Andrew Alm Benson

September 24, 1917 (age 97)

Modesto, California , United States

He is known for his work in understanding the carbon cycle in plants. At that time he also became a conscientious objector to the war in Europe, a political position that caused difficulties for him when he moved back to Berkeley following his graduation. Benson returned to Berkeley as an instructor in July 1942. In May 1946 he was invited to join the group of Melvin Calvin, who was then starting a photosynthesis group in Berkeley"s Old Radiation Laboratory, a building that had previously housed a 37-inch cyclotron built in 1937 by Ernest Lawrence. He visited Norway from 1951 to 1952 on a Fulbright fellowship to the Norwegian College of Agriculture, and took a faculty position at Pennsylvania State University in 1954. He moved to University of California, San Diego from a previous position at the University of California, Los Angeles in 1962. In work done from 1946 through 1953, along with Melvin Calvin and James Bassham, Benson elucidated the path of carbon assimilation (the photosynthetic carbon reduction cycle) in plants. The carbon reduction cycle is known as the Calvin cycle, which inappropriately ignores the contribution of Bassham and Benson. Many scientists refer to the cycle as the Calvin–Benson Cycle, Benson-Calvin, and some even call it the Calvin–Benson–Bassham (or CBB) Cycle. In a paper in the 2002 Annual Review of Plant Biology, Benson provided an in-depth retrospective on his life and work.

Andrew Alm Benson

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biochemistry educator

Background

Benson, Andrew Alm was born on September 24, 1917 in Modesto, California, United States. Son of Carl Bennett and Emma Carolina (Alm) Benson.

Education

He studied as an undergraduate and masters student at the University of California, Berkeley, where he learned optics from Luis Alvarez and worked in the chemistry lab of Glenn T. Seaborg. In 1942, he received his Doctor of Philosophy from the California Institute of Technology. At Caltech, he worked under the supervision of Carl Niemann, conducting experiments on the fluorination of thyroxine.

His later thesis work concerned “periodate and lead tetraacetate degradation of its vicinal amino glycol”.

Career

He is known for his work in understanding the carbon cycle in plants. At that time he also became a conscientious objector to the war in Europe, a political position that caused difficulties for him when he moved back to Berkeley following his graduation. Benson returned to Berkeley as an instructor in July 1942.

In May 1946 he was invited to join the group of Melvin Calvin, who was then starting a photosynthesis group in Berkeley"s Old Radiation Laboratory, a building that had previously housed a 37-inch cyclotron built in 1937 by Ernest Lawrence.

He visited Norway from 1951 to 1952 on a Fulbright fellowship to the Norwegian College of Agriculture, and took a faculty position at Pennsylvania State University in 1954. He moved to University of California, San Diego from a previous position at the University of California, Los Angeles in 1962.

In work done from 1946 through 1953, along with Melvin Calvin and James Bassham, Benson elucidated the path of carbon assimilation (the photosynthetic carbon reduction cycle) in plants. The carbon reduction cycle is known as the Calvin cycle, which inappropriately ignores the contribution of Bassham and Benson.

Many scientists refer to the cycle as the Calvin–Benson Cycle, Benson-Calvin, and some even call it the Calvin–Benson–Bassham (or CBB) Cycle.

In a paper in the 2002 Annual Review of Plant Biology, Benson provided an in-depth retrospective on his life and work.

Achievements

Andrew Alm Benson has been listed as a noteworthy Biochemistry educator by Marquis Who's Who.

Membership

Trustee Foundation for Ocean Research, San Diego, 1970-1988. Member advisory council The Costeau Society, since 1976. Member international advisory board Marine Biotechnology Institute Company Ltd., Tokyo, 1990-1998.

Fellow American Association for the Advancement of Science. Member American Academy Arts and Science, National Academy of Sciences, Royal Norwegian Science Society and Letters, American Oil Chemists Society, American Chemical Society (emeritus), American Society Plant Physiologists (Stephen Hales prize 1972), American Society Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Institute Marine Biology, Far East Branch, Academy of Sciences Russia (honorary).

Connections

Married Ruth Carkeek, May 22, 1942 (divorced 1969). Children: Claudia Benson Matthews, Linnea. Married Dorothy Dorgan Neri, July 31, 1971.

Father:: Carl Bennett Benson
Mother:: Emma Carolina (Alm) Benson
Spouse:: Dorothy Dorgan Neri
Spouse:: Ruth Carkeek
child:: Linnea Benson
child:: Claudia Benson Matthews Benson

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Born

September 24, 1917

Modesto, California , United States
Died

January 16, 2015 (aged 97)
Nationality
American

Education

"California Institute of Technology"
"University of California
Berkeley"
1939

University California , Bachelor of Science
1942

California Institute of Technology , Doctor of Philosophy
1965

University Oslo , honorary
1986

University Paris

Awards

Recipient Sugar Research Foundation award, 1950, Ernest Orlando Lawrence Memorial award, 1962, Research award Supelco/American Oil Chemists Society, 1987. Senior Queen's fellow Australia, 1979. Eminent Scientist of Rikagaku Kenkyūsho, Japan, 1995. Named Honorary Citizen Alert Bay, British Columbia, Canada, 1988.

Recipient Sugar Research Foundation award, 1950, Ernest Orlando Lawrence Memorial award, 1962, Research award Supelco/American Oil Chemists Society, 1987. Senior Queen's fellow Australia, 1979. Eminent Scientist of Rikagaku Kenkyūsho, Japan, 1995.

Named Honorary Citizen Alert Bay, British Columbia, Canada, 1988.

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