Ken Hedberg (b. 1920) has a personal connection to OSU that spans parts of nine decades. Born in Portland and raised primarily in southern Oregon, Hedberg attended Oregon State College from 1939-1942, graduating with a degree in Chemistry. Following a stint working for Shell Development Company during World War II, Hedberg continued his education at the California Institute of Technology, completing his Ph.D. in 1948 and developing a friendship with Linus Pauling that would last until Pauling's death in 1994. Hedberg returned to his alma mater in 1956, accepting a position in the OSC Chemistry department and remaining on faculty until retiring in 1987. Recognized internationally as an expert on the determination of molecular structures through the use of electron diffraction, Hedberg has continued to work and publish in the years since his formal retirement, solving the structures of numerous compounds using an apparatus that he designed and built in the mid-1950s.

In this, the first of four interviews, Hedberg discusses his early years and upbringing, his undergraduate experience at Oregon State College, the work that he conducted for Shell Development Company during World War II, and his arrival for graduate studies at the California Institute of Technology. 

Life history interview conducted by Chris Petersen for inclusion in the History of Science Oral History Collection (OH 017), Special Collections and Archives Research Center, Oregon State University Libraries.