Linus Pauling found protein's spiral shape by folding paper, not running experiments
In 1951, after years of fruitless attempts to fit X-ray data into a protein model, Linus Pauling sketched a chain of atoms on paper, folded it to keep realistic bond angles, and found a tight, repeating spiral held together by hydrogen bonds. He and Robert Corey published the alpha helix, one of the two basic shapes, alongside the beta sheet, that proteins fold into throughout life.