At the heart of this review are the 10 years of work leading up to the award of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1961 for the elucidation of the multiple steps in the path of carbon during photosynthesis, a process now universally known as the Calvin cycle. Also described are the background to the author's first forays into the brand new terrain of biochemistry, early work on the effects of deuterium oxide on biological systems, and research into hydrocarbon producing plants as sources of energy and the construction of an artificial photosynthetic system.
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