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.
World news in pictures
45 show all World news in pictures
1/45 9 January 2018 Members of the South Korea delegation (R) shake hands with members of the North Korean delegation (L) during their meeting at the border truce village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone dividing the two Koreas. North and South Korea began their first official talks in more than two years, focusing on the forthcoming Winter Olympics after months of tensions over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programme. AFP/Getty
2/45 8 January 2018 Migrants in a dinghy are rescued by Libyan coast guards off the coast of Garabulli, east of Tripoli Reuters
3/45 7 January 2018 French President Emmanuel Macron observes a minute of silence in front of the plaque commemorating late police officer Ahmed Merabet to mark the third anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack, in Paris Rex
4/45 6 January 2018 Nicolaos Solis from Greece kisses the wooden cross which was thrown into the waters by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, during the Epiphany ceremony to bless the waters at the Golden Horn in Istanbul AP
5/45 5 January 2018 Women mourn the death of a family member following a landslide in Kinshasa. Thirty-seven people died overnight when torrential rain and mudslides swept though shanty homes. AFP/Getty
6/45 4 January 2018 Mourners carry the body of Palestinian Mosab al-Tamimi, 17, who was shot and killed by Israeli troops, during his funeral near the West Bank city of Ramallah Reuters
7/45 3 January 2018 People take part in pro-government rallies, Iran Tasnim News Agency via Reuters
8/45 2 January 2018 Indonesian bus passengers watch as Mount Sinabung spews thick smoke in Karo, North Sumatra AFP/Getty
9/45 1 January 2018 People take part in the traditional New Year's Day swim in Scheveningen, Netherlands Rex
10/45 31 December 2017 Fireworks explode over Sydney Harbour during New Year's Eve celebrations EPA
11/45 30 December 2017 An Indian muslim lifts a stool with a metal rod pierced through his cheeks to commemorate the anniversary of the death of Rafai Papa Miyan Sai at the Shah-E-Alam Dargah shrine in Ahmedabad AFP/Getty
12/45 29 December 2017 A New York apartment fire killed at least 12 people, including a baby, with four more critically injured. Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a press conference from the scene that 'it is the worst fire tragedy we have seen in this city in at least a quarter century.' Reuters
13/45 28 December 2017 Afghan women mourn inside a hospital compound after a suicide attack in Kabul, Afghanistan Reuters
14/45 27 December 2017 Pope Francis greets newlyweds during his weekly general audience at Aula Paolo VI in The Vatican AFP/Getty
15/45 26 December 2017 Rohingya refugees walk next to a pond in the early morning at the Balukhali refugee camp near Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh Reuters
16/45 25 December 2017 Members of ice swimming club "Berliner Seehunde" (Berlin Seals) take a dip in the Orankesee lake in Berlin as part of their traditional Christmas ice swimming session, in Berlin, Germany Reuters
17/45 24 December 2017 Mourners carry the body of 19-year-old Mohamed Sami al-Dahdouh, a Palestinian youth from Jabalia who was killed in clashes with Israeli forces east of Gaza City AFP/Getty
18/45 23 December 2017 Policemen evacuate a baby after the Cagayan River swelled caused by heavy rains brought by Tropical Storm Tembin. People have died and others are missing as the storm struck the southern Philippines unleashing floods and landslides across a region of 20 million people. AFP/Getty
19/45 22 December 2017 Carles Puigdemont gives a thumbs up after the Catalonia Regional Election results Rex
20/45 21 December 2017 A white SUV sits in the middle of the road as police and emergency personnel work at the scene of where it ran over pedestrians in Flinders Street in Melbourne. AFP/Getty
21/45 20 December 2017 This combination of pictures shows Syrians covering one eye with their hands, in the rebel-held town of Douma, as part of a campaign in solidarity with a baby boy, Karim Abdallah, who lost an eye, as well as his mother, in government shelling on the nearby town of Hammouria. AFP/Getty Images
22/45 19 December 2017 South Korean and U.S. Marines take part in a winter military drill in Pyeongchang, South Korea REUTERS
23/45 18 December 2017 Belgian police officers stand guard outside the trial of Salah Abdeslam, one of the suspects in the 2015 Islamic State attacks in Paris, at a courthouse in Brussels, Belgium Reuters
24/45 17 December 2017 Members of the International Space Station expedition 54/55, Roscosmos cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov (C), NASA astronaut Scott Tingle (R) and Norishige Kanai (L) of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) during the send-off ceremony after checking their space suits before the launch of the Soyuz MS-07 spacecraft at the Baikonur cosmodrome, in Kazakhstan Reuters
25/45 16 December 2017 The former wife of the late South African President Nelson Mandela, Winnie Mandela (R), and the candidate for the African National Congress presidency and ex-wife of the incumbent South African president, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma greet each other as they attend the 54th ANC National Conference at the NASREC Expo Centre in Johannesburg on December 16, 2017. Thousands of delegates from South Africa's ANC party gathered on December 16, 2017 for a five-day meeting to elect their new leader in a divisive race seen as a pivotal moment in the country's post-apartheid history. he winner will be well placed to be the next president, but the ANC has lost much popularity since Nelson Mandela led it to power in the euphoric 1994 election that marked the end of white-minority rule. AFP/Getty Images
26/45 15 December 2017 Palestinian protesters wave the national flag during clashes with Israeli security forces near the border fence with Israel, east of Gaza City as demonstrations continue over US President Donald Trump's declaration of Jerusalem as Israel's capital AFP/Getty
27/45 14 December 2017 Hamas supporters take part in a rally marking the 30th anniversary of the founding of the Islamist movement, in Gaza City AFP/Getty Images
28/45 13 December 2017 Democratic candidate for US Senate Doug Jones thanks supporters as he holds his wife Louise's hand AP
29/45 12 December 2017 Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men gather during the funeral ceremony of prominent spiritual leader Rabbi Aharon Yehuda Leib Shteinman, who died on Tuesday at the age of 104, in Bnei Brak near Tel Aviv, Israel. REUTERS
30/45 11 December 2017 A Palestinian protester kicks a flaming tire during clashes with Israeli forces in the West Bank city of Ramallah AFP/Getty
31/45 10 December 2017 Demonstrators set US and Israeli flags on fire during a protest against Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, in Istanbul REUTERS
32/45 9 December 2017 People gather to watch the bikers' procession during the funeral ceremony in tribute to late French singer Johnny Hallyday in Paris EPA
33/45 8 December 2017 A Palestinian protester uses a sling to hurl stones towards Israeli troops REUTERS
34/45 7 December 2017 Firefighters monitor a section of the Thomas Fire along the 101 freeway, north of Ventura, California. Getty Images
35/45 6 December 2017 Palestinians burn an Israeli and a U.S. flag during a protest against the U.S. intention to move its embassy to Jerusalem and to recognize the city of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, in Gaza City Reuters
36/45 5 December 2017 Former Georgian President, Mikheil Saakashvili, flashes a victory sign after he was freed by his supporters in Kiev REUTERS
37/45 4 December 2017 A man exercises in a park on a winter morning in Kolkata, India REUTERS
38/45 3 December 2017 A supporter of Salvador Nasralla, presidential candidate for the Opposition Alliance Against the Dictatorship, puts a balloon on the shield of a soldier in a protest while the country is still mired in chaos over a contested presidential election in Tegucigalpa, Honduras REUTERS
39/45 2 December 2017 A man dressed as Santa Claus skiis down a mountain during the Saint Nicholas Day at the Alpine ski resort of Verbier, Switzerland REUTERS
40/45 1 December 2017 A nurse takes blood for a HIV test for French President Emmanuel Macron as he visits the Delafontaine Hospital on World Aids Day Reuters
41/45 30 November 2017 An activist pours gasoline as an effigy of President Rodrigo Duterte and U.S. President Donald Trump burns during a protest action against Duterte's plan to set up a Revolutionary Government, along a street in metro Manila, Philippines Reuters
42/45 29 November 2017 South Korea's Hyunmoo II missile is fired during an exercise at an undefined location in the east coast of South Korea The Defence Ministry/Yonhap via REUTERS
43/45 28 November 2017 People fall as police fire tear gas to try control the crowd trying to force their way into Kasarani Stadium to attend the inauguration of President Uhuru Kenyatta in Nairobi REUTERS
44/45 27 November 2017 Rohingya refugee Amina Khatun, 55, rests at the bank of the Naf river after crossing it on an improvised raft to reach Bangladesh, in Teknaf. Two of her sons were killed by gun fire when her village was attacked by Myanmar military, she says Reuters
45/45 26 November 2017 Mount Agung volcano is seen spewing smoke and ash in Bali EMILIO KUZMA-FLOYD/via REUTERS
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.
MORE ON GOOGLE DOODLES 'TIS THE SEASON Here's how Google Doodles are marking New Year celebrations MARLENE, MARLENE Google Doodle pays tribute to legendary actress Marlene Dietrich WINTER SHOW A Google Doodle is marking the winter and summer solstices around the world LEGENDARY SCIENTIST Robert Koch remembered with a Google Doodle celebrating his work INGENI-HOUSZ BOFFIN A Google Doodle is celebrating scientist Jan Ingenhousz – here's why
