At this time Linus had already read the Bible and Darwin's Origin of the Species. Soon after this letter, Herman Pauling died leaving his wife Lucy to raise three children. She struggled financially and emotionally to take care of her family.
Linus Pauling had a hard time dealing with his father's death, so he turned to science to keep himself occupied. At age 11 Pauling was interested in insects, at age 12 he started collecting rocks and minerals. At age 13 Pauling became interested in chemistry when his friend Lloyd Jeffress showed him how sulfuric acid could change sugar to steaming black carbon. Pauling and Jeffress decided to build their own chemistry lab. They used discarded equipment and chemicals to set off stink bombs and loud explosions, annoying their neighbors.
Linus worked his way through high school. He had many part-time jobs including delivering milk and running a movie projector. He was an excellent student and spent most of his time taking math and science classes. When it came to his last semester of high school, he discovered that he had not taken two history classes that were required for this diploma. He was not allowed to take the two history classes concurrently, so he left high school in 1917 at the age of 16. He is quite possibly the country's most successful high school drop out.
After high school, Linus worked at a machinist. The job payed well, fifty dollars a month, .
but he dreamed of going to college to become a chemical engineer. He applied to the Oregon Agricultural College and was accepted.
.
As in high school, Pauling worked his way through college. He worked at the girls' dorm chopping wood, butchering beef and mopping floors. He worked twenty-five hours a week for twenty-five cents an hour.
Linus found the college courses that he was taking to be a lot like the ones in high school. They were not challenging enough for him. He began taking the most difficult classes that he .
