The light-independent reactions of photosynthesis where carbon dioxide is fixed into organic molecules using ATP and NADPH produced by the light reactions. This cycle occurs in the stroma of chloroplasts and produces glucose.
Named after American biochemist Melvin Calvin, who won the 1961 Nobel Prize for elucidating this pathway using radioactive carbon-14 to trace carbon's path through photosynthesis. Also called the Calvin-Benson cycle to honor Andrew Benson, Calvin's key collaborator.
The Calvin cycle is like a molecular assembly line that builds sugar molecules from thin air - literally taking CO2 from the atmosphere and using solar energy (stored as ATP and NADPH) to construct glucose! It's the process that feeds almost all life on Earth by converting inorganic carbon into organic food.
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