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Remembering Melvin Calvin (1911–1997), a highly versatile scientist of the 20th century

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To this goal of understanding, all men—scientists and laymen alike—bring the humilities, which accompany recognition of beautiful and complex events. Each brings also the gift of his own experiences, which alone will allow insight into a profound phenomenon.

—Melvin Calvin (1969)

Abstract

Melvin Calvin (1911–1997) was the recipient of the 1961 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of the canonical photosynthetic carbon reduction cycle. We present here a very brief glimpse of this extraordinary American scientist, who in his time was a preeminent force in physical and organic chemistry. Besides natural photosynthesis, Calvin’s prolific career included artificial photosynthesis, colors of organic substances, the origin of life, cancer, moon rocks, molecular basis of learning, and plant lipids & algal hydrocarbons as potential renewable sources of transport fuels.

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Notes

  1. The late Alex T. Wilson, shown in Fig. 2a, was an international success. After co-authoring several papers for “The path of carbon in photosynthesis” series (see for example, Buchanan et al. 1952), and completing his post-doc with Calvin, Wilson returned to New Zealand, where he became foundation professor of Chemistry; established the science faculty as the inaugural Dean of the School of Science, University of Waikato, Private Bag 3105, Hamilton, New Zealand 3240. Wilson was a pioneer in the area of “global climate change” (see Wilson 1964); clearly, he carried Calvin’s teachings to New Zealand.

  2. Already in 1931, Hans Kautsky, then working on chlorophyll a fluorescence kinetics, had postulated that the primary photosynthetic processes consisted of two light reactions, one that would reduce a primary electron acceptor followed by a second light reaction that would oxidize the primary electron acceptor (for details and original references, see Lichtenthaler 1992, and Govindjee 1995). Many others provided key experimental information with regard to the accessory pigments and the “loss of electrons” by chlorophylls in the reaction centers of their respective organisms (see for example, Blinks 1959, Duysens 1952, and Kok 1948; cf. Govindjee and Pulles 2016, Govindjee and Renger 1993, and Rabinowitch and Govindjee 1969).

  3. It is generally acknowledged that both Benson and Bassham made seminal contributions to elucidate the carbon fixation cycle (Fuller 1999; Govindjee 2010; Lichtenthaler et al. 2015; Buchanan et al. 2016; Nonomura et al. 2017), and all three shall be remembered as tall pillars of history (see Buchanan et al. 2016, on Benson; and Govindjee et al. 2016, on Bassham). We prefer their full acknowledgement by reference to the carbon fixation cycle as: “Calvin–Benson–Bassham cycle”.

  4. Raghuveer (Raj) Prasad, of the Forestry Department (Canada), sent me his admiration of Calvin for his scholarship, leadership and contributions to photosynthesis. Prasad, working during 1963–1965 as a research biochemist at the College of Agriculture at UC Berkeley, recalls: “In 1963, while standing in line in a Bank on the campus, Calvin was standing behind me, and I offered my place to him to show respect: He was highly polite, and thanked me for the offer, but stayed behind. And, in 1964, when he was President of the American Society of Plant Physiology, I met him at the annual meeting and he was again very kind when we talked, which reflected his gentle modesty and scholarship”.

  5. Fuller (1999) wrote: “However, he [Calvin] already had submitted an abstract, co-authored collectively by me, Andy [Benson] and Rod Quayle, to be presented at the meeting. Well, none of us had been aware of such a submission! Pointing out the ‘good exposure’ for me, he asked if I could go in his place! Clearly, pressure for my independence was growing; I jumped at the chance. Then the very human side of Melvin emerged. “Clint”, he asked, “doesn’t your family live back East, and wouldn’t you like to visit them on the way home?” I suggested that detouring to Providence, Rhode Island on my way from Florida to Berkeley would be a pretty expensive divergence. Reflecting, he suggested sending me, with all expenses paid, to Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) on Long Island; after my stay as a consultant there, I could visit my parents on my way home”.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Elin Sowie, Melvin Calvin’s daughter for graciously talking with one of us (Govindjee), and for sharing memories of her father. Govindjee thanks his wife Rajni for reading this file before its submission.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant Biology, Department of Biochemistry and the Center of Biophysics & Quantitative Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA

    Govindjee Govindjee

  2. Carbon Reactions of Photosynthesis Sector, Brandt iHammer, 479 Village Park Drive, Powell, OH, 43065-9178, USA

    Arthur Nonomura

  3. Botanisches Institut II, Molekularbiologie und Biochemie der Pflanzen, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), 76133, Karlsruhe, Germany

    Hartmut K. Lichtenthaler

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  1. Govindjee Govindjee
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Correspondence to Govindjee Govindjee.

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Appendix 1: Randomly selected web sites on Melvin Calvin

Appendix 1: Randomly selected web sites on Melvin Calvin

https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/melvin-calvin

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melvin_Calvin

https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1961/calvin/biographical/

https://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/97legacy/calvin.html

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Melvin-Calvin

https://www.nndb.com/people/545/000100245/

https://www.chemistry.msu.edu/faculty-research/portraits/melvin-calvin/

http://www.chemistryexplained.com/Bo-Ce/Calvin-Melvin.html

https://www.lbl.gov/nobelists/1961-melvin-calvin/

https://www2.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/Melvin-Calvin-obit.html

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Govindjee, G., Nonomura, A. & Lichtenthaler, H.K. Remembering Melvin Calvin (1911–1997), a highly versatile scientist of the 20th century. Photosynth Res 143, 1–11 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11120-019-00693-y

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