Melvin Calvin

On January 8, 1997, he passed away in Berkeley, California, USA at the age of 86.

He was born on April 8, 1911, in St. Paul, Minnesota, to Jewish immigrants Elias Calvin and Rose Herwitz, who originally hailed from the Russian Empire.

His family relocated to Detroit, Michigan when he was very small. In 1928 he completed his graduation from ‘Central High School’, Detroit.

After receiving a full scholarship from ‘Michigan College of Mining and Technology’ (at present ‘Michigan Technological University’) in Houghton, he joined the college and studied geology, mineralogy, civil engineering and paleontology. All these subjects proved to be extremely beneficial for his future scientific endeavours.

His studies got interrupted for a year during the Great Depression that saw him working in a brass factory as an analyst. He finally earned his B.Sc. degree from ‘Michigan College of Mining and Technology’ in 1931.

In 1935 he obtained Ph.D in chemistry from the ‘University of Minnesota’ submitting his thesis on electron affinity of halogen atoms.

In 1937 he was inducted as an instructor at the ‘University of California’, Berkeley. His career path in the university saw a gradual rise first advancing as a Full Professor in 1947 and then as a Professor of Molecular Biology in 1963, a post he retained till his retirement in 1980.

He carried on with his research on activation of molecular hydrogen at Berkeley that he started at Manchester and started studying colour of organic compounds that led him to investigate the electronic structures of organic molecules.

While investigating molecular genetics during the early 1940s, he suggested involvement of hydrogen bonding in the piling of nucleic acid bases in the thread like structures called chromosomes, present in the nucleus of living organisms.

With the entry of the US in the ‘Second World War’, Calvin worked for the ‘National Defense Research Council’. During the war he researched on cobalt complexes which generate an oxygen producing device for destroyers or submarines by reverse bonding with oxygen.

His development of the procedure to procure oxygen from atmospheres proved to be extremely significant for application on patients suffering from breathing problems.

In 1961 he received the ‘Nobel Prize’ in Chemistry.