Postage stamp honors two ASBMB members

The U.S. Postal Service recently issued Forever stamps honoring four American scientists. Former American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology President Severo Ochoa and ASBMB member Melvin Calvin were among the featured scientists. The two other stamps recognized botanist Asa Gray and physicist Maria Goeppert Mayer.

According to a press release from the USPS, "With these stamps, the third in the American Scientists series, the Postal Service honors four Americans who, while dedicating their lives to understanding the fundamental process of nature, made extraordinary contributions to the advancement of science."

Calvin was the first scientist to trace in detail the process of photosynthesis, and he conducted pioneering research on using plants as an alternative energy source. He won the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1961.

Ochoa was the first scientist to synthesize ribonucleic acid, and he competed in the race to decipher the genetic code. Ochoa won the Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine in 1959 and was the president of ASBMB in 1958.

Photo credit: U.S. Postal Service ©2010.