Melvin Ellis Calvin was an American biochemist known for discovering the Calvin cycle along with Andrew Benson and James Bassham. He was awarded the 1961 Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his research on the carbon dioxide assimilation in plants". He spent most of his five-decade career at the University of California, Berkeley. The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1961, announced November 2, 1961. Melvin Calvin, “for his research on the carbon dioxide assimilation in plants”. Melvin Calvin: born 1911, St. Paul, MN, USA. Wiki link Data: the Nobel Foundation (CC0).