Andrew Benson

Carbon fixation in plants

All biology students, at some point, will have to study the Calvin cycle. This is the series of
reactions which occur in plants that allow for the fixation of carbon dioxide. These
reactions, which occur in chloroplasts, are the source of energy for plants. Understanding
this route of carbon dioxide fixation is vital to understanding life on Earth. The Calvin cycle
was elucidated by the use of radioactive molecules to allow the steps in the cycle to be
understood. Using carbon-14 carbon dioxide, the route of carbon transfer could be followed
from the atmosphere to the final carbohydrate products. This work was carried out by
Melvin Calvin, Andrew Benson (pictured right) and James Bassham. When the Nobel
Prize was awarded for this stellar work, in 1961, it went to Calvin alone elegant cycle.
Dmitri Mendeleev
Periodic table of the elements

Mendeleev was not the first person to make a table of the elements, nor the first to suggest a
periodicity in the chemical properties of the elements. Mendeleevs achievement was to
define this periodicity and draw up a table of the elements according to it, which gave
accurate predictions of future discoveries. Other attempts at making such a table had
included all known elements, but ended up distorted as they left no space for unknown
elements. Mendeleev left blank spaces in his table where other, then undiscovered elements,
should fit. For these blank spaces it was possible, from the now recognized periodicity, to
predict many things about their chemical and physical properties. This periodic law is basic
to chemistry and physics.Mendeleev lived until 1907, and so there was ample time for him
to be awarded a Nobel Prize for his work.
Fred Hoyle
Stellar nucleosynthesis

Fred Hoyle is perhaps best known for his coining of the term Big Bang to describe the
beginning of the universe. His intent was to mock those who proposed that the universe had
a definite beginning, and that it all started with a big bang. Hoyles contribution to science
was to suggest a source for the heavier elements that exist in the universe. How is it that
hydrogen and helium are converted into the heavier elements which exist? Hoyle first
suggested that the conversion takes place inside stars, where the energy required for this
nuclear fusion is possible. The theory of stellar nucleosynthesis was laid out in a
groundbreaking paper called Synthesis of the Elements in Stars. Hoyle was a coauthor on
that paper, with Margaret Burbidge, Geoffrey Burbidge, and William Fowler. In 1983,
Fowler shared the Nobel Prize for Physics with Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar for the
theory of element formation by fusion in stars.
Jocelyn Bell Burnell
Pulsars

Pulsars were discovered by accident, when radio-emissions from stars were being studied to
look for scintillation caused by solar wind. For this study, a large radio telescope was
required. Jocelyn Bell, as a PhD student, helped in constructing this telescope over four
acres of field using a thousand posts and over 120 miles of wire. Bells project involved
monitoring reams of paper for scintillating radio sources. It was while examining this data,
that Bell noticed an anomaly which she decided required further study. When this anomaly
was recorded in more detail it showed a regular pulse of 1.3 seconds. When Bell showed this
to her supervisor, Antony Hewish, it was dismissed as man-made interference. 1.3 seconds
was considered too short a time period for something as large as a star to do anything.
Famously, the signal was dubbed LGM-1 (Little Green Men1). When other regular pulses
were discovered in different parts of the sky, it became clear that the radio pulses were
natural. These sources were termed pulsars, short for pulsating stars.
Nikola
Tesla
Radio communication

The 1909 Nobel Prize for physics went to Guglielmo Marconi, for his work with radio
communication. There is no doubt that Marconi did important work in the development of
radio, and developed a law relating the height of a radio antenna to the distance it may
broadcast. Marconi is known as the father of long distance radio communication. However,
there is good reason to suggest that the prize should have been shared with Nikola
Tesla.Tesla has taken on an almost mythic status with all manner of strange stories adhering
to the, admittedly eccentric, inventor. Tesla began lecturing about using radio
communication in 1891, and began demonstrating devices using wireless telegraphy soon
after. Between 1898 and 1903, Tesla was granted several patents to protect his inventions
relating to radio. Patent law is complex, and it was not until the 1940s that US courts
acknowledged that Teslas work pre-dated that of Marconi. So Tesla has a very good case for
being included in the 1909 Nobel Prize which went to Marconi.

Albert SchatzStreptomycin

Tuberculosis was once one of the major deadly infections mankind suffered from. With the
coming of penicillin in the 1940s, it seemed that the age of bacterial infection was coming to
an end. Unfortunately, penicillin is ineffective against the bacterium which causes TB. This
is because there is a divide in bacteria based on their cell wall structure; Gram-positive
(those with thick walls) and Gram-negative (those with thin walls). Penicillin works on
Gram-positive, but not Gram-negative bacteria, like TB. An antibiotic was needed which
would kill those bacteria. It was this aim which Schatz, as a young researcher, pursued.
Schatz grew a large number of strains of Streptomyces bacteria, and tested them for
antibiotic properties against Gram-negative bacteria. After just a few months, Schatz had his
antibiotic, which he named streptomycin. It would prove to be effective against TB and a
range of other penicillin-resistant bacteria.
Chien-Shiung Wu
Parity violation

Electromagnetism, gravity and the strong nuclear force. Two scientists suggested that the
law of conservation of parity would not be true for the weak nuclear force; Tsung-Dao Lee
and Chen-Ning Yang.For their work on disproving parity in the weak nuclear force Lee and
Yang were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1957. The experimental proof of their
theory was provided by Chien-Shiung Wu. Wu designed and carried out the measurements
of beta-decay which proved that parity is not conserved in the weak nuclear force. Since
there was a spare space on the Nobel Prize awarded for proof of parity violation and Wus
work was vital for the acceptance of non-parity it does seem strange that she was not given a
share of the award.
Oswald Avery
Heritability through DNA

Some historians of science have questioned whether the work of Avery was as important as
it appears in retrospect; DNA was not conclusively proved to be the general molecule of
inheritance in all living things. The paper certainly did not cause a huge academic stir but it
was well received and appears to have influenced other researchers. Even if the work were
restricted to its strict findings on the transmission of lethality between bacteria it surely
merited consideration for a Nobel Prize in Medicine. It is on the basis that his work stands
alone that I include Avery and not because he was overlooked for the later DNA based Nobel
Prizes.

Douglas Prasher
Green Fluorescent Protein

Many organisms are bioluminescent but it is the glowing jellyfish Aequorea victoria that has
most aided biology. In protein biochemistry it is often important to know where a protein is
located within a cell. The green fluorescent protein (GFP) isolated from A. victoria has
allowed researchers to image cells and with very simple techniques to see where specific
proteins are. GFP is so important because it is stable, works within living cells, and can be
used as a simple test of whether your genetic manipulation has worked Does your sample
glow when a specific wavelength of light is shone on it? The cloning of GFP and its DNA
sequence was done by Douglas Prasher in 1992. Since then GFP has become one of the most
used tools in the biology toolkit.
Lise Meitner
Nuclear fission

Nuclear fission is the splitting of an atomic nucleus into lighter nuclei, often with the release
of neutrons as well. Since fission can occur via the bombardment of nuclei with neutrons
this can lead to a chain reaction where one splitting nucleus gives out neutrons which cause
more fission events, which give out neutrons which cause more atomic splitting, and so on.
Fission is accompanied by a release of energy and so chain reactions can be used to generate
electricity in nuclear power plants or be used to create atomic bombs. This splitting of atoms
by bombardment with neutrons was discovered in 1938 when Otto Hahn discovered that the
product of fission of uranium was barium. This led to a realization that the products of
nuclear fission are lighter than the original atom.