if your nomination for the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 1953 were to be successful; but in any case I am grateful to you for expressing such a high opinion of my work.

First, let me say that I am not responsible for the discovery of the hydrogen bond. I think that some of my work on the hydrogen bond was of some importance, but it is my opinion that the credit for the discovery of the hydrogen bond belongs to W. M. Latimer and W. H. Rodebush, both of whom were then at the University of California (Latimer is still there, and Rodebush is at the University of Illinois). Their paper in 1922 was the first one in which the hydrogen bond was described in a clear way, with a discussion of its importance. There had been rather vague suggestions made by other people, during the preceding ten years.

I think that my own most important work was done during the period 1928 to 1932. It involved the discovery of fundamental principles about the nature of the chemical bond and the configuration of molecules. Many applications of these fundamental principles have been made, of which the application to proteins is without much doubt the most important. The application to proteins has included work on hemoglobin, especially study of the magnetic properties and relation to the structure of the molecule in the neighborhood of the iron atoms, and also, more recently, the work with Corey on the configuration of polypeptide chains in proteins.

I enclose a nearly complete bibliography, and a statement, about my contributions to science, including some quotations and references to the original papers. I also enclose some of the original papers. I am sorry to say that I have completely exhausted the reprints of some of these.

Dr. Szent-Gyorgyi Page 2 21/11/52

The bibliography that I am sending is just a copy of a standard bibliography that we have prepared. The statement about the researches is, however, one that I have written just for you in answer to your letter. The wording is not identical with that in any publication or document.

You may be interested to know that Professor Corey and I have sent, about two months ago, a short paper to NATURE, in which we describe structures of the α-keratin proteins that are somewhat improved over our earlier ones. The new structures involve exactly the α helix, which we described before. However, instead of the α helix having a straight axis, as it has in the synthetic polypeptides, some of the molecules are compound helixes - an α helix whose axis is itself a helix. The α-keratin proteins consist of cables, each of which involves seven α helixes - a central one and six others that twist slowly about it. Moreover, these cables are piled together, and the interstices are filled with additional α helixes, which have a slight twist in order to fit in. I may say that I think that actin consists of individual α helixes (which fill up the interstices in actomyosin), and that myosin consists of the seven-strand cables. There is a good bit of evidence in support of these ideas.

I hope that you will come to see us in Pasadena one of these days - it has been a long time since you have made a trip out here. If it turns out that you are coming to Los Angeles for some purpose next year, as I hope you will be, we should be very pleased to have you visit us - perhaps you and Mrs. Szent-Gyorgyi could be our guests. If you come during the academic year, I hope that you would find it possible to present a seminar talk again. If you are here in the summertime, I hope that you can chat with us about the structure of muscle.

With best regards, I am

Sincerely yours,

Linus Pauling:W

Encls.

21-11-52

Dear Mamma,

Thanks very much for the letter. I enjoyed it. My room, like many English rooms, is yellow with black trim. I hung up the material Anita gave me for a lava lava, but it certainly needs something, Curtains would be very nice. I really need a picture, like your Picasso lovers or that Gaugin. I must try sometime to buy a Gaugin. It is very cold in my room. I cannot keep it warm, very drafty.

I am very happy to be here. It is cold and wet, but no end of the plays and lectures and books and societies. I charge books and therefore can run up an immense bill. I ordered Eric Partridge's Dictionary of Slang for Pa. Probably cost a mint to send it over, in which case I'll send the Oxford D. of Americ Modern American Usage instead. Hard to find presents for women in this country.

I think I shall probably put in a request for an increase in the original starting off sum of money I had. This was $50 + to keep me alive to 1 Oct. Well, I am still alive and the $50 was spent on blankets and sheets. It was to buy me a coat, 3 blankets, 4 70x40 sheets 13 ²/₆, $40. Well, anyway, I have blankets but no coat. I originally thought the 1^st monthly check for $125 was for sept, in which case I could buy clothes with it. But it was for October.

I talked 6 weeks ago with Victor on the phone, but still have not heard from them since. I went to tea at Todds and danced with the youngest, and to lunch in Clare with Sir John L.J. and wife and daughter. He is very nice. I do not know what to do for Christmas. No invitations. I cannot afford to go to Paris or Wasers, but they won't allow me to stay in college and the Cavendish is closed for three weeks. I can live with Kendrews, but would like to do something different. Maybe Oxford. Can I just write to Dorothy and ask to stay a week? Maybe Rothschilds will come through.

I had my first tea last Sunday. Reasonably good for a first attempt. I like Odile and Frances very much. That dark brown china of hers is German.

I love you,

Peter