Martin Kamen facts for kids

Martin David Kamen was an American chemist. He is famous for helping to discover carbon-14 on February 27, 1940. He worked with another scientist named Sam Ruben at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley. Carbon-14 is a special kind of carbon that is radioactive. It became a very important tool for scientists to study how living things work.

About Martin Kamen

Martin Kamen was born in Toronto, Canada, on August 27, 1913. His parents were Jewish immigrants from Russia. He grew up in Chicago, USA. He loved science and earned a degree in chemistry from the University of Chicago in 1933. He then got his PhD in physical chemistry from the same university in 1936.

After finishing his studies, he wanted to do research in chemistry and nuclear physics. He joined Ernest Lawrence's team at the radiation laboratory in Berkeley. For six months, he worked without pay. Then, he was hired to manage the products made by the cyclotron.

How Carbon-14 Was Discovered

Scientists already knew about carbon-14, but Kamen and Ruben found a way to make it. They used the cyclotron to shoot particles at graphite. They hoped to create a radioactive form of carbon. This new carbon could then be used as a "tracer." A tracer is like a tiny tag that helps scientists follow chemical reactions. They wanted to understand how photosynthesis works. Their experiment was a success, and they produced carbon-14.

Working on Important Projects

In 1943, Kamen was asked to work on the Manhattan Project in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. This project was about developing nuclear weapons. He worked there for a short time before returning to Berkeley.

In 1945, he faced some challenges. He was accused of sharing information about nuclear weapons. Because of this, he lost his job at Berkeley. For a while, it was hard for him to find another job at a university. But then, Arthur Compton hired him. Kamen went to Washington University in St. Louis to run their cyclotron program in the medical school.

At Washington University, Kamen taught other scientists how to use radioactive tracer materials in their research. Over time, his own research interests changed. He became more interested in biochemistry, which is the study of chemical processes in living things.

Later Career and Retirement

In 1957, Martin Kamen moved to Brandeis University in Massachusetts. Then, in 1961, he joined the University of California, San Diego. He stayed there until he retired in 1978.

Martin Kamen passed away on August 31, 2002, when he was 89 years old. He died in Montecito, California. He lived in a retirement home called Casa Dorinda for many years. People there liked him a lot and admired him for helping others.

Martin Kamen's Scientific Discoveries

Martin Kamen made many important contributions to science.

Understanding Life's Chemistry

By using the cyclotron to bombard matter, scientists could create radioactive isotopes like carbon-14. Carbon-14 was like a special detective tool. It helped scientists figure out the order of events in biochemical reactions. It showed them which chemicals came first to make a certain product. This helped reveal the complex network of reactions that make up life itself.

Key Discoveries

Kamen is known for confirming a very important fact about photosynthesis. He showed that all the oxygen released during photosynthesis comes from water, not from carbon dioxide.

He also studied other important biological processes, including:

• The role of molybdenum in how plants and bacteria take nitrogen from the air and turn it into useful forms (called nitrogen fixation).
• The chemistry of cytochromes and how they help in photosynthesis and metabolism (how living things get energy).
• The role of iron in special compounds called porphyrins, which are found in plants and animals.
• How calcium moves in cancerous tumors.

Awards and Recognitions

Martin Kamen received many honors for his scientific work:

• In 1956, he received a Guggenheim Fellowship.
• In 1958, he became a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
• In 1962, he was elected as a member of the National Academy of Sciences.
• On April 24, 1996, he won the Enrico Fermi Award.
• He was awarded the 1989 Albert Einstein World Award of Science.

Books by Martin Kamen

• Kamen, Martin D. Radiant Science, Dark Politics: A Memoir of the Nuclear Age. Foreword by Edwin M. McMillan. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985. ISBN: 0-520-04929-2.

See also

In Spanish: Martin Kamen para niños