Martin Kamen
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Martin David Kamen (1913 - 2002), was co-discoverer (with Sam Ruben) of the isotope carbon-14 on February 27th, 1940, at the University of California Radiation Laboratory, Berkeley.
By bombarding matter with particles in the cyclotron, radioactive isotopes, such as carbon-14, were generated. Using carbon-14, the order of events in biochemical reactions could be elucidated, showing the precursors of a particular biochemical product, revealing the network of reactions that constitute life. Kamen was a major worker in this field.
In 1944, Kamen fell under the suspicion of House Committee on Un-American Activities, for reasons that are unclear. His book suggests there was NO reason, just innuendo and rumor, based on some associations. It took decades to clear his name. Meanwhile the government never said what he was accused of exactly.
Some time during the 1980s, Kamen became a member of the "faculty" at the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine, the think tank which was responsible for the controversial Oregon Petition. The purpose of this petition was to show a lack of consensus among scientists on the subject of global warming. The text accompanying the petition has since come under attack for being deceptively written.
Martin Kamen died in 2002 at the age of 89.
Winner of the Enrico Fermi Award April 24th, 1996. He was awarded the 1989 Albert Einstein World Award of Science.
Kamen, Martin D. Radiant Science, Dark Politics: A Memoir of the Nuclear Age, Forward by Edwin M. McMillan, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985.