The Scientist as Educator and Public Citizen: Linus Pauling and His Era

Sixty years ago, Linus Pauling revolutionized the way chemistry was taught in university classrooms when he published his 1947 college textbook, General Chemistry. It soon became the standard introductory chemistry text used in universities all over the world, and it secured his place in the public mind as a major scientific figure of the 20th century. Then, barely a decade after establishing himself as the leading chemist in America, Pauling -- with the encouragement of his wife Ava Helen -- effectively "switched gears" and started channeling his efforts into another, more pressing matter: educating the public about the dangers of nuclear testing. By stating that no human being should be sacrificed to any nation's program of perfecting nuclear weapons, he rallied the support of scientists around the globe and became one of the most outspoken opponents of nuclear weapons testing. On October 29-30, 2007 a two-day conference at the OSU LaSells Stewart Center will mark the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the publication of General Chemistry and the 50th anniversary of Pauling's first public appeal for a ban on nuclear weapons testing. The theme of the conference is "The Scientist as Educator and Public Citizen: Linus Pauling and His Era." Among the speakers will be 1986 Chemistry Nobel Laureate Dudley Herschbach, speaking on "Linus Pauling as an Evangelical Chemist," Bernadette Bensaude-Vincent from the University of Paris speaking on "Exploring the Values of Chemistry through Pauling's Textbook," and MIT Professor David Kaiser speaking on "Zen and the Art of Textbook Publishing: Quantum Mechanics and Counterculture in the 1970s." Other speakers include climate research scientist Warren Washington, science documentary writer and producer Steve Lyons, award-winning science educator Bassam Shakhashiri, former British Museum director Robert Anderson, and OSU scientists Jane Lubchenco and Kenneth Krane. The conference is sponsored by the Oregon State University Horning Endowment in the Humanities, the OSU History Department, and the OSU Special Collections. This event is free and open to the public.