Bowing under the weight of the breast implant claims it faced, Dow Corning filed for bankruptcy in May 1995 (C&EN, May 22, 1995, page 6). The company filed its own reorganization plan in bankruptcy court in Bay City, Mich., early last month (C&EN, Dec. 9, 1996, page 10). Dow Coming's plan calls for payment in full of $1 billion owed to commercial creditors and for the establishment of a $600 million fund to compensate women for physical injury and a $1.4 billion fund to compen sate women for disease claims. Disease claims would only be paid if one jury trial advised by a science panel found that im plants caused diseases. Implant recipients and creditors, on the other hand, are calling for payment in full to commercial creditors—that amounts to about $1.2 billion—and a $1.75 billion fund to administer claims and compensate women for physical injury. Payment of dis ease claims would depend on the out come of the 30 representative jury trials held throughout the country. These trials "would preserve the right of due process" for implant recipients, says Sybil Niden Goldrich, an advocate for implant recipients and a member of the implant claimants committee work ing with the bankruptcy court. Results of the trials would determine Dow Cor ning's liability based on a "fair and equi table, statistically sound method set out in the plan," according to a joint state ment from the two committees. Dow Chemical and Corning would fund any disease compensation payments by sell ing up to 95% of their stock in Dow Corning, which is still quite profitable despite its bankruptcy status. Because of women's objections to Dow Coming's plan, "the bankruptcy is likely to remain bogged down in litiga tion and endless delays," says Frederick Moryl of the Chicago office of Banque Nationale de Paris. Moiyl is chairman of the committee representing Dow Cor ning's commercial creditors. His commit tee has joined with the committee of im plant claimants in hope of resolving the bankruptcy more quickly and getting commercial debts paid sooner. A Dow Coming spokesman responds that the proposal by die two committees would in fact be more time consuming than its own and "is a trial lawyer's dream. All plans of resolution of the bankruptcy are paid for by the debtor, Dow Coming. These trials would be financed by us. We would pay for the expensestiiat,in a normal court case, the trial lawyers would pay." Marc Reiscb
beled "Mr. Photosynthesis" by Time magazine. But the significance of Calvin's work "was that it was the first major ap plication to use carbon-14 radioactive Nobel Laureate and past-President of the isotope as a tracer for a chemical path American Chemical Society (1971) Mel way," says Kenneth Sauer, who was a vin Calvin died Jan. 8, in Berkeley, Calif., postdoctoral researcher with Calvin at following years of declining health. He the time he received the Nobel. was 85. Calvin also did work on organic geo Calvin, a longtime chemistry professor chemistry, chemical evolution, chemical at the University of California, Berkeley, carcinogenesis, brain chemistry, and analy was the first to trace chemical reaction sis of moon rocks. His diverse research in pathways in photosynthesis. Working terests led him to an array of scientific in with green algae, Calvin and his associates vestigations that captured the imagination grew the algae in a normal atmosphere of the public and fellow scientists alike. then fed them short bursts of radioactively Calvin was bom April 8, 1911, in St. labeled carbon dioxide. The algae were Paul, Minn. He received a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Michigan College of Mining & Tech nology in 1931 and a Ph.D. degree in chemistry from the University of Minnesota in 1935. After a postdoctor al fellowship at the Universi ty of Manchester in England, Calvin joined the UC Berke ley faculty in 1937. During World War Π, he worked on scientific projects related to the war, including the Man hattan Project to build an atomic bomb. In 1947, Calvin became a full professor at Berkeley. In I960, he became director of the university's Laboratory of Chemical Biodynamics, which was renamed the Melvin Calvin Laboratory in 1980. He retired as Universi ty Professor of Chemistry in 1980 but continued to do research until recently. During his career, Cal vin received many awards and honors, including the 1977 Willard Gibbs Medal and the 1978 Priestley Med al from ACS; the Royal Soci Melvin Calvin (1911-97) ety of Chemistry's Davy Medal; and the National then killed and extracted to "freeze" their Medal of Science in 1989. He was the au metabolism for subsequent analysis. Even thor of more than 500 scientific papers tually, 3-phosphoglycerate, which forms and seven books. His wife, Genevieve, after a transient 6-carbon sugar hydrolyzes, died in 1987. A memorial celebration for Calvin will was shown to be the entry point for carbon dioxide fixation in most plants. be held at 11 AM on Jan. 25 in Hertz Hall These reactions form part of a cycle—the on the UC Berkeley campus. A memorial Calvin cycle—that shunts carbon skele fund has been established: Donations may tons during the "dark-phase reactions" of be made to the Melvin Calvin Memorial Fund, College of Chemistry, University of photosynthesis. The work garnered Calvin the 1961 California, Berkeley, Calif. 94720. Nobel Prize in Chemistry, and he was la William Schulz
Melvin Calvin, pioneer biochemist, dead at 85
JANUARY 20, 1997 C&EN 11
