The reader learns in this section that Linus Pauling thinks the after effects of the atom bombs are deadly. He believed that the radiation could disrupt the atoms making up living creatures, creating unstable, decaying isotopes. He also believed that testing of hydrogen bombs in the atmosphere was dangerous because of the fallout particles which get into many things and are eventually passed on to humans, a lot like how mercury is passed along fish. Linus was also elected president of the American Chemical Society. A less than a year later, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry.

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