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	{{Short description\|American chemist and pioneer of quantum chemistry}}		{{Short description\|American chemist and pioneer of quantum chemistry}}
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{{Short description|American chemist and pioneer of quantum chemistry}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Linus Pauling
| image = Linus_Pauling_in_the_1940s.jpg
| caption = Pauling in the 1940s
| birth_name = Linus Carl Pauling
| birth_date = 28 February 1901
| birth_place = Portland, Oregon, United States
| death_date = 19 August 1994
| death_place = Big Sur, California, United States
| fields = Chemistry; quantum chemistry; molecular biology
| work_institutions = California Institute of Technology
| alma_mater = Oregon Agricultural College; California Institute of Technology
| known_for = Nature of the chemical bond; valence bond theory; orbital hybridisation; electronegativity scale
| awards = Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1954); Nobel Peace Prize (1962)
}}

'''Linus Carl Pauling''' (28 February 1901 - 19 August 1994) was an American chemist whose work helped make quantum mechanics central to modern chemistry. He used quantum ideas to explain the structure of molecules, the directionality of chemical bonds, and the relation between atomic orbitals and molecular geometry.

Pauling received the 1954 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for research on the nature of the chemical bond.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1954 |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1954/pauling/facts/ |publisher=Nobel Prize Outreach |access-date=2026-05-23}}</ref> He later received the 1962 Nobel Peace Prize, making him one of the few people to receive two Nobel Prizes.

== Quantum chemistry ==
Pauling's book ''The Nature of the Chemical Bond'' presented chemical bonding as a quantum-mechanical subject. His work on valence bond theory, resonance, hybrid orbitals, and electronegativity gave chemists a practical language for connecting atomic wave functions with molecular shape and reactivity.

In the Quantum Collection, Pauling is closely linked with:
* [[Physics:Quantum chemistry]]
* [[Physics:Quantum valence bond theory]]
* [[Physics:Quantum Orbital hybridisation]]
* [[Physics:Quantum ionic bonding]]
* [[Physics:Quantum linear combination of atomic orbitals]]

== Influence ==
Pauling's treatment of bonding helped connect spectroscopy, crystallography, thermochemistry, and quantum mechanics. His approach made quantum chemistry usable for interpreting real molecules rather than only idealized atoms.

== See also ==
* [[Biography:Fritz London]]
* [[Biography:Robert S. Mulliken]]
* [[Biography:John Lennard-Jones]]
* [[Physics:Quantum computational chemistry]]

== References ==
{{reflist|3}}

== External links ==
* [https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1954/pauling/biographical/ Nobel Prize biography]
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linus_Pauling Wikipedia biography]

{{Author|Harold Foppele}}
[[Category:Quantum chemists]]
[[Category:Nobel laureates in Chemistry]]

Biography:Linus Pauling - Revision history

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