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CORVALLIS - Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber has officially proclaimed Feb. 28 to be Linus Pauling Day, in honor of the late Oregon State University graduate and two-time winner of the Nobel Prize.

Pauling, who was born Feb. 28, 1901, in Portland, died in 1994.

A 1922 graduate of what then was Oregon Agricultural College, Pauling went on to become the only individual to ever win two unshared Nobel Prizes - the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1954, and the Nobel Peace Prize, 1962.

Those medals, along with more than 100,000 scientific papers, books and letters written by Pauling, and other memorabilia from his distinguished career, are housed in a special collection at OSU's Kerr Library.

In January, officials of the research institute that bears his name, announced that the Linus Pauling Institute of Science and Medicine would move from Palo Alto, Calif., to OSU in 1996.

The text of Kitzhaber's announcement:

WHEREAS: "Linus Carl Pauling, a native son of Oregon, is the only person to have been awarded two unshared Nobel Laureates, for Chemistry and for Peace; and

WHEREAS: "Dr. Pauling's efforts to bring about world peace and the banning of nuclear weapons testing, carried out in spite of the disapproval of his own government, established a new base for world peace negotiations; and

WHEREAS: Dr. Pauling's genius in chemistry provided the basis for modern chemistry and set the stage for major discoveries that benefitted humankind; and

WHEREAS: "Dr. Pauling was unafraid of controversy in his pursuit of the truth and devoted his entire life to the good of the humanity.

NOW, THEREFORE "I, John A. Kitzhaber, Governor of the State of Oregon, hereby proclaim February 28, Dr. Pauling's birthday, to be LINUS PAULING DAY in Oregon and encourage all Oregonians to join in this observance.