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"The Origins of Molecular Biology and Molecular Medicine." May 20, 1986. Recording of a Pauling lecture. Produced by Medical Television, University of Alabama, Birmingham. Rockefeller Funding for Hemoglobin Research. (1:37)

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Linus Pauling: I began to think about the substances that are present in the human body. For example hemoglobin, which is the striking one because of its color. The blood constitutes seven-percent of a person's weight, and the hemoglobin is a seventh of the blood. So about one-percent of your weight is hemoglobin. It's possible to get this substance rather easily - just get someone and bleed him. I began doing a little thinking. I didn't know much, I'd had one elementary course in organic chemistry and no biochemistry. Didn't know much about these things. I was getting support from the Rockefeller Foundation. Warren Weaver said to me, "Well it's alright. We've been giving you some money to determine the structure of the sulfide minerals. But the Rockefeller Foundation isn't really interested in the sulfide minerals. We're interested in biological molecules and life." So I said, "Well, I'd like to study the magnetic properties of hemoglobin and see whether the oxygen molecule loses its paramagnetism when it combines with the hemoglobin molecule." So they said, "Alright, we'll give you more money."

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Date: May 20, 1986
Genre: video
ID: 1986v.9
Copyright: More Information

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