Melvin Calvin; Nobel-Winning Chemist

Melvin Calvin, the UC Berkeley professor who won the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1961 for his analysis of the photosynthesis of plants, has died. He was 85.

Calvin, a leading scientist at the Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, died Wednesday at a Berkeley hospital. His health had been declining for several years.

He retired as a professor of chemistry in 1980 but had continued his research until recently.

Called “Mr. Photosynthesis” after winning the Nobel, Calvin used radioactive carbon-14 to demonstrate the steps plants use to turn carbon dioxide and water into sugar. Photosynthesis is the process of capturing energy from the sun. His research focused on what became known as the “Calvin cycle” in photosynthesis.

Berkeley colleagues said Calvin’s research was significant because it was the first to use a carbon-14 radioactive isotope as a tracer for a chemical pathway.

Calvin’s findings prodded the U.S. Department of Energy to pursue solar energy as a source of power.

“Melvin’s work was the cause of this agency starting its solar photochemical energy conversion research,” said Allan Laufer, team leader with the Department of Energy office of basic energy sciences. “He showed converting energy from the sun into useful forms was scientifically possible. He was a very influential man.”

In recognition of his path-forging work in energy science, Calvin in 1992 received the John Ericsson Award in Renewable Energy from the federal department.

“There are now no insurmountable problems that will keep us from developing renewable energies,” Calvin said at the time.

A native of St. Paul, Minn., Calvin earned his degrees from the Michigan College of Mining and Technology and the University of Minnesota and did postdoctoral studies in England. He joined the Berkeley faculty in 1937.

Calvin wrote seven books and about 500 scientific papers and articles.

He is survived by two daughters, Elin Sowle of Berkeley and Karole Campbell of Inverness, Calif.; a son, Noel of Palo Alto; a sister, Sandra Davis of Los Angeles, six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

The family has asked that donations be made to the Melvin Calvin Memorial Fund, College of Chemistry, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720.