Kamen an haife shi ne a ranar 27 ga Agusta, 1913, a Toronto, ɗan 'yan gudun hijirar Yahudawa na Rasha. Ya girma a Chicago. Ya sami digiri na digiri a fannin ilmin sunadarai daga Jami'ar Chicago a 1933 kuma ya sami digiri na PhD a fannin kimiyyar lissafi daga wannan jami'ar a 1936. Bayan haka sai ya nemi matsayi na bincike a fannin ilmin sunadarai da kimiyyar nukiliya a karkashin Ernest Lawrence a dakin gwaje-gwaje na radiation a Berkeley, inda ya yi aiki ba tare da biya ba har tsawon watanni shida har sai an hayar da shi don kula da shirye-shirye da rarraba kayayyakin cyclotron. Ko da yake an riga an san carbon-14, ganowar haɗin carbon-14 ya faru ne a Berkeley lokacin da Kamen da Ruben suka harba da graphite a cikin cyclotron a cikin fatan samar da isotope na rediyo na carbon wanda za a iya amfani da shi azaman mai ganowa a cikin binciken halayen sinadarai a cikin hotuna. Sakamakon gwajin su ya haifar da samar da carbon-14. Tambaya: Yaushe Kamen ya sami PhD?
1936 shekara