| Electronegativity was originally proposed by Linus Carl Pauling. Pauling was born on February 28, 1901, in Lake Oswego, Oregon. Throughout his childhood he excelled academically. At the age of 15, he was only two credits short of graduating high school. When denied the opportunity to take these credits while enrolled in college, he decided to leave high school and obtain a job. He used his earnings from his early jobs to save money for college. Pauling was accepted to Oregon State University in September of 1917, where he received a degree in chemical engineering. During his undergraduate studies, Pauling taught courses in quantitative analysis and chemistry for home economics majors. After graduation from OSU, Pauling attended the California Institute of Technology and received his Ph. D. in physical chemistry and mathematical physics. In 1926, Pauling received the Guggenheim Fellowship, which allowed him to travel to Europe and study under Sommerfeld, Bohr, and Schrödinger. This led to his interest in the electronic structure of atoms and molecules. In 1932, Pauling introduced the concept of electronegativity. He introduced this concept based on the energy required to break bonds and dipole moments. He established the Pauling Electronegativity Scale, which is used to predict the nature of bonds between molecules and atoms. This scale gives values of electronegativity in Pauling Units. |