Martin David Kamen was an American chemist who, together with Sam Ruben, co-discovered the synthesis of the isotope carbon-14 on February 27,1940, at the University of California Radiation Laboratory, Berkeley.
34 Facts About Martin Kamen
2.
Martin Kamen confirmed that all of the oxygen released in photosynthesis comes from water, not carbon dioxide, in 1941.
3.
Martin Kamen was born on August 27,1913, in Toronto, the son of Russian Jewish immigrants.
4.
Martin Kamen received a bachelor's degree in chemistry from the University of Chicago in 1933.
5.
From 1936 to 1944, Martin Kamen worked at the Radiation laboratories at the University of California, Berkeley.
6.
Martin Kamen gained a research position in chemistry and nuclear physics under Ernest Lawrence by working without pay for six months, until he was hired to oversee the preparation and distribution of the cyclotron's products.
7.
In 1943, Martin Kamen was assigned to Manhattan Project work at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where he worked briefly before returning to Berkeley.
8.
In spite of the fact that his scientific capabilities were unquestioned, Martin Kamen was fired from Berkeley in July 1944 on suspicion of being a security risk.
9.
Martin Kamen was suspected of leaking nuclear weapons secrets to Russia.
10.
Martin Kamen was unable to obtain another academic position until 1945 when he was hired by Arthur Holly Compton to run the cyclotron program in the medical school of Washington University in St Louis.
11.
Martin Kamen taught the faculty how to use radioactive tracer materials in research, and continued to develop his interests in biochemistry.
12.
In 1957, Martin Kamen moved to Brandeis University in Massachusetts where he helped Nathan Oram Kaplan to establish the Graduate Department of Biochemistry.
13.
In 1961 Martin Kamen joined the University of California, San Diego, where he founded a biochemistry group as part of the university's new department of chemistry.
14.
Martin Kamen remained at the University of California, San Diego, retiring from teaching to become an emeritus professor in 1978.
15.
Martin Kamen died August 31,2002, at the age of 89 in Montecito, California.
16.
Martin Kamen confirmed in 1941 that all of the oxygen released in photosynthesis comes from water, not carbon dioxide.
17.
Martin Kamen studied anoxygenic photosynthetic bacteria, the biochemistry of cytochromes and their role in photosynthesis and metabolism, photosynthetic bacteria, the role of molybdenum in biological nitrogen fixation, the role of iron in the activity of porphyrin compounds in plants and animals, and calcium exchange in cancerous tumors, making substantial contributions.
18.
Martin Kamen came under long-term suspicion of espionage activity as a result of two incidents in 1944.
19.
Martin Kamen has described his experiences during this era in his autobiography, Radiant Science, Dark Politics.
20.
Martin Kamen first aroused suspicion while working at Oak Ridge.
21.
Martin Kamen recognized immediately that the sodium must have been irradiated in a nuclear reactor elsewhere in the facility.
22.
Martin Kamen excitedly told Ernest O Lawrence about his discovery, in the hearing of Lawrence's Army escort.
23.
Martin Kamen put them in contact, and in appreciation he was invited for dinner at a local restaurant.
24.
FBI agents observed the dinner, on July 1,1944, took a photograph of the men together, and submitted a report alleging Martin Kamen to have discussed atomic research with Kheifets.
25.
In 1948, the House Committee on Un-American Activities summoned Martin Kamen to testify about his dinner conversation of 1944.
26.
Martin Kamen sought legal counsel in 1950, and started litigation to regain his passport and right to travel, gaining support from the Federation of American Scientists, the American Civil Liberties Union and others.
27.
Martin Kamen went on to sue the Chicago Tribune and the Washington Times-Herald for libel, winning his suit in 1955.
28.
Martin Kamen was finally able to regain his passport as of July 9,1955.
29.
Martin Kamen was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 1941.
30.
Martin Kamen became a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1958.
31.
In 1962, Martin Kamen was elected as a member of the National Academy of Sciences.
32.
Martin Kamen was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1974.
33.
Martin Kamen became a Guggenheim Fellowship recipient in 1956 and again in 1972, in the field of Molecular and Cellular Biology.
34.
Martin Kamen received the 1989 Albert Einstein World Award of Science.