With apologies to the professional historians of chemistry, I recount the following incident. In 1981, I received a curious letter from Linus Pauling, asking my opinion about his work on the Debye-Hückel theory of screened electrostatic forces in strong electrolytes. He worked on the theory when he was a graduate student at California Institute of Technology in 1922-1925. He asked about “corrections” to the Poisson-Boltzmann equation, and I replied that I did not know. He discussed the corrections with his professors and Peter Debye, but neither were enthusiastic and dissuaded him from publishing. Peter Debye suggested they work on a simpler problem, and they published a “little paper” in 1925, the reprint of which Pauling included with his letter.<br/>Naturally, his letter was highly motivating and has sustained my interest in screened electrostatic interactions for a long time. Still, it has always seemed odd that Pauling, when he was 80 years old, would write to a young Ph.D. about an “old matter” from the early 1920s, especially as he was rather vague about his “corrections.” Thanks to Google and the internet, I have now found Pauling’s interview with John L. Heilbron, which was recorded in 1964. By that time, Pauling did recognize that his professors were right in their judgement not to publish.

Why did Linus Pauling publish only one paper on the theory of strong electrolytes?

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