Melvin Calvin

Chemist

• Born: April 8, 1911
• Birthplace: St. Paul, Minnesota
• Died: January 8, 1997
• Place of death: Berkeley, California

American chemist

American biochemist Melvin Calvin was among the first modern scientists to use a truly interdisciplinary approach in his research, blending techniques from the fields of chemistry and biology. In 1961, he won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his research concerning the chemical reactions that take place during photosynthesis.

Born: April 8, 1911; St. Paul, Minnesota

Died: January 8, 1997; Berkeley, California

Primary field: Chemistry

Specialty: Biochemistry; organic chemistry; molecular biology

Early Life

Melvin Calvin was born on April 8, 1911, in St. Paul, Minnesota, to Elias and Rose Hervitz Calvin. His father had immigrated to the United States from Kalvaria in Lithuania and his mother from the province of Georgia in Russia. Calvin’s early years were spent in a middle-class area of St. Paul that was home to some of his Lithuanian American relatives. His father worked as a cigar maker, and his mother was a full-time homemaker. About the time Calvin was ready to enter high school, the family moved to Detroit, Michigan, where his father worked as an auto mechanic. Calvin attended public high school and knew at an early age that he wanted to be a scientist. His physics teacher, however, predicted that Calvin could never achieve that goal because he was too eager to reach conclusions.

Calvin began college at the City College of Detroit, which would later become Wayne State. Then, he won a full scholarship to the Michigan College of Mining and Technology (MCMT) at Houghton; the college later became known as Michigan Technological University. Calvin was able to take a wide range of science courses as part of the new chemistry program at MCMT, and he later credited this experience with forming his interdisciplinary approach to science. Calvin graduated from MCMT in 1931 with a degree in chemistry.

Pursuing graduate studies at the University of Minnesota, Calvin studied under chemist George Glocker. Again, Calvin’s interests encompassed wide-ranging research in physical and organic chemistry. He received his doctorate in chemistry in 1935 for his thesis on the electron affinity of halogens such as iodine and bromine. Calvin went on to spend two years of postdoctoral study at the University of Manchester in England after winning a Rockefeller Grant. There, he researched hydrogen paramagnetic conversion and the catalytic action of metalloporphyrins, studying under physical chemistry professor Michael Polanyi.

Life’s Work

In 1937, after Calvin had returned to the United States, chemist Gilbert Lewis invited him to become an instructor at the University of California at Berkeley. While teaching there, Calvin worked with Lewis to conduct research on the electron configuration of colored organic compounds. Early in his tenure at Berkeley, he published “The Color of Organic Substances” (1939) and The Theory of Organic Chemistry (1940).

Just before the United States entered World War II in 1941, Calvin was promoted to assistant professor. The next year, he married Genevieve Jemtegaard, the daughter of Norwegian immigrants. The couple would have two daughters, Elin and Karole, and a son, Noel. A social worker who also influenced her husband’s philosophical views on science, Genevieve coauthored a number of Calvin’s publications and often took part in international scientific meetings, where she promoted the use of plants to replace fossil fuels.

During the war, Calvin participated in military research in addition to teaching. He worked with the National Defense Research Council until 1944; in this capacity, he developed a method for obtaining pure oxygen from the atmosphere. The process was useful for industrial applications such as welding and in situations in which bottled oxygen was unavailable.

Lewis introduced Calvin to Ernest O. Lawrence, Berkeley professor and 1939 winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics. Lawrence suggested that Calvin focus his research on radioactive carbon. In 1946, Calvin began applying the radioactive isotope carbon 14 to the study of photosynthesis at the Berkeley Radiation Laboratory. The next year, Calvin became a full professor of chemistry at Berkeley. He wrote a considerable amount on his photosynthesis research, including the book Isotopic Carbon (1949).

Photosynthesis is the process by which plants use the energy of sunlight to create carbohydrates and oxygen from carbon dioxide and water. The conditions necessary for photosynthesis to take place had been known for nearly two centuries, as had the end products of the process, but the intermediate processes were a mystery. To study these processes, Calvin introduced carbon 14 into a flask containing green algae in suspension. Then he used a second new technique, paper chromatography, to track the radioactive carbon and identify the compounds that had been created and thus the chemical reactions that had occurred. Through this process, Calvin and his team identified the intermediate steps of photosynthesis, which became known as the Calvin cycle. Calvin reported the results of these experiments in The Path of Carbon in Photosynthesis (1957).

In 1959, Calvin designed a new laboratory facility at Berkeley, based on his “laboratory without walls” approach, in which scientists from several fields worked together. He named this facility the Laboratory of Chemical Biodynamics. Completed in 1963, the open facility was filled with lab benches arranged radially from the center. Calvin believed that this arrangement would contribute to teamwork among scientists from various disciplines.

Calvin was named director of the Berkeley Radiation Laboratory in 1960. The following year, he won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work with photosynthesis. He was the eleventh faculty member from the University of California to receive a Nobel Prize and the fourteenth American to win in the field of chemistry. The next year, Calvin published The Photosynthesis of Carbon Compounds (1962).

In 1963, Calvin was named professor of molecular biology at Berkeley. The next year, he joined the board of directors of Dow Chemical Company. He also served on several governmental scientific boards, including the President’s Science Advisory Committee under presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. In addition, for thirteen years, Calvin chaired the US editorial board for a joint US-Soviet publication in planetary and space sciences.

Calvin also made significant contributions to the study of the biology of chemical carcinogens, the possibility of extraterrestrial life, and the chemical evolution of life. The result of his research on this last topic was his book Chemical Evolution (1969). He made significant advances in the fields of physical organic theory, bioorganic chemistry, and physical chemistry. With a government grant, he spent several years researching the use of plants to replace fossil fuels. In the 1970s, he advised the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and helped analyze samples of dust and rock from the moon. In this study, the scientists identified various elements and molecules as they looked for evidence of life.

Calvin retired in 1980. The lab he designed was renamed the Melvin Calvin Laboratory in his honor. Calvin died in Berkeley on January 8, 1997, at the age of eighty-five.

Impact

Calvin’s research led to a greater understanding of the workings of photosynthesis, and his interdisciplinary approach and promotion of cooperation among scientists from various disciplines proved influential. A prolific researcher and writer, Calvin held many patents and received numerous honorary degrees during his lifetime. In recognition of his contributions to chemistry, biochemistry, biology, and related fields, he received a number of significant honors, including the Davy Medal, awarded by the Royal Society of London; the Priestly Medal, given by the American Chemical Society; the Gold Medal of the American Institute of Chemists; and the Oesper Prize, awarded by the American Chemical Society. Several awards and academic positions have been named in his honor, including the Melvin Calvin Medal of Distinction, awarded by Michigan Technological University, and the Melvin Calvin Lectureship in the College of Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley.

Bibliography

Calvin, Melvin. Following the Trail of Light: A Scientific Odyssey. Washington: Amer. Chemical Soc., 1992. Print. Chronicles Calvin’s life and career, focusing in particular on his scientific accomplishments and interdisciplinary approach to research as well as his collaborations with fellow scientists.

Hargittai, Balazs, and István Hargittai. Candid Science 5: Conversations with Famous Scientists. London: Imperial College P, 2005. Print. Includes interviews with scientists from a variety of fields, most notably an interview with Calvin conducted by chemical engineer Clarence Larson.

Seaborg, Glenn T., and Andrew A. Benson. “Melvin Calvin.” Biographical Memoirs of the Fellows of the Royal Society 54 (2008): 59–70. Print. Discusses Calvin’s research, particularly in relation to photosynthesis, as well as his early life and career.