December 15, 1959 - Linus Pauling Day-by-Day

Check from AHP to Mrs. P. Thomas for $150.00. [Filed under LP Biographical: (Business and Financial: Bank Statements and Canceled Checks, December 1957-December 1959), Box #4.025, Folder #25.1]

Letter from Bess Maiers to LP RE: Describes her position as education chairman of the Vanguard Branch of the Workman Circle. Invites LP to address the group. [Filed under LP Correspondence: (M: Correspondence, 1959), #258.1]

Letter from Ira Sandperl to LP, RE: Sandperl would like to know LP's opinion about the dangers of drinking milk. Sandperl also tells LP that he is one of the originators of the Peninsula Committee for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons. [LP's reply December 17, 1959] [Filed under LP Peace: (Materials re: Strontium-90, June 1959-November 1959), Box #7.012, Folder #12.17]

Letter from LP to Ben Samuel RE: Says he will check with administrative officers at Caltech to see whether the Institute would be interested in purchasing a bronze head of Einstein sculpted by Jacob Epstein. [Filed under LP Correspondence: (S: Correspondence, 1959), #380.3]

Letter from LP to Capt. D. Sivasubrahmania Mudaliar, University of Madras, RE: Declines the invitation to serve on the Board of Examiners for Mr. M.S. Santanam. [Letter from Mudaliar December 9, 1959] [Filed under LP Correspondence: (M: Correspondence, 1959), #258.1]

Letter from LP to Cruz Alfonso Matos, RE: LP tells Matos that there is a large amount of experimental evidence about the ratios of deposited Strontium-90 in the bones. To decrease the amount of Strontium-90 in the bones there must be an increase in the intake of Strontium-90 free calcium in the diet. LP suggests to Matos the summary of these findings that was prepared by C.L. Comar of Cornell University. [Matos' letter November 30, 1959] [Filed under LP Peace: (Materials re: Strontium-90, June 1959-November 1959), Box #7.012, Folder #12.17]

Letter from LP to Lawrence Bragg. RE: Thinks the nomination of Perutz and Kendrew for a Nobel Prize a little premature. Would support a letter for Watson and Crick. [Filed under LP Correspondence: (Nobel Prize Nominations, 1960) #280.4]

Letter from LP to Rosalie Goodyear RE: Thanks her for her letter, and says in accordance with her suggestion he has sent it to the Editor of the National Guardian. [Filed under LP Correspondence: (G: Correspondence, 1959), #141.3]

Letter from LP to Sir Lawrence Bragg, F.R.S., Davy Faraday Research Laboratory, The Royal Institution. [Letter from Bragg to LP December 9, 1959] [Filed under LP Correspondence: (Bragg, W. L.: Correspondence, 1927-1962), #30.1]

15 December 1959

Sir Lawrence Bragg, F.R.S.

Davy Faraday Research Laboratory

The Royal Institution

21, Albemarle Street

London, W.l, ENGLAND

Dear Bragg:

I have been pleased to consider the matter raised in your letter of 9 December.

With respect to Perutz and Kendrew, I must say that it seems to me that the nomination for a Nobel Prize is premature. The work is assuming greater and greater significance, but the most significant papers have not yet been published. Even after their publication, some time will have to go by before their evaluation has been achieved. I look forward with great interest to the publication of the papers that are mentioned in your summary of their work.

The work of Watson and Crick is in a different category, and I would be willing to write a supporting letter for their nomination for a Nobel Prize. It seems to me, however, that their work constitutes a contribution in the field of biology, rather than of chemistry, and I think that it would be appropriate for a Nobel Prize in physiology and medicine to be awarded to them, rather than a Nobel Prize in chemistry.

With respect to x-ray diffraction and chemistry, I have a proposal to make to you, and I should be glad to have your opinion about it. I should like to nominate Dorothy Hodgkin and J. M. Bijvoet for a Nobel Prize in chemistry, to be divided between them. The award would be for their use of x-ray diffraction in the solution of chemical problems, the determination of the structure of penicillin and cobalamine, in the case of Dorothy Hodgkin, and the determination of the correct absolute configurations of asymmetric molecules, in the case of Bijvoet. Would you support this nomination?

With best regards, I am

Sincerely yours,

Linus Pauling:jh

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