Martin Kamen, the chemist who used the 60-Inch Cyclotron in the
days of the Radiation Laboratory to create carbon-14 and change biochemistry
research forever, has been named one of two winners of this year's Enrico Fermi
Award.
The 82-year old Kamen is joined by 83-year-old physicist Ugo Fano, who won for
his pioneering contributions to the theory of atomic and radiation physics.
The Fermi award, which was announced by President Clinton on Dec. 12, is the
nation's oldest prize for achievements in science and technology. It is granted
for lifetime achievements in the field of nuclear energy. Winners receive a
gold medal and a $100,000 honorarium. In winning the award, Kamen joins a list
that includes two of his colleagues from the Rad Lab--Glenn Seaborg and Luis
Alvarez.
Kamen is currently professor emeritus at both UC San Diego and the University
of Southern California. During the 1950s and '60s, he cemented his claims to
scientific greatness with his ground-breaking research in the field of
bacterial cytochromes and photosynthesis. However, it was his discovery of
carbon-14, the radioisotope of carbon used to trace biochemical pathways and
mechanisms and to date archeological and anthropological objects, that proved
to be the source of his brightest and darkest moments.
Born in Toronto, Canada, in 1913, Kamen earned his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in
chemistry and physical chemistry from the University of Chicago. After
completing his doctoral research on neutron scattering, he began his career in
1937 as a radiochemist with the legendary group under Ernest O. Lawrence at the
Rad Lab. Kamen was interested in studying plant photosynthesis and the related
problem of carbon dioxide assimilation. In 1938, working with the late UC
chemist Samuel Ruben, Kamen demonstrated that water is the source of molecular
oxygen in photosynthesis and not carbon dioxide. This work had been
accomplished through the use of carbon-11, which was the only radiocarbon known
at that time. Kamen, however, was frustrated by that tracer's short half-life
(21 minutes) and set out to find a radioisotope of carbon that would be better
suited for biochemistry. In 1940, again working with Ruben, Kamen used the
60-Inch Cyclotron to bombard a graphite target with a beam of deuterium nuclei.
The result was carbon-14, which, with a half-life of 5,000 years, allowed
biochemists to trace carbon's movement through photosynthesis, metabolism, and
a host of other biochemical processes.
Kamen's resulting scientific prominence, however, coupled with his liberal
viewpoints and association with leftist intellectuals, brought him under the
scrutiny of government agencies, including the FBI. In July 1944 he was
declared a security risk and Lawrence was forced to dismiss him. A few years
later, Kamen was brought before the House Un-American Activities Committee and
his passport was revoked. He spent 10 years in the courts before finally
clearing his name and winning back his passport. He also won settlements
against the Washington Times-Herald and Chicago Tribune newspapers for
publishing libelous articles about him.