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Sidney Altman

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Sidney Altman

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Canadian American molecular biologist (1939-2022)

AI overview

Sidney Altman was a Canadian American molecular biologist who discovered that RNA molecules can act as catalysts to speed up chemical reactions in cells, a finding that challenged the previous understanding that only proteins could perform this function. This discovery, which earned him the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1989, fundamentally changed how scientists think about the role of RNA in living organisms.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

Person · Open Library

Born
1939
Died
2022
Works
3

Top works

  • International review of Swedish research in fundamental chemistry
  • Transfer RNA
  • Ribonuclease P

via Open Library + Wikidata

Music · MusicBrainz

via MusicBrainz · CC0

Nobel Prize

  • The Nobel Prize in Chemistry1989

    for their discovery of catalytic properties of RNA

    Shared · 1/2 portion

~6 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Sidney Altman (May 7, 1939 – April 5, 2022) was a Canadian-American molecular biologist, who was the Sterling Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology and Chemistry at Yale University. In 1989, he shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Thomas R. Cech for their work on the catalytic properties of RNA.

Family and education

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Sidney Altman” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

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