Ochoa, Severo

(born Sept. 24, 1905, Luarca, Spain—died Nov. 1, 1993, Madrid) Spanish-born U.S. molecular biologist. He received his M.D.

and subsequently studied in Germany and Britain before immigrating to the U.S. in 1941, where he taught principally at New York University. In 1955, while researching high-energy phosphates, he discovered an enzyme in bacteria that enabled him to synthesize RNA. The enzyme normally breaks down RNA, but in a test tube it runs its natural reaction in reverse. It has been valuable in enabling scientists to understand and recreate the process whereby the hereditary information contained in genes is translated into enzymes that determine each cell's functions and character. With Arthur Kornberg he received a 1959 Nobel Prize.