Portland, Oregon: Protein Sculpture
A bright red "Alpha Helix" stands in front of the boyhood home of Linus Pauling, who won his first Nobel Prize for his work with proteins, which contain Alpha Helixes.
- Address:
- 3945 SE Hawthorne Blvd, Portland, OR
- Directions:
- On the north side of SE Hawthorne Blvd, about a hundred feet west of its intersection with SE 40th Ave.
- Admission:
- Free
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It looks like a bright red ornamental shrub in front of a nondescript house. But the house was the boyhood home of Linus Pauling, the only person in history to have won two unshared Nobel Prizes, and the "bush" is a sculpture by local artist (and former quantum physicist) Julian Vos-Andreae. As a memorial to one of his scientific heroes, Julian created "Alpha Helix," which depicts an important structure of most proteins (In 1954 Pauling was awarded his first Nobel Prize "for his research into the nature of the chemical bond and its application to the elucidation of the structure of complex substances" -- such as proteins -- prominently including the structure of the alpha-helix).
The alpha-helix structure can be found in all living things, including ornamental shrubs.
[John Takao Collier, 06/14/2014]Nearby Offbeat Places
Joan of Arc, Portland, OR - < 1 mi.
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Tiny Horse Project, Portland, OR - 2 mi.Latest Tips Across Roadside America
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