October 29, 1956 - Linus Pauling Day-by-Day

Check from AHP to Chamber Music Society for $3.20. [Filed under LP Biographical: (Business and Financial: Bank Statements and Canceled Checks, February 1956-December 1957), Box #4.024, Folder #24.1]

Check from AHP to Dr. H. A. Whipple for $58.00. [Filed under LP Biographical: (Business and Financial: Bank Statements and Canceled Checks, February 1956-December 1957), Box #4.024, Folder #24.1]

Check from AHP to Internal Revenue Service for $54.58. [Filed under LP Biographical: (Business and Financial: Bank Statements and Canceled Checks, February 1956-December 1957), Box #4.024, Folder #24.1]

Check from AHP to Southern Counties Gas Company for $7.65. [Filed under LP Biographical: (Business and Financial: Bank Statements and Canceled Checks, February 1956-December 1957), Box #4.024, Folder #24.1]

Check from AHP to Women's Club of the California Institute of Technology for $2.50. [Filed under LP Biographical: (Business and Financial: Bank Statements and Canceled Checks, February 1956-December 1957), Box #4.024, Folder #24.1]

Letter from Arno G. Motulsky, University of Washington, to LP RE: Invites LP to give a talk at a conference on "Genetics and Medicine." Discusses details of the conference and topics to be covered. [Letter from LP to Motulsky November 2, 1956] [Filed under LP Correspondence: (M: Correspondence, 1956), #257.1]

Letter from David L. Drabkin, University of Pennsylvania, to LP RE: Thanks LP for his estimation of Makio Murayama. Discusses Murayama's position at the university and the success Murayama has met there. [Letter from LP to Drabkin July 7, 1956] [Filed under LP Correspondence: (D: Correspondence, 1956), #98.21]

Letter from Dr. Albert E. Sobel, Biochemistry Dept., Jewish Hospital of Brooklyn, to LP RE: Thanks LP for speaking at the Jewish Hospital. Encloses a check. LP should send a statement of his travel expenses to Solomon Schwartz. [Letter from Wulf to Sobel October 25, 1956, Letter from Sobel to LP December 14, 1956] [Filed under LP Speeches: 1956s.32]

Letter from E. E. van Tamelen, University of Wisconsin, to LP RE: Verifies dates for his visit to Caltech. Presents the title of his seminar talk, "Total Synthesis of Lupine Alkaloids." [Letters from LP to van Tamelen October 24, 1956, December 3, 1956] [Filed under LP Correspondence: (V: Correspondence, 1956), #427.16]

Letter from John D. Hartman, New York State College of Agriculture, Cornell University, to LP RE: Thanks LP for his help with the problem of constructing a model for the high-energy-bond phosphorus atom. [Letter from LP to Hartman October 23, 1956] [Filed under LP Correspondence: (H: Correspondence, 1956), #167.1]

Letter from LP to Mr. Eugene J. Hochman RE: States he was greatly pleased to receive his letter and it was the one that gave him the most happiness. Discusses their progress on the research in mental deficiency. [Letter from Hochman to LP September 9, 1956] [Filed under LP Science: Box #11.088, Folder #88.13]

29 October 1956

Mr. Eugene J. Hochman

3860 Monroe Street

Toledo 6, Ohio

Dear Mr. Hochman:

I was greatly pleased to receive your letter of 9 September - of the rather large number of letters that I have got during the last month or two, it was the one that has given me the most happiness.

My colleagues and I are hard at work now on our new investigations. We are confident that something will come out of the work - we are trying to get the answer to a basic biological problem, about the relation between the genes, including defective genes, and the organism, the human being himself. This problem is such a great one that we cannot hope to do more than to obtain a small part of its solution; but I am sure that even a small part will help in the attack on disease.

I thank you again for writing to me.

Sincerely yours,

Linus Pauling:W

Letter from LP to Mrs. Dale Beals RE: Thanks for the letter, discusses some ideas he has about her son. States he has a high opinion of the people at the University of Michigan Hospital and advises she keep in touch with them. Will be in touch if he finds something that may help her son. [Letter from Beals to LP September 5, 1956] [Filed under LP Science: Box #11.089, Folder #89.6]

Letter from LP to Wilfred H. Ward, United States Department of Agriculture. [Letter from Ward to LP October 24, 1956] [Filed under LP Correspondence: (W: Correspondence, 1956), #444.4]

29 October 1956

Mr. Wilfred H. Ward, Chemist

Protein Section

Western Utilization Research Branch

U.S. Department of Agriculture

800 Buchanan Street

Albany 10, California

Dear Mr. Ward:

In answer to your letter of 24 October, I would say that I think that it might well be that x-ray and other evidence would permit non-intertwined compound helical configurations for α-keratins.

The 7-strand cable structure that Professor Corey and I proposed gives a reasonable explanation of some of the features of the x-ray patterns of proteins, the density, etc. We could not show, however, that this is the only structure compatible with the evidence. Nine alpha helixes in a hexagonal unit might be satisfactory, without having seven of them twisted into a 7-strand cable, if they differed from one another in such a way as to give rise to a 28 Å equatorial reflection, and also if some of them at least were compound helixes that would account for the 5.1 Å meridional reflection. The twisting into a cable seems to me to be the simplest way of handling these matters.

The available evidence for collagen and nucleic acid indicates reasonably strongly that molecules are twisted about one another, but the evidence cannot be said to be perfectly conclusive. It is true that the difficulty that you mention, of untwisting the twisted helixes, is a reasonably serious one, and there has been a certain amount of discussion of it in the literature. I myself think that it might well be that the molecules do untwist in the process of growth of the organism.

Sincerely yours,

Linus Pauling:W

Letter from Ward Pigman, University of Alabama Medical Center, to LP RE: Requests that LP read and provide his opinion of an enclosed draft of the report to be submitted to the AAAS council. [Letter from LP to Pigman October 26, 1956] [Filed under LP Correspondence: (P: Correspondence, 1956), #313.4]

Letter from William C. Boyd, Boston University, to LP RE: Asks LP to recommend Boyd for the position of head of Department of Biochemistry at Boston University School of Medicine. [Letter from LP to Soutter November 5, 1956, Letter from LP to Boyd November 5, 1956] [Filed under LP Correspondence: (Boyd, William C.), #29.3]

Letter from unknown sender to Lamar Soutter, Boston University School of Medicine, RE: Recommends William C. Boyd for position of head of the Department of Biochemistry at Boston University School of Medicine. [Filed under LP Correspondence: (Boyd, William C.), #29.3]

Note from J. B. DuBois, Mrs. Comerford's 5th/6th grade class, Don Benito School, to Beatrice Wulf, Secretary to LP, RE: Thanks Wulf for her letter regarding where to obtain helium gas. Discusses an experiment with balloons and charcoal fire. [Filed under LP Correspondence: (D: Correspondence, 1956), #98.21]

Note from Jeanne Comerford, Don Benito School, to Beatrice Wulf, Secretary to LP, RE: Thanks Wulf for responding to her student's letter. Describes her students' excitement at receiving mail from Caltech. [Filed under LP Correspondence: (D: Correspondence, 1956), #98.21]

Thank you note from The President and Fellows of Yale University to LP for his gift of $25.00. [Filed under LP Biographical: (Business and Financial: Tax Documents, 1930-1956), Box #4.001, Folder #1.10]

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