July 1947 - Linus Pauling Day-by-Day

After-dinner speech July 16, 1947, in response to toast "To our Honorary Graduands." Univ. of London Senate House

Mr. Chancellor, Ladies and Gentlemen: I express to the University of London the most sincere and heartfelt thanks of Professor Hinshelwood, Karrer, Brønsted, and myself for the great honor that has been conferred upon us. We are especially grateful to the University and to the Chemical Society for making the effort required for the Centenary Celebration while the nation is still suffering from the war.

It gives my colleagues and me much pleasure to become associated with this great and growing university which, despite the ravages of the terrible war, is continuing on its curve of exponential growth. This must be especially satisfying to President Hinshelwood, who, having applied his extraordinary ability at mathematical analysis first to molecules, then to bacteria, and, in his address yesterday, to people, may well next turn to the growth and development of such structures as the University of London.

I think that Professor Karrer may have a special interest in the structure of this university, with its separate and yet interconnected units, like the double bonds in a conjugated system. I do not know whether the relations among King's College, University College, Birkbeck, correspond to a linear array, as in a carotenoid molecule, or to something more complex - a polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbon. Fortunately, the topology of London makes it unnecessary to consider configurations other than planar ones.

Professor Brønsted's interest in the effect of electrostatic attraction may be reflected in the system of co-education in which the University has led, and my own in the hope that the bond which has been found between us will be recognized as an example of the greatest bond strength.

It has been pointed out to me that Professors Brønsted and Karrer represent small nations, with a few million population, and that I represent a large nation, with 140 million people. This statement, I think, places undue emphasis on a temporary condition. I might well say that I represent California - or the world. A century ago California was an independent republic. Now it is a part of the United States of America. Soon - not 100 years from now, or 50, but perhaps 10 - I hope and trust that it, with Denmark and Switzerland and England, will be a part of a supra-national world government, and that we shall all be fellow-citizens, citizens of the world.

We, as scientists, accustomed to careful observation and thoughtful consideration, must be realistic. We must take the leadership in recognizing that for nations to take as their primary duty that of preparing for war will necessarily lead to war - a war that will finally destroy the civilized world. We must instead have a definite program and policy of world peace, for which we are willing to make sacrifices comparable to those that we now make in preparing for war. And it is the people of the United States especially who must make these sacrifices, who must see that for selfish as well as humanitarian reasons their possessions must be shared.

I believe that it is the special obligation of the scientist to point out that the development of science and technology has determined that the peoples of the world are no longer able to live under competing national sovereignties with war as the ultimate arbitrator. We must understand that the times demand a higher realism, that our fate is joined with that of our fellow men throughout the world, and that we must continue to live together in peace.

Linus Pauling