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CORVALLIS, Ore. - John D. Roberts, a pioneer in the field of organic chemistry and a colleague of the late two-time Nobel Prize laureate Linus Pauling, will give a free public lecture at Oregon State University on Thursday, May 4.

He will also receive the fourth Linus Pauling Legacy Award from OSU Libraries.

His lecture, "Useful Knowledge about Magnetic Resonance Imaging," begins at 4:30 p.m. in LaSells Stewart Center, 26th Street and Western Boulevard in Corvallis.

Roberts' science career has spanned 60 years, during which he has written more than 500 research publications and 10 books. He has been an important contributor to knowledge about how chemical reactions occur and the nature of the products created as a result of those reactions.

He also is considered one of the foremost authorities on nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, which scientists use to determine the molecular structure of large organic compounds. The process also is the underlying technology for magnetic resonance imaging systems - or MRIs - which he will discuss in his OSU lecture.

Roberts was a long-time friend and colleague of Pauling at the California Institute of Technology, and once was described by Pauling as "one of the most promising, able and original organic chemists in the country."

The Linus Pauling Legacy Award is given biennially to an individual with outstanding achievements in fields of interest to Pauling, who was an OSU graduate. Past winners are Daisaku Ikeda, founder of Soka Gakkai International; Sir Joseph Rotblat, a Nobel Prize winner; and Matthew Meselson, a Harvard University biologist.

OSU Libraries is sponsoring the event.