August 27th
Born August 27, 1913; died August 31, 2002 at the age of 89.
Martin David Kamen was a Canadian-American biochemist who, on February 27, 1940, co-discovered the synthesis of the carbon-14 isotope by bombarding a graphite target with subatomic particles from a 60-inch cyclotron laboratory. He worked with Sam Ruben at the Radiology Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley. Kamen’s career was interrupted by personal misfortunes, including a summons to appear before the House’s Non-American Activities Committee, but he was eventually honored with the 1995 Enrico Fermi Prize for Lifetime Achievement.
