Contents
Marshall Warren Nirenberg
Helping decipher the genetic code
Genetic-code experiments
- Born
- 10 April 1927
- Birthplace
- Brooklyn
- Died
- 15 January 2010
More people
Marshall Warren Nirenberg
Marshall Nirenberg was an American biochemist whose experiments helped establish how nucleotide sequences specify proteins. He shared the 1968 physiology or medicine Nobel Prize with Har Gobind Khorana and Robert Holley.
Early life
Biology education
Grew up partly in Florida, studied zoology at the University of Florida and earned a biochemistry doctorate at Michigan in 1957.
Career
- 1957
NIH research
Began postdoctoral work at the National Institutes of Health.
- 1962
Laboratory leadership
Became head of biochemical genetics.
- 1968
Nobel Prize
Shared the award for interpreting the genetic code.
Contributions
Genetic-code experiments
Helped connect RNA sequences with the amino acids assembled into proteins.
Beyond work
Family
Married chemist Perola Zaltzman in 1961; after her death, he married Myrna Weissman in 2005.
Sources & photo credit
Biography and career ↗Biographical references ↗Additional biographical or achievement source ↗Original photograph. Cropped and displayed in monochrome.
.jpg){kind=link}
Photo: National Library of Medicine. No restrictions · Original image. Cropped and displayed in monochrome.