Today (April 8, 1911) is the birthday of Melvin Calvin, the Nobel Prize-winning American chemist who discovered the 'Calvin cycle' in photosynthesis.
Melvin Ellis Calvin was born on April 8, 1911, in Minnesota, the USA, the
son of Elias Calvin and Rose Herwits. His family moved to Detroit when Calvin
was a small child. He graduated from Central High School in 1928. He received
his bachelor's degree in science from the Michigan College of Mining and
Technology (now Michigan University of Technology) in 1931, and his doctorate
in chemistry from the University of Minnesota in 1935. For the next four years, he did post-doctoral work at the University of Manchester. In 1942 Mary married
Geneva Gemdecard.
![Photosynthesis: Light reaction, Calvin cycle, Electron Transport [3D Animation] animated gif](https://j.gifs.com/Kr7DOA.gif)
Calvin became a faculty member at the University of California, Berkeley
in 1937. In 1947 he was promoted to professor of chemistry. Using the carbon-14
isotope as a tracer, Calvin, Andrew Benson and James Basham mapped out the
complete path of carbon travel. During photosynthesis, the plant begins to
absorb atmospheric carbon dioxide and converts it into carbohydrates and other
organic compounds. In doing so, Calvin, Benson, and Basham showed that sunlight
acts on chlorophyll in a plant to stimulate the production of organic
compounds, rather than carbon dioxide, as previously believed. Sometimes called
the Calvin-Benson-Basham cycle. Recipient of the 1961 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
In the 1950s he was one of the first members of the Public Organizations
Research Association. In 1963 he was given the additional responsibility of
Professor of Molecular Biology. He was the founder and director of the
Laboratory of Chemical Biodynamics and at the same time the Associate Director
of the Berkeley Radiation Laboratory. There he continued his research until his
retirement in 1980. In his final year, he spent many years exploring the use of
oil-producing plants as a source of renewable energy, experimenting with the
chemical evolution of life and publishing a book on chemical evolution,
published in 1969.
In 1958 he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Netherlands Academy
of Arts and Sciences. In 1959 he was elected a member of the German Academy of
Sciences Leopoldina. In 1971, Calvin was awarded an honorary doctorate (LLD)
from Whittier College. Calvin was featured in the 2011 volume of the American
Scientists Collection of American Postage Stamps with Asa Gray, Maria
Copper-Meyer and Servo Ochoa. Melvin Calvin, who discovered the 'Calvin
cycle', passed away on January 8, 1997, in the United States, California at the
age of 85.
Source By: Wikipedia.
Information: Dr. P. Ramesh, Assistant Professor of Physics, Nehru Memorial
College, Puthanampatti, Trichy.
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