Har Gobind Khorana

Born - 9 January 1922
Achievements - Har Gobind Khorana is an American molecular biologist, who was born to an Indian Punjabi couple. For his work on the interpretation of the genetic code and its function in protein synthesis, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in the year 1968.

Har Gobind Khorana is an American molecular biologist born on 9 January 1922 to an Indian Punjabi couple. For his work on the interpretation of the genetic code and its function in protein synthesis, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in the year 1968. This award was, however, also shared by Robert W. Holley and Marshall Warren Nirenberg. The very same year, he received another award 'Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize' along with Nirenberg that was presented to them by the Columbia University.

Read this biography to learn more about Har Gobind Khorana, who became a citizen of the United States of America in the year 1966. In present times, he's residing at Cambridge in Massachusetts, United States as a part of the MIT Chemistry faculty. Har Gobind Khorana was also the first to produce oligonucleotides, which is chains of nucleotides. He was also the first person to segregate DNA ligase, an enzyme that connects sections of DNA together.

These custom-designed portions of artificial genes are extensively used in biology labs for sequencing, cloning and engineering new plants and animals. This invention by Dr. Khorana has become automated and commercialized so that anyone now can order a synthetic gene from any of a number of companies. Thus, this is the history of the life of Dr Har Gobind Khorana as a biologist.