Considered to be the most influential chemist of the 20th century, Linus Pauling (1901-1994) led the way in developing the modern concepts of chemical bonding and their fruitful application to all aspects of chemistry and then to biology and medicine. His ideas have fundamentally transformed the way chemistry is formulated as a science and taught, and have opened up completely new fields that have grown to immense importance, such as molecular biology and molecular disease. For this pioncering work he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1954, and he received countless other prizes, medals, awards, honorary degrees, etc. In 1963 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in recognition of his successful efforts, based on scientific principles of radiation biology, to halt the testing of nuclear weapons in the atmosphere. Pauling is the only person to have received two unshared Nobel Prizes.

• Volume 1 Physical Sciences. The chemical bond: metallic bonding; hydrogen bonding. Crystal and molecular structure and properties: ionic crystals and X-ray diffraction; molecules in the gas phase and electron diffraction; entropy and molecular rotation in crystals and liquids. Volume 2 Biomolecular sciences. Biological macromolecules: antibodies - structure and function; the alpha helix and the structure of proteins. Health and medicine: molecular disease; orthomolecular medicine. Summary of Linus Pauling's life and scientific work: biographical memoir, J.D. Dunitz; and other papers.