1901
Born in Portland, Oregon.
1905
Family moves to Condon, Oregon.
1910
Linus's father, Herman Pauling, dies at the age of 33.
Linus, his mother, and his two sisters move to and manage a Portland boarding house.
1914
A friend of Linus Pauling shows him a chemical experiment, triggering Pauling's fascination with chemistry.
1917
Enters Oregon Agricultural College (OAC - now Oregon State University) to study chemical engineering.
1922
Pauling, as a senior, teaches the course, "Chemistry for Home Economics Majors," and he meets a student who will become his wife, Ava Helen Miller. Pauling graduates OAC with a B.S. in chemical engineering.
1923
Publishes his first scientific paper, on the crystal structure of molybdenite.
1925
Pauling graduates summa cum laude from California Institute of Technology with a Ph.D. in chemistry. He remains at Caltech for the next 38 years.
1931
Pauling's paper on "The Nature of the Chemical Bond" is published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
1933
Pauling is elected — the youngest member ever — to the National Academy of Sciences.
1939
The Nature of the Chemical Bond, considered one of the most influential scientific books ever, is published by Cornell University Press.
1942-45
Pauling works for several divisions of the National Defense Research Commission.
1946
At the invitation of Albert Einstein, Pauling becomes a member of the Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists.
1948
Receives the Presidential Medal of Merit of the United States.
1949
Elected president of the American Chemical Society.
1954
Receives the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for "his research into the nature of the chemical bond and its applications to the elucidation of the structure of complex substances."
1956
Directs research interest to mental illness.
1958
Pauling and wife, Ava Helen Pauling, present to UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld the petition to end nuclear-bomb testing with over 11,000 signatures from scientists around the world.
1963
Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 1962.
1966
Responding to a letter from vitamin C advocate Irwin Stone, Pauling redirects his research interest to vitamins, micronutrients, and orthomolecular medicine.
1970
Publishes Vitamin C and the Common Cold.
1973
Founds, with Arthur B. Robinson and Keene Dimick, the Institute of Orthomolecular Medicine as a non-profit health research organization, which becomes The Linus Pauling Institute of Science and Medicine.
1979
Publishes Cancer and Vitamin C with co-author Ewan Cameron.
1986
Publishes How to Live Longer and Feel Better.
1994
Pauling dies at his California ranch. He leaves more than 400,000 journals, scientific writings, papers, models, and other scientific memorabilia to his undergraduate alma mater, Oregon State University. The collection makes up one of the great scientific archives of the 20th century.
1996
The Linus Pauling Institute of Science and Medicine moves to Oregon State University and becomes the Linus Pauling Institute.
1997
Balz Frei, Ph.D., assumes directorship of the Linus Pauling Institute and its Endowed Chair.
2001
Inauguration of “The Linus Pauling Institute Prize for Health Research” at the “Diet and Optimum Health” conference in Portland, OR, to celebrate the centennial of Linus Pauling’s birth; the Ava Helen Pauling Chair is established at the Institute.
2011
Linus Pauling Science Center opens at Oregon State University.