Ava Helen Pauling (born Miller; December 24, 1903 – December 7, 1981) was an American

human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

activist and wife of

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

winner Linus Pauling. Throughout her life, she was involved in various social movements including

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...

racial equality Racial equality is a situation in which people of all races and ethnicities are treated in an egalitarian/equal manner. Racial equality occurs when institutions give individuals legal, moral, and political rights. In present-day Western societ ...

, and international peace. An avid New Dealer, Ava Helen Pauling was heavily interested in American politics and social reforms. She is credited with introducing Linus Pauling to the field of

peace studies Peace is a concept of societal friendship and harmony in the absence of hostility and violence. In a social sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (such as war) and freedom from fear of violence between individuals or groups. ...

, for which he received the 1962

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Chemistry, Physics, Physiolog ...

. Most prominent among the various causes she supported was the issue of ending nuclear proliferation. Ava Helen Pauling worked with her husband, advocating a stop to the production and use of

nuclear arms A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either nuclear fission, fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and nuclear fusion, fusion reactions (Thermonuclear weapon, thermonu ...

. Their campaigning helped lead to the

Limited Test Ban Treaty The Partial Test Ban Treaty (PTBT) is the abbreviated name of the 1963 Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapon Tests in the Atmosphere, in Outer Space and Under Water, which prohibited all test detonations of nuclear weapons except for those conducted ...

between the United States and the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

, effectively ending the above-ground testing of nuclear weapons.

Biography

Early life

Ava Helen Miller, the tenth of twelve children, was raised on a farm outside

Beavercreek, Oregon Beavercreek is an unincorporated hamlet and census-designated place in Clackamas County, Oregon, United States, located southeast of Oregon City. The population was 4,485 at the 2010 census. Demographics History According to ''Oregon Geographi ...

. Her father, George Miller, a school teacher, and her mother, Elnora Gard Miller, expressed

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

ideals and encouraged liberal thinking and discussion in the home. Linus Pauling explained, "Ava Helen had been interested in social, political and economic problems ever since she was a teenager. She used to argue with a friend of the family, one of the judges of the Oregon State Supreme Court. She had a general interest in science and was very able, very smart, but she was really concerned about human beings. The humanistic concern she had was very great." At the age of thirteen, two years after the divorce of her parents, Ava Helen moved to Salem, Oregon, to live with her sister. She graduated from Salem High School in May 1918, three years after entering, and then enrolled at

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering c ...

Higher education

It was at

in 1922 that Ava Helen Miller first met Linus Pauling. As an

undergraduate Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, in the United States, an entry-le ...

, he taught a chemistry course to

home economics Home economics, also called domestic science or family and consumer sciences, is a subject concerning human development, personal and family finances, consumer issues, housing and interior design, nutrition and food preparation, as well as texti ...

majors. Ava Helen Pauling was enrolled in this course and it was through the student-teacher relationship that they became romantically involved. After a brief courtship, the two were married on June 17, 1923.

Marriage

In the early years of her marriage, Ava Helen Pauling worked as a part-time laboratory assistant at the

California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

for her husband by taking notes, making models and completing other small tasks. Eventually, the couple had four children: Linus Carl Jr. (b. 1925); Peter Jeffress (1931–2003); Edward Crellin (1937–1997); and Linda Helen, (b. 1932). As the family grew, Ava Helen Pauling worked to create a home environment that would allow her husband to continue his scientific work without domestic distractions. Both Ava and her husband were atheists.

Activism

Japanese internment

After the Japanese attack on

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the R ...

on December 7, 1941, the United States government proposed the internment of all west coast Japanese and Japanese Americans in inland camps out of fear of

espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangib ...

. Ava Helen Pauling vigorously opposed this decision by joining the

American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...

(ACLU) and working to raise awareness about the government action. When asked by the ACLU, she and her husband provided employment for a Japanese-American man recently released from an American internment camp. Subsequently, the Pauling family was plied with criticism for what were seen as pro-Japanese actions. The Paulings, however, continued to support the rights of Japanese-Americans throughout

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Union Now

The Union Now movement arose from the publication of Clarence Streit's novel ''Union Now'', which encouraged nations to combine into a democratic

federation A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government ( federalism). In a federation, the self-govern ...

. Ava Helen Pauling advocated this movement and encouraged her husband to become educated on Streit's philosophy. As a result, Linus Pauling became publicly involved in the cause, eventually joining the

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. ...

chapter of Federal Union, the organizational outgrowth of Union Now. In 1940, thanks in part to Ava Helen's suggestion, Linus Pauling gave his first political speech, urging his audience to consider Union Now as a movement toward a viable system of government. This effectively began Pauling's career as a public proponent of peace and human rights.

Women's rights

Ava Helen was deeply involved in the movement for women's rights. Following World War II, she became a member of the

Women's International League for Peace and Freedom The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) is a non-profit non-governmental organization working "to bring together women of different political views and philosophical and religious backgrounds determined to study and make kno ...

, or WILPF,

Women Strike for Peace Women Strike for Peace (WSP, also known as Women for Peace) was a women's peace activist group in the United States. In 1961, nearing the height of the Cold War, around 50,000 women marched in 60 cities around the United States to demonstrate ag ...

and Women Act for Disarmament, an international federation of women's groups in which she held the position of honorary chairwoman. She also worked to bring together fellow

activists Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...

in support of women, helping to organize the "Women's Peace March" in Europe. In addition to her membership in various women's organizations, Ava Helen served as three time national vice-president for WILPF, one of the many women-led groups that supported the Paulings' peace efforts.

Nuclear disarmament and world peace

For much of her life, Ava Helen Pauling made world peace her primary political concern. During the Cold War, she and her husband protested against nuclear armament and worked to increase public awareness of the danger of nuclear war. Even after Linus Pauling came under fire from the

Senate Internal Security Subcommittee The United States Senate's Special Subcommittee to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws, 1951–77, known more commonly as the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee (SISS) and sometimes the M ...

, or SISS, the Paulings continued to campaign for global peace. Ava Helen Pauling traveled throughout the United States and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

giving speeches emphasizing the importance of peace. She was also instrumental in bringing together various groups in marches and rallies to protest U.S. military policy and McCarthyism. After collecting over 9,000 signatures from scientists worldwide, in 1958 the Paulings presented the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

with a petition demanding an end to atmospheric nuclear weapons testing. In 1963, President

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...

and

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev s ...

signed the Partial Test Ban Treaty. The signing of this treaty directly resulted in Linus Pauling's receipt of the 1962 Nobel Peace Prize, his second unshared Nobel Prize. In an interview which aired on the Nova TV series in 1977, Ava Helen Pauling explained:

Writing

In addition to her social activism, Ava Helen Pauling published a number of articles in various journals such as '' Soviet Woman'' and the Peacemaker. In 2006,

Oregon State University Press Oregon State University Press, or OSU Press, founded in 1961, is a university press that publishes roughly 15 titles per year and is part of Oregon State University. The only academic publisher in Oregon, the press produces works related to the Pa ...

published a detailed bibliography listing Ava Helen Pauling's published works; in a five volume series titled ''The Pauling Catalogue'', Volume III contains "writings by Ava Helen Pauling on issues of peace, civil liberties and women's rights." In the 2013 biography ''Ava Helen Pauling: Partner, Activist, Visionary'', Mina Carson describes Ava Helen Pauling's writing style, stating that "Ava Helen's paper on women 'The Second X Chromosome,' used simple language to deliver a confident and impassioned assertion that it was time for all women to receive the equal standing and opportunities to which, in many places, their legal status already entitled them. Following her initial drafts through her final typed presentation for distribution, it is evident that she wrote easily when she was excited, in many cases framing the ultimate argument in her first handwritten draft."

Death and legacy

Ava Helen Pauling died on December 7, 1981, at age 77, after a long battle with stomach cancer and subsequent internal hemorrhaging. In recognition of her efforts for peace and equality, Oregon State University's College of

Liberal Arts Liberal arts education (from Latin "free" and "art or principled practice") is the traditional academic course in Western higher education. ''Liberal arts'' takes the term '' art'' in the sense of a learned skill rather than specifically th ...

established the Ava Helen Pauling Lectureship on World Peace, now known as the Pauling Peace Lectureship, in 1982. The inaugural lecturer was Linus Pauling and subsequent lecturers have included

Paul Warnke Paul Culliton Warnke (January 31, 1920 – October 31, 2001) was an American diplomat. Early life and education Warnke was born in Webster, Massachusetts, but spent most of his childhood in Marlborough, Massachusetts, where his father managed ...

Helen Caldicott Helen Mary Caldicott (born 7 August 1938) is an Australian physician, author, and anti-nuclear advocate. She founded several associations dedicated to opposing the use of nuclear power, depleted uranium munitions, nuclear weapons, nuclear we ...

Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American public intellectual: a linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky i ...

, and

Arun Gandhi Arun Manilal Gandhi (born April 14, 1934) is an Indian-American author, socio-political activist and son of Manilal Gandhi, thus a grandson of nationalist leader Mahatma Gandhi. Although he has followed in the footsteps of his grandfather as an ac ...

. Additionally, the

Linus Pauling Institute The Linus Pauling Institute is a research institute located at the Oregon State University with a focus on health maintenance. The mission statement of the institute is to determine the functional roles of micronutrients and phytochemicals in pr ...

chose to honor her with an endowed position, the Ava Helen Pauling Chair, in 1996.

Honors and awards

* Doctor of World Law, San Gabriel College, June 19, 1962. * Honorary Member: Federated Auxiliaries of the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's union, June 21, 1967. * Mother of the Year Award: California State Association of Colored Women's Clubs,

Emma Lazarus Emma Lazarus (July 22, 1849 – November 19, 1887) was an American author of poetry, prose, and translations, as well as an activist for Jewish and Georgist causes. She is remembered for writing the sonnet " The New Colossus", which was inspire ...

, and Jewish Women's Clubs of Los Angeles, 1967. * Certificate of Appreciation: Anza-Borrego Committee of the Desert Protective Council, December 20, 1974. * Ralph Atkinson Award of the

Monterey County Monterey County ( ), officially the County of Monterey, is a county located on the Pacific coast in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, its population was 439,035. The county's largest city and county seat is Salinas. Montere ...

Chapter of the ACLU. * Spectrum Award and Medal: World Organization for Human Potential, May 4, 1984. * Janice Holland Award of the

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

Chapter of the

Bibliography

Per the bibliography published in ''The Pauling Catalogue'' by

Books

* ''The Pauling Catalogue, Volume 3: Ava Helen Pauling Papers'' (2006)

Articles

* "Oslo Conference Stresses Responsibility of Individuals". ''Four Lights''. 21 (3). (1961) * "Women Strike For Peace". ''Women of The Whole World''. (1962) * "A Great Event". ''Soviet Woman''. 10. (1963) *"Oxford Again--A Rebuttal". ''Fellowship''. 29 (17). (1963) -- co-authored with Linus Pauling. * "The Second X-Chromosome: A Study of Woman". ''Friendship Universal''. 2 (1). (1964) * "The Nobel Peace Prize". ''New World Review''. 32 (4). (1964) * "You Can Beat The Dutch". ''The Minority of One''. 6. (1964) * "Women In The World Today". ''The Peacemaker''. (1966)

References

External links

The Ava Helen and Linus Pauling Papers

* ttp://www.paulingcatalogue.org/ The Pauling Catalogue* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pauling, Ava Helen 1903 births 1981 deaths American atheists Oregon State University alumni People from Corvallis, Oregon Deaths from stomach cancer Deaths from cancer in California People from Salem, Oregon Women's International League for Peace and Freedom people Pacifist feminists