The biochemist responsible for discovering an essential function of our DNA — and for constructing the first synthetic gene — is being honoured by Google with a Doodle in many parts of the world.
Har Gobind Khorana would be 96-years-old Tuesday, and has been honoured within the scientific community in the past with some of the most prestigious awards available.
Here’s what you need to know about Mr Khorana’s life and accomplishments.
His passion for science started when he was a young boy in India. Mr Khorana, born in 1922, grew up the youngest of five children with a father who tried to foster a love of learning in his children. He helped them learn to read and write, which wasn’t common in the village where Mr Khorana grew up.
From those humble beginnings, he was boosted by scholarships to receive a very advanced degree. Mr Khorana received his bachelors in organic chemistry in 1948. Throughout his early days in education, he was supported by scholarships that helped him to pursue his passions.
He won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1968. That award was given to Mr Khorana alongside two other researchers. Mr Khorana was based at the University of Wisconsin at the time, but had previously conducted research at universities in Canada, Switzerland, and England.
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That award was given for discovering that the order of nucleotides in DNA determines which amino acids are built. Nucleotides are the subunits of DNA or RNA, and consist of bases made of nitrogen. There are four types of nucleotides for each DNA, and RNA, an the order in which they are put connected — forming the double helix — is important for determining which types of proteins the cells create. Proteins are responsible for basic form and functions.
He received more awards than just the Nobel Prize. Mr Khorana accumulated a host of awards during his lifetime, and was well respected in his field of research. Among those other awards was the National Medal of Science.
NEW DELHI: Google today honoured with a doodle Har Gobind Khorana , the Indian man who won a Nobel prize for decoding humans' DNA Khorana's birth anniversary is today; he would have been 96 years old. He died in November 2011.Khorana won the 'Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine' in 1968 along with colleagues Marshall W. Nirenberg and Robert W. Holley. The India-born scientist also constructed the world's first synthetic gene.The scientist went to high school in Multan, which is now in Pakistan. He then studied at the Punjab University in Lahore - also now in Pakistan - from where he earned a master's degree in science, according to the official web site of the Nobel Prize.Khorana lived in India until 1945, when a government fellowship made it possible for him to go to England, where he studied for a PhD degree at the University of Liverpool. In 1948-1949, he spent a postdoctoral year in Zurich in Switzerland.Through his career, Khorana also conducted research at universities in England, Switzerland, and Canada, and it was at the University of Wisconsin that he and two fellow researchers received the Nobel Prize in 1968.
Google on Tuesday celebrated the 96th birth anniversary of Indian-American Nobel Prize-winning biochemist Har Gobind Khorana, with a doodle. Dr. Khorana was known for his extensive research on DNA and also for constructing the first synthetic gene.
Dr. Khorana and two other scientists - Robert W. Holley and Marshall W. Nirenberg – were awarded The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1968 for “their interpretation of the genetic code and its function in protein synthesis".
Born in 1922 in the village of Raipur, Punjab, in what is now in Pakistan, Dr. Khorana’s love for science began at an early age and that was thanks to his father who believed in the value of education. Dr. Khorana obtained a degree in Punjab University in Lahore and lived in British India till 1945. He then moved to England for his Ph.D programme at the University of Liverpool.
In 1952, he moved to Vancouver in Canada where he began his research on DNA, at the University of British Columbia. In 1960, Dr. Khorana shifted to the Institute for Enzyme Research at the University of Wisconsin.
The Nobel Prize was given for the scientists’ discovery that the order of nucleotides in our DNA determines which amino acids are built. These amino acids form proteins. In the 1950s, it was established that genetic information is transferred from DNA to Ribonucleic acid (RNA), to protein. One sequence of three nucleotides in DNA corresponds to a certain amino acid within a protein. Dr. Khorana’s work on this field was centred around building different RNA chains with the help of enzymes. Using these enzymes, he was able to produce proteins.
In the early 1970s, Dr. Khorana constructed the world’s first artificial gene. Dr. Khorana was elected as Foreign Member of the Royal Society in 1978. He was also awarded the Padma Vibhushan. He died in 2011 aged 89 in Concord, Massachusetts.
Source – Nobelprize.org, Wikipedia
GOOGLE is well known for it's Doodles - dedicated to notable figures in history.
January 9 will see Har Gobind Khorana get his very own Doodle in honour of his birthday - here's the lowdown.
Getty - Contributor Har Gobind Khorana is a Nobel Prize winning Indian-American biochemist
Who is Har Gobind Khorana and why is Google marking his 96th birthday?
On January 9, Google will celebrate the birthday of Har Gobind Khorana - a Nobel Prize winning Indian-American biochemist.
Dr Khorana, 96, will be honoured with a special Google Doodle.
He conducted research at universities in England, Switzerland, and Canada, and was awarded a Nobel Prize alongside two fellow researchers at the University of Wisconsin.
Together, they discovered that the order of nucleotides in our DNA determines which amino acids are built.
Google Google are honouring the scientist
These amino acids form proteins - which carry out essential cell functions in the body.
He later made a second scientific breakthrough when he constructed the first synthetic gene.
What is a Google Doodle?
In 1998, the search engine founders Larry and Sergey drew a stick figure behind the second 'o' of Google as a message to that they were out of office at the Burning Man festival and with that, Google Doodles were born.
The company decided that they should decorate the logo to mark cultural moments and it soon became clear that users really enjoyed the change to the Google homepage.
In that same year, a turkey was added to Thanksgiving and two pumpkins appeared as the 'o's for Halloween the following year.
Google Google celebrated the Autumn Equinox with a themed doodle
Now, there is a full team of doodlers, illustrators, graphic designers, animators and classically trained artists who help create what you see on those days.
Among recent Doodles were ones commemorating German scientist Robert Koch, Jan Ingenhousz (who discovered photosynthesis) and the 50th anniversary of kids coding languages being introduced.
Earlier in the year, the search giant celebrated the 2017 Autumn Equinox , which marked the official ending of summer and the coming of autumn.
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