Letter from Linus Pauling to Mrs. Roy C. Kepler. June 7, 1960. Page 1  Larger Images / More Information. 2 pp.  View Transcript

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Activity Listings

• Letter from Carsten Steffen, Stanford Research Institute, to LP. RE: Encloses the two publications he asked for. [Letter from LP June 16, 1960][Filed under LP Correspondence: (Stanford Research Institute) #376.7]
• Letter from Catherine Sturtevant, Cornell University Press, to Linda Hopkins, Secretary to LP RE: Points out two additional possible errors in The Nature of the Chemical Bond.  Inquires whether these corrections should be made.  [Filed under LP Books: 1960b5.4]
• Letter from Frank Wilkinson to LP and AHP RE: Encloses three copies of the National Guardian. Feels that students groups across the nation will be interested in protesting against his subpoena. [Filed under LP Biographical: (Correspondence re: Senate Internal Security Subcommittee, 1960), Box #2.018, Folder #18.1]
• Letter from John K. Gray to LP. RE: Thanks him for his article on Aging and Death. Has been researching his name. [Filed under LP Correspondence: (G: Correspondence, 1960) Box #141 Folder #141.4]
• Letter from John K. Gray, to LP. RE: Encloses a few lines. Notes his study of certain spectral lines. [Filed under LP Correspondence: (G: Correspondence, 1960) Box #141 Folder #141.4]
• Letter from LP to Benjamin Cooper, American Technion Society. RE: Accepts the invitation to be a sponsor of the Conference on Science and Technology in Israel and the Middle East. [Letter from Cooper May 16, 1960] [Filed under LP Correspondence: (T: Correspondence, 1960) #411.5]
• Letter from LP to C. J. Wilkins, University of Canterbury. RE: Has written to J. D. McCullough. [Filed under LP Correspondence: (W: Correspondence, 1960) #445.1]
• Letter from LP to Elizabeth Anne Newton. RE: Appreciates his letter. Hasn't had any success in meeting with President Eisenhower. Shall try to talk to Mr. Khrushchev. [Letter from Newton May 18, 1960] [Filed under LP Correspondence: (N: Correspondence, 1960) #288.4]
• Letter from LP to Genevieve Siegrist. RE: Thinks it is a waste of time to prepare for nuclear war, since it will kill everyone. [Letter from Siegrist undated] [Filed under LP Correspondence: (S: Correspondence, 1960) #381.1]
• Letter from LP to J. D. McCullough, University of California. RE: Encloses a letter from Dr. Wilkins in New Zealand. Would like him to drop him a note. [Filed under LP Correspondence: (McCullough, J. D.) # 245.4]
• Letter from LP to Kirke Wolfe, RE: LP has been working on overcoming the problems associated with setting up a world peace research organization.  LP notes that there are already some organizations that can be said to be carrying out peace work.  One of them is the Institute of War and Peace Studies at Columbia University.  [Wolfe's letter May 19, 1960] [Filed under LP Peace: (Materials re: World Peace Research Organization, 1958-1960), Box #6.003, Folder #3.1]
• Letter from LP to Roy Kepler.  [Kepler's letter May 17, 1960] [Filed under LP Peace: (Materials re: Strontium-90, 1960), Box #7.013, Folder #13.19]

  7 June 1960

  Mrs. Roy C. Kepler

  13686 Page Mill Road

  Los Altos Hills, California

  Dear Mrs. Kepler:

  Now that I am back in Pasadena I have been able to get around to answering my mail. I am afraid that your friend and her pharmacist made a big mistake in the calculations.

  First, I judge that it is better to use dicalcium phosphate than calcium gluconate, although the difference is not very great. Dr. Allan Butler thinks that calcium compounds other than dicalcium phosphate might cause phosphate deficiency.

  The amount of dicalcium phosphate recommended by Dr. Thomas L. Perry is a little larger than the amount given on bottles of the tablets. The Parke Davis preparation of dicalcium phosphate in tablets says dose two tablets three times a day, and since the tablets are one half gram each this would be a total of three grams per day. Dr. Perry suggests about twice as much. This can be achieved most cheaply by buying dicalcium phosphate powder, either Parke Davis or Merck. Two level teaspoonsful per day would be about the right amount to give calcium free of strontium-90 equal to the amount of contaminated calcium contained in the other food. I do not think that it is wise to overdo the addition of dicalcium phosphate to the diet.

  Both Parke Davis and Merck have stated in letters that their dicalcium phosphate is free of strontium-90.

  I do not know anything about the reusable strontium-90 filter that you mention in your letter. I doubt that anything practical has been devised.

  My great objection to civil defense activities such as those of SRI is that they constitute a form of aggression. For example, in his article in the January 1959 issue of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and also in the SRI paper Mr. Herman Kahn mentions type 3 deterrence as one of the uses of our nuclear stockpile. One form of type 3 deterrence (deterrence of minor political action) is the construction by the United States of a great system of shelters. Mr. Kahn says that this would either force the U.S.S.R. to accept a permanent position of inferiority, or to match the program by a similar program, which the U.S.S.R. would find a great burden, or perhaps to initiate nuclear attack at once. I think that the increase in our safety accompanying the small increase in probability of survival provided by the shelter program is more than outweighed by the decrease in our safety accompanied by the increased probability of nuclear war in case that this form of aggression continues.

  Sincerely Yours,

  Linus Pauling:jh

• Letter from LP to Thomas Winnett, California Democratic Council. RE: Says that the policy statements of the California Democratic Council seem to be fine. Hopes it is able to influence the Democratic Party as a whole in a significant way. [Letter from Winnett May 17, 1960] [Filed under LP Correspondence: (C: Correspondence, 1960) Box # 75 Folder # 75.3]             
• Notice for Carnegie Program: Science and Government Preliminary Seminar on Arms Control Special Meeting. [Filed under LP Peace: (Carnegie Programs for International Peace), Box #2.007, Folder #7.1]
• Receipt from All Books are net to LP for renewal subscription to "Nature." [Filed under LP Biographical:(California Institute of Technology: Assorted Financial Materials, 1945-1965), Box#1.032, Folder#32.6]