Linus Pauling

Oh, yeah. The Vitamin C guy.

Weeeeelllllll, yes and no. True, Linus advocated megadoses of Vitamin C for good health, particularly for preventing colds and preventing and curing cancer (and pretty much everything else). But we'll avoid joining into the spittle flinging diatribes about the pros or cons of what Linus called the "orthomolecular" approach to health. After all you can read all the spittle flinging diatribes you want about that topic on the Fount of All Knowledge. But honesty compels us to admit that Linus's claims are not accepted by virtually all modern medical practitioners.

Still Linus was one of the most important scientists and public figures - that's scientist and public figure (not just chemist) - of the twentieth century. He won the 1954 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of the alpha-helix structure in proteins, and he later (1962) added a second - also unshared - Nobel Peace Prize to his accolades.

In fact, Linus missed being an important scientist of the 21st century by only six years. But a life that spanned 94 years can generate a lot of controversy that even today sends his professional brothers and sisters - and the lay brothers and sisters - into spittle flinging diatribes. And if you want to join in the diatribes (or even just read a little about Linus) you can just click here.