The winner of the 1961 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Calvin unraveled most of the mystery surrounding photosynthesis, the process in which plants convert sunlight into food. The son of Russian immigrants, Calvin earned his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 1935. His interest in photosynthesis began when he left for England and started his postdoctoral studies with British chemist Michael Polanyi (1891-1976) at the University of Manchester. Calvin 's work there focused on organic compounds, such as chlorophyll and hemoglobin, that are composed of atoms of metal.

When he returned to America in 1937, Calvin began teaching at the University of California-Berkeley. During World War II, Calvin worked on the Manhattan Project, helping develop the atomic bomb. The simple method of extracting oxygen from the air, which Calvin designed for industrial purposes, also proved beneficial to the war effort.

After the war, while directing one of the University of...