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Why did Linus Pauling decline J. Robert Oppenheimerâs offer to lead the Manhattan Project chemistry section?
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Linus Pauling
Theoretical physical chemist Linus Pauling, photograph by Yousuf Karsh.
Linus Pauling declined J. Robert Oppenheimerâs invitation to lead the chemistry section of the Manhattan Project because he was suffering from glomerulonephritis, an inflammation of the glomerular region of the kidney, which prevented him from accepting the position.1