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Melvin Calvin was born in St.
Paul, Minnesota, April 8, 1911, of Russian emigrant parents. He
received the B.S. degree in Chemistry in 1931 at the Michigan College of Mining
and Technology, and the Ph.D. degree in Chemistry from the
University of
Minnesota in 1935. He spent the academic years 1935-1937 at
the University of Manchester, England. He began his
academic career at the University of California at Berkeley in 1937, as an
instructor, and has been a full professor since 1947. He has
served as Director of the big-organic chemistry group in the
Lawrence Radiation Laboratory since 1946. This group became the
Laboratory of Chemical Biodynamics in 1960.
He has been the recipient of a number of medals, awards, and
lectureships, and holds membership in numerous learned societies.
In addition, he has been elected to the National Academy of
Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, the American
Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Royal Society of London, the
Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences and Letters, and the German
Academy of Scientists, Leopoldina. He holds honorary D.Sc.
degrees from Michigan College of Mining and Technology, the
University of
Nottingham, Oxford University, and Northwestern
University.
His scientific life began with a thesis on the electron affinity
of halogens, done under the direction of Professor George A.
Glocker at the University of Minnesota and completed in 1935. The
following two-year postdoctoral period was spent with Professor
Michael Polanyi at the University of Manchester, at which time
his interest in coordination catalysis, particularly
metalloporphyrins, was awakened. This interest is still paramount
and has resulted both in theoretical (The Chemistry of Metal
Chelate Compounds) and practical (oxygen-carrying synthetic
chelate compounds) applications. The investigation of the
electronic, photoelectric and photochemical behaviour of such
materials now occupies a good fraction of his time.
Upon coming to Berkeley, California, at the invitation of
Professor Gilbert N. Lewis, his interest turned to general
theoretical aspects of organic molecular structure and
behaviour.There were two prime publications of this period. The
first, with Professor Gilbert N. Lewis, was on The Color of
Organic Substances, and the second, with Professor G.E.K.
Branch, was The Theory of Organic Chemistry. It was from
these men that the fundamental interest in the behaviour of
organic molecules in their most detailed terms was derived.
This interest combined with the earlier one on the catalytic
behaviour of coordination compounds were the natural parents of
his present preoccupation with the problem of photosynthesis. The
ready availability of carbon-14 which began in 1945 channeled the
early work to development of techniques for its use (Isotopic
Carbon) and its application to the exploration of
photosynthetic carbon dioxide reduction (The Path of Carbon in
Photosynthesis).
An extension of his interest from here into the general problems
of biology was unavoidable, and thus his laboratory is at present
peopled by emigrants from all areas of science on both sides of
chemistry - physics on the one hand and biology on the
other.
Dr. Calvin is married to the former Genevieve Jemtegaard,
daughter of Norwegian emigrant parents, they have two daughters,
Elin and Karole, and one son, Noel.
From Nobel Lectures, Chemistry 1942-1962, Elsevier Publishing Company, Amsterdam, 1964
This autobiography/biography was written at the time of the award and first published in the book series Les Prix Nobel. It was later edited and republished in Nobel Lectures. To cite this document, always state the source as shown above.
For more updated biographical information, see:
Calvin, Melvin, Following the Trail of Light - A Scientific Odyssey.
Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1998.
Melvin Calvin died on January 8, 1997.
Copyright © The Nobel Foundation 1961