Born 8 Apr 1911; died 8 Jan 1997 at age 85.

Melvin Ellis Calvin was an American #biochemist who was awarded the 1961 #NobelPrize in Chemistry for furthering our knowledge of the mechanism of #photosynthesis.

In the #CalvinCycle, he described the “dark reactions” of photosynthesis occuring in green #plants through the night turning #carbondioxide into #sugar. Using carbon-14 isotope as a tracer in carbon dioxide,

Calvin and his team identified the complete route as the carbon atom travels through a plant during photosynthesis, from the absorption of atmospheric carbon dioxide to its incorporation into #carbohydrates and other organic compounds. With his group, Calvin showed that the #sunlight acts on the #chlorophyll molecules in a plant, and not on the carbon dioxide (as had been previously believed).